How to read a daycare inspection report

A state inspection report records one visit: who came, why, which rules they checked and which ones they found broken. The parts look different from state to state, but every report on this site is made of the same few pieces.

The visit and why it happened

States that take federal Child Care and Development Fund money must inspect licensed providers before licensing them and at least once a year after that, unannounced (45 CFR 98.42). Most visits on a page are those routine checks. Others have a reason that matters more:

Complaint or investigation: someone reported a concern. A complaint visit with no violations means the inspector did not find a rule broken, not that nothing happened.
Follow-up: a return visit to see whether an earlier violation was fixed.
Initial or renewal: checks tied to issuing or renewing the license.

Each visit on this site keeps the state's own name for its type, under the date.

The citation

A violation (states also say deficiency, citation or noncompliance) has up to four parts: the rule number, the rule's title or text, a severity word if the state uses one, and the inspector's finding: what they saw. The finding is the part to read. “Staff-to-child ratio” might mean one adult was alone with one too many toddlers for two minutes while a colleague fetched a bottle, or a room left understaffed all morning. The finding says which.

Rule numbers point into the state's licensing regulations. In Texas, 746.3301 is a section of the minimum standards for centers; in Connecticut, 19a-79 sections are the center regulations. You rarely need to look them up, because the rule's title is shown beside the number.

Corrections

Many states record whether a violation was corrected, and when. “Corrected at inspection” means it was fixed before the inspector left: a cleaning product moved out of reach, a missing form signed. Where a state records a correction date, it is shown under the violation. A violation with no correction recorded is not necessarily still open; some states simply don't publish that field.

What a count can and can't tell you

Each facility page compares its violations over the last three years with the median for open facilities of the same kind in its city. That is a starting point, not a verdict:

A facility visited often, because of complaints or follow-ups, has more chances to be cited than one seen once a year.
A large center with 150 children and 30 staff has more ways to break a rule on any day than a home with six children.
One serious finding can matter more than ten paperwork ones. Look at the severity words and the findings, not just the total.
A pattern is more telling than a single visit: the same rule cited at visit after visit says more than a bad day.

If something on a page concerns you, read the finding, look at what happened at the next visit, and ask the provider about it. What to ask a daycare about a violation.