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October update on revised child care licensing standards

Office of Inspector General – Licensing Division – October 23, 2026

This monthly newsletter provides highlights of key changes and answers to frequently asked questions about the revised child care licensing standards taking effect July 1, 2027.

• Child care center updates
• Family child care updates
• Frequently asked questions

Child care center updates

Spotlight: CCC Behavior guidance The revised licensing standards update behavior guidance requirements for child care centers. Changes include new definitions of behavior guidance terms, revised requirements for behavior guidance plans when persistent unacceptable behavior occurs, updated rules for separating a child from the group, and additional actions that staff are prohibited from using.  See what’s changing for child care center behavior guidance in the revised standards.

Family child care updates

Spotlight: FCC License holder policies The revised licensing standards bring required family child care policies together into three categories: program operations, health and safety, and program environment. Most required policy topics are familiar, but new requirements are added for screen time and the use of social media, images, and video. See what’s changing for family child care license holder policies in the revised standards.

Spotlight: FCC Pets and animals Beginning July 1, 2027, family child care programs will have updated requirements for pets and animals. The revised standards provide more flexibility in the types of animals that may be kept at a program while adding requirements to help keep children safe around animals. Changes address parent notification, supervision around animals, animals that must be kept inaccessible to children, pets in food areas, and what to do following an animal bite. See what’s changing for family child care pets and animals in the revised standards.

Spotlight: FCC Meals and snacks The revised licensing standards provide more specific requirements for meals and snacks served in family child care programs. Changes include the food groups required at meals and snacks, labeling food brought from home, infant feeding schedules, and special diets. See what’s changing for family child care meals and snacks in the revised standards.

Frequently asked questions

Child care center FAQs

Does a Child Development Associate (CDA) credential qualify someone to be a director in a child care center?

Individuals who have earned a CDA would satisfy the requirement for directors to have completed 120 hours of training in the topics of child development, supervision, management, administration, or leadership. However, they would need to meet all requirements for directors, including:

• Be at least 21 years old.
• Be a graduate of a high school or hold an equivalent diploma (e.g., a GED).
• Have at least 1,040 hours of paid or unpaid staff supervision experience.
• Have at least 12 semester credits in accredited coursework in postsecondary child development education, supervision, management, administration, or leadership or 120 hours of training earned in the topics of child development, supervision, management, administration, or leadership.

In addition, an individual is automatically considered to have met the experience and education/training requirements listed above if they have completed a MnAEYC early childhood director's credential; a Child Care Aware Minnesota director's credential; a Montessori administrator credential; or a diploma issued by the American Montessori Society, Association Montessori International, or an institution accredited by the Montessori Accreditation Council for Teacher Education.

Thus a CDA alone doesn’t automatically qualify someone to be a director, but it does count toward the education/training and experience needed.

Finally, under the revised statutes, an individual who is currently designated as a director under the current Rule 9503 requirements is considered to be qualified beyond July 1, 2027, as long as they remain in their current position.

View a side-by-side comparison of current and future qualification standards.

You can read the updated standards related to child care center director qualifications on the state Revisor’s website. Later this year, the revised statute will be codified as MN Statutes, section 142H.05.

Family child care FAQs

Will the licensing standards training hosted by DCYF count toward a family child care provider’s annual training requirements?

Yes! DCYF plans to offer virtual instructor-led training beginning in February 2027 to help family child care providers prepare for the revised licensing standards. The training will count for 8 hours of annual training. Providers and caregivers must attend the required training sessions in full to receive all 8 hours.

DCYF is planning a multi-phase training approach from February through June 2027, which will include virtual instructor-led training, self-paced learning opportunities, regional in-person office hours, and virtual office hours.

More information about each phase, including training dates, registration, and participation requirements, will be shared in future communications and on the DCYF website as details are finalized.

How many annual training hours do family child care caregivers need to complete in 2027?

Family child care caregivers will follow the revised annual training requirements for the entire 2027 calendar year, even though the new standards do not take effect until July 1. Training completed in 2027 will be reviewed during licensing inspections in 2028.

The annual training requirements vary by caregiver role:

• Applicants, primary providers of care, and second adult caregivers — 10 hours annually
  • At least 2 hours of child development, learning, or behavior guidance training.
  • 2 hours of active supervision training.
  • Applicable sudden unexpected infant death (SUID) if the program is licensed to care for infants and abusive head trauma (AHT) training if the program is licensed to care for children younger than school age.
  • At least 4 hours of additional ongoing training.
• Substitutes and intermittent caregivers — At least 1 hour annually
  • Must complete applicable SUID and AHT training based on the ages of children in their care.
• Helpers — No minimum annual hours
  • Must complete SUID training if the program is licensed to care for infants and AHT training if the program is licensed to care for children younger than school age.

To help caregivers better understand these training requirements, DCYF has developed a family child care training requirements chart. This quick reference organizes training requirements by caregiver role and when training must be completed, making it easier to identify applicable initial, annual, and ongoing training requirements.

FAQs for all programs

Will DCYF provide Technical Assistance (TA) during the first year after the revised standards are implemented instead of issuing correction orders?

No. Beginning July 1, 2027, licensing inspections will be conducted as regular inspections. There will not be a one-year transition period where new requirements automatically receive technical assistance instead of a correction order.

The new Weighted Risk System (WRS) for licensing violations will also take effect July 1, 2027. Under the WRS, many requirements—both new and existing—will be eligible for Documented Technical Assistance (DTA) rather than a correction order. DTA will replace the current Fix-it ticket process. There will be more licensing violations eligible for DTA than are currently eligible for Fix-it tickets. More details will be shared as we get closer to the July 1 effective date. DCYF must also continue to meet applicable federal requirements related to inspections and the posting of inspection results.

Leading up to July 1, DCYF will provide extensive training, guidance, and opportunities for providers and licensors to learn about the revised standards and ask questions before they take effect.

Have questions?

Questions and feedback may be submitted to ccregmodernization.dcyf@state.mn.us and will help inform future guidance and communications. While we may not be able to reply to each message individually, we are reading each one and using your questions and feedback to directly inform our implementation planning.

Sign up for future revised licensing standards newsletters by subscribing to the family child care or child care center email list.

You received this email because you are a child care provider, licensor, county supervisor, licensing employee, or you subscribed to the Child Care Regulation Modernization or other Licensing listservs.