Renewing a Maine family child care license

Sixty days before expiry, not after

The renewal application is due at least sixty days before the license expires, on a form the department supplies, with all additional information it asks for. The responsibility for timely application sits with the provider, not the department.

Sixty days is not padding — it is the working window the department needs to inspect, review and decide. A renewal filed in the last week of the license term has no room for a deficiency letter, a water retest, or a scheduling slip.

Apply through the same channel as the initial license. If your household has changed since the last cycle, the background check page names everyone whose check must be current.

sixty daysA family child care provider must submit a renewal application and fee at least sixty days before the license expires, and the responsibility for timely application is the provider's. — Maine DHHS, 10-148 CMR Ch. 33, retrieved 2026-09-29

The fee: one hundred sixty dollars

The renewal fee is the same as the initial full license: $160, on the application the department supplies. Like the first fee, it is payable to the Treasurer, State of Maine, and non-refundable whatever the outcome.

One fee does change. A revised license — required when you increase capacity, request construction approval, or replace a heating system — costs $10. If your renewal coincides with a capacity increase, expect the revision to be its own item.

The full fee picture, including what the department pays for you, is on the cost breakdown.

$160The application fee for a full family child care license or its biennial renewal is $160. — Maine DHHS, 10-148 CMR Ch. 33, retrieved 2026-09-29

$10The fee to issue a revised family child care license is $10, and a revised license is required for a capacity increase, construction approval, or heating system replacement. — Maine DHHS, 10-148 CMR Ch. 33, retrieved 2026-09-29

A timely renewal keeps the license alive

File on time and the license does not lapse while you wait. If a timely renewal application is made, the existing license continues until the department reaches a final decision.

That continuation is conditional on timeliness, and it is the whole difference between a renewal and a restart. A provider who files late has no license to continue on, whatever the reason for the delay.

The department renews for two years unless it finds specific and sufficient grounds for denial, or for renewal on a temporary or conditional basis.

If a timely renewal application is made, the existing family child care license continues until a final decision on the renewal is made. — Maine DHHS, 10-148 CMR Ch. 33, retrieved 2026-09-29

Miss it, and the license expires

The rule is short and unforgiving: failure to submit a timely renewal application results in the expiration of the license. There is no grace period stated, and no late fee that buys one back.

After a denial or revocation, the door closes for a year. A person may not reapply for a license for one year from the effective date of the decision, and for two years after a second one.

After expiry you are back at the beginning: application, fee, inspections, the full path in the licensing guide. The two-year cycle is cheap to keep and expensive to restart.

Failure to submit a timely renewal application results in the expiration of the family child care license. — Maine DHHS, 10-148 CMR Ch. 33, retrieved 2026-09-29

one year, then twoA person denied or revoked may not reapply for a family child care license for one year from the decision's effective date, and for two years after a second denial or revocation. — Maine DHHS, 10-148 CMR Ch. 33, retrieved 2026-09-29

The five-year background check clock

Background checks run on their own cycle, separate from the license term. Checks must be requested at least once every five years for every individual who needs one — you, your staff, and the adults in your home.

A two-year license renewal does not automatically re-trigger a check. A check completed in year one of the license still satisfies the five-year rule through year six. But a household member who turned eighteen since the last cycle needs one now, not at the next renewal.

The background check page lists who triggers a check and which registries get searched, including the five-year lookback across every state an individual has lived in.

every five yearsComprehensive background checks must be requested at least once every five years for each individual requiring one under the background check rule. — Maine DHHS, 10-148 CMR Ch. 34, retrieved 2026-09-29

The other clocks that renew with you

Two more cycles ride alongside the license. The State Fire Marshal's Office inspects and approves family child care programs every two years, and the department must receive its written statement that the home complies with fire safety rules.

And a fire inspection is not only on the calendar. One is required whenever you change or augment a heating system, or make major structural alterations to the home. Tell the department before the work, not after the inspector finds it.

Report the rest of your working life too. All other licenses for businesses operated in the home must be reported at application or before opening a new one. If you formed an LLC for the business, its annual report runs on a separate June 1 clock — the LLC page covers it.

every two yearsThe State Fire Marshal's Office must inspect and approve family child care programs every two years, and again whenever the heating system is changed or major structural alterations are made. — Maine Legislature, 22 M.R.S. §8304-A, retrieved 2026-09-29

All other licenses for businesses operated in the home must be reported to the department at the time of application or before opening a new business. — Maine DHHS, 10-148 CMR Ch. 33, retrieved 2026-09-29

Questions