Requirements to be enrolled as a relative care provider are:

• You must be a grandparent/step-grandparent, great grandparent/step-great grandparent, aunt/step-aunt, uncle/step-uncle (does not include great-aunt and great-uncle), or adult sibling/step-sibling of the child needing care. Your relationship to the child(ren) must be by blood, marriage or adoption. A divorce severs/terminates the relationship gained through marriage.
• You are not the parent or legal guardian of the child needing care, a member of the Child Development and Care (CDC) program group, the CDC applicant/client, or the CDC applicant/client's spouse living in the child's home.
• You may be terminated from or may not be enrolled to care for subsidy eligible children if a central registry or criminal background check determines you, or any adult (18 years or older) living in your household, have been responsible for the neglect or abuse of children in a substantiated Children's Protective Services (CPS) case, or if you have been charged or convicted of certain disqualifying crimes such as those listed on the crime list. DHS will conduct background checks of conviction records and CPS records. Your enrollment will be denied or revoked/terminated if you do not pass the background checks.
• You must be at least 18 years of age and able to read and write.
• You must live in Michigan and not in the same household as the child.
• You must not have any untreatable physical or emotional impairment or other problem that would hinder you from giving adequate care and supervision to children.
• You must provide the care in a safe and healthy environment for children.
• You must not have family responsibilities or other obligations that would interfere with providing child care to children.
• You must know how and when to seek help from others, i.e., how to use the telephone, how to respond to emergency situations which might arise during the provision of care to children.
• You must not have had your child care center/group home license or family home registration revoked, or not be currently suspended.
• You must immediately report any suspected child abuse or neglect to Children's Protective Services at the local Department of Human Services (DHS) office.
• You must give the parents/substitute parents of the children in your care unlimited access to their children while they are in your care.
• You must only release a child to the parent/substitute parent or persons authorized by the parent/substitute parent.
• You must not charge the parent/substitute parent more than what you charge the general public.
• You must report to the local DHS office a change in your mailing and/or residential address, a change where care is provided, if you stop providing child care for a subsidy eligible child and any change to the adults (18 years or older) living in your household within 10 calendar days of occurrence as long as you are a relative care provider.
• As part of your billing/reporting requirements you must maintain daily records showing the beginning and ending times of the care you provide for each subsidy eligible child. The parent/substitute parent must certify that these records are accurate. You must maintain those records for four years. If asked, you must make those records available to an employee of DHS or the auditor general.
• If you are also a home help provider to any CDC program group member, the CDC applicant or the CDC applicant's spouse that you may not provide child care for the same period in which home help is provided.
• If you have employment other than as a child care provider, your hours of employment must not conflict or interfere with the hours that you provide child care.
• You may only bill for care provided in your home, and it must not be the home where the child lives.
• You may only bill for child care services when a subsidy eligible child is physically in your care (except for qualifying State of Michigan holidays and absences due to a child's illness).
• You must not care for more than six children (including your own children) at the same time.
• You must not care for more than two children (including your own children) under the age of 12 months at the same time.
• Payment for all DHS subsidy eligible children in your care is limited to 540 hours in a biweekly pay period.
• You must cooperate with the department in connection with an investigation.
• If you are found guilty of an intentional program violation, your enrollment may be terminated.
• You may be prosecuted for fraud if your intentional misrepresentation causes an overpayment.
• If you have been overpaid for any reason, the exta payments received must be repaid, and future payments may be reduced by 20%.
• If you default on a repay agreement, future payment may be reduced by 20%.
• The terms and conditions of your enrollment may be changed by notice to your last known address.
• If you misrepresent your circumstances, or if you fail to meet and abide by the requirements as listed, the department may deny or terminate your enrollment as a day care provider.
• You must certify that you have read, understand and meet the requirements to be a DHS enrolled relative care provider as stated on the DHS-220-R, Relative Care Provider Application.
• The certification applies to any subsidy eligible children you care for, until your enrollment is terminated.