Licensed child care centers: Quick Guide

This Quick Guide provides links to key resources related to licensed child care centers, including statutory requirements, DHS webpages, and links to external sites.

Minnesota requirements for licensed child care centers
The Office of the Revisor of Statutes website offers a searchable site of Minnesota Statutes, Session Laws, and Rules.
Licensed child care centers website
Child care center licensing website and forms
- Licensed child care centers webpage
- Contact us information
- Requirements sections
- Forms and documents
- Guidance
- Link to application webpage
- Applying for a child care center license webpage
Contact Child Care Center Licensing
Additional webpages with licensing information
- Licensing and child care
- Child care and early education news, reports, and work groups
- General information for all programs licensed in Minnesota, including information about:
- Help for providers by license type
- Ownership changes
- Background studies
- Legislative changes
- Licensing Information Lookup
- Maltreatment investigations
- FAQs about licensing actions
- Fix-it Ticket - Child Care Centers (PDF)
Provider Hub
- Systems Transformation Initiative webpage. If you have specific questions on the Provider Hub, email the product team at support.ccproviderhub.dhs@state.mn.us
- Provider Hub: Getting started has resources you need to get started in the Provider Hub.
Child Care Regulation Modernization project
- Child Care Regulation Modernization
Child Care Aware resources
- Child Care Wayfinder - one-stop assistance network
- Stay alert to legislative news related to child care from the Minnesota Legislature by following the Child Care Aware of Minnesota Bill Tracker
- Empower to Educate – preparing and sustaining the early childhood workforce
- Contact: empowertoeducate@childcareawaremn.org
- Great Start Compensation Support Payment Program – monthly payments to eligible child care providers to fund increases in compensation and benefits for early educators.
- Additional grant opportunities through Child Care Aware of Minnesota
Business resources
Minnesota Center for Professional Development
- Achieve
- Minnesota Career Lattice opportunity
- Achieve Job Board
- Develop
- Search tool for Develop-approved trainings
- Free membership to track Develop-approved learning record

Additional resources

Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP)
Child Care Assistance Program goals include helping families with low incomes pay for child care and helping ensure children are well cared for and prepared for school. CCAP serves approximately 30,000 children from 15,000 families per month.
Parent Aware
Background studies
DHS Background Studies main webpage
- Contact: 651-431-6620
- For child care background study related questions, email dhs.backgroundcc@state.mn.us
- For NETStudy 2.0 related questions or technical assistance, email dhs.netstudy2@state.mn.us
For those with access to NETStudy 2.0, a help section is available within NS2. Help topics include:
- Fingerprint Vendor Transition Guide for Entities
- Consent and Disclosure Overview for Entities
- Emergency Background Study Fee Credit Overview and Instructions
- Identifying Emergency Background Studies
- NETStudy 2.0 User Manual (updated)
- Background Study Fingerprinting and Consent Process - Resolving Common Problems
Additional background study and NETStudy 2.0 resources:

Email subscriptions

DHS emails contain updates from Child Care Center Licensing, the DHS Background Studies Division, and the Child Care Assistance Program. Visit the Licensed Child Care Centers webpage to subscribe to emails from DHS, including the Early Childhood Connector newsletter.