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Office of Inspector General - Licensing Division - May 5, 2026
You are receiving this message because you are an authorized agent or center operator for one or more certified child care centers. Minnesota Statutes, section 142C.03, subdivision 5 requires that providers must notify the Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) through the Provider Hub of any changes made to the program and approval must be granted prior to changes being made.
Many certified centers experience seasonal changes during the transition from the school year to summer. All changes will require a Change Request submitted within the Provider Hub for approval from your licensor. Instructions on how to submit a change request can be found in the Help and Resources tab in the Provider Hub. Change requests need to be submitted for each center. You will be required to submit a floor plan, fire inspection (that has been completed within the last three years with no open violations), updated Risk Reduction Plan and Emergency Preparedness Plan. Here are examples of change requests that you may need to submit:
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Change in location: As a reminder, you will also need to submit a Change Request in the Provider Hub in the fall if the center is moving back to its original location. For example, a center that moved from the school to a church for the summer will need to submit a Change Request for approval from your licensor prior to moving to the church at the beginning of the summer and then another Change Request is needed to move the center back to the school in the fall.
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Change in Operating Schedule/Operating Hours: For example:
- A program that normally operates full year but will not be operating during the summer. The Operating Hours will need to be changed to state the Start Date (Ex: 9/2/2025), the End Date (Ex: 6/6/2026) and the Description changed to indicate School Year.
- A program that normally operates during the school year but will be adding summer hours. You will need to enter multiple Operating Schedules in one Change Request. For example:
- Description: School Year, start date (9/2/2025), end date (6/1/2026), enter before and after school hours for each day.
- Description: Summer, start date (6/6/2026), end date (9/8/2026), enter summer hours for each day.
- NOTE: You will need to submit a new change request for the next school year.
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Using temporary building locations: If your center will need to move to a temporary location for any amount of time, we require that you submit a Change Request for prior approval from your licensor. You will be required to submit a floor plan, fire inspection, updated Risk Reduction Plan and Emergency Preparedness Plan.
NETStudy 2.0 rosters must be kept up-to-date for all site locations. Staff must be affiliated with each location that they will be working at. For example, if a staff person works at a school year only program during the school year but will be working at a different location offering summer care during the summer, that staff person must be affiliated with both the school year certified program AND the summer certified program.
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For children who will be enrolled in a center with a different certification number during the summer, the department encourages providers to make sure parents know that they will need to report this change to their child care assistance worker. Centers need to ensure that CCAP billing is done using the certification number of the center providing the care.
Using secondary building locations
If your center will be utilizing a secondary building location for short term daily activities (for example: eating lunch at the high school across the street), you must communicate with your licensor. You will be required to submit a floor plan, fire inspection, updated Risk Reduction Plan and Emergency Preparedness Plan.
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If school age children will be administering their own sunscreen, they can do so if supervised by a staff person. Staff are required to supervise the school age children when they are applying the sunscreen. Written parental permission needs to be obtained.
Children’s additional activities and attendance records
Attendance records are not required per certification laws, however, CCAP laws, Minnesota Statutes, section 142E.16, subdivision 7 and Great Start Compensation Support Payment Program laws, Minnesota Statutes, section 142D.21, subdivision 4, require centers to maintain daily attendance records at the site where services are delivered. The attendance records must be completed daily and include the date, the first and last name of the child, and the times when the child is dropped off and picked up. For certification, having a system for children being signed into and out of your center will clarify when a center is responsible for a child and when the child is the responsibility of another program or service. For example:
- When a child who attends another program/activity (golf, swimming lessons, art class, tutoring, etc.) after being dropped off at the certified center, the certified center must sign the child out to maintain proper documentation regarding where the child is at and who is responsible. When the child returns from the other program, the child must be signed back into the certified center. Keep in mind, written parent permission must be obtained for the center to sign a child out to attend another program.
- When a child goes directly from a program/activity to the certified center without parent or legal guardian drop off, the child is not considered in attendance until the other program delivers the child to the certified center or to a certified center’s staff person. The child must be signed into the certified center upon arrival.
- When a child is transported by a certified center, the child is considered in attendance during transportation.
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We are offering an opportunity for certified child care programs to join us for an informational webinar presentation to share information and updates about certification. Topics will include the updates from the latest legislative session, Child Care Assistance Program, the Provider Hub, and the Great Start Compensation Support Payment Program.
This session is intended for all certified programs. Please share information with colleagues who may be interested.
Learn more and access the webinar on our certified child care centers webpage.
Date: Tuesday, May 19, 2026
Time: 11:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
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