Safety & records · Montana
Reading a daycare's record in Montana
Montana publishes inspection records through Child Care Provider Search (DPHHS Child Care Licensing). This page walks you to the record, decodes its vocabulary from the state's own definitions, and states what the archive cannot tell you. We never name, rate, or score a center.
First, the money
Records are half the decision. The other half is whether you can get help paying — run the free check for Montana before you fall in love with a center you cannot fund.
The portal
Child Care Provider Search (DPHHS Child Care Licensing)
Provider profile with inspection reports and potential complaints filed, plus license status. The STARS to Quality rating is separate.
How Montana grades what it finds
A Statement of Deficiency citing ARM 37.95 rules; narrative, no severity classes.
Words like these are decoded, term by term, in the records decoder — always from the state's own published definitions, and always with the correction status given the same weight as the finding.
If you need to report something
DPHHS Child Care Licensing complaint form; abuse and neglect to 1-866-820-5437.
Read any record in this order
- The license status first — active, conditional, or under action.
- The findings, newest to oldest, watching for the same rule cited twice.
- The correction status on each finding — corrected, corrected on site, plan accepted, or still open. It carries the same weight as the finding.
- The blind spots above: what this archive structurally cannot show you.
Portal facts checked October 2026. Only the state agency's record is the record — this page is a map to it, not a copy of it.