Safety & records · New Jersey
Reading a daycare's record in New Jersey
New Jersey publishes inspection records through NJ Child Care Information System search (ChildCareNJ / DCF Office of 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 New Jersey before you fall in love with a center you cannot fund.
The portal
NJ Child Care Information System search (ChildCareNJ / DCF Office of Licensing)
Provider search with license status and inspection information. The depth of full reports online varies in this state — open a provider's record to see how much is posted.
How New Jersey grades what it finds
Citations by N.J.A.C. 3A:52 (centers) / 3A:54 (family child care); 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
DCF Office of Licensing complaint hotline or online form; abuse and neglect to 1-877-652-2873.
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.