Safety & records · North Carolina
Reading a daycare's record in North Carolina
North Carolina publishes inspection records through NC DCDEE Child Care Facility Search. 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 North Carolina before you fall in love with a center you cannot fund.
The portal
NC DCDEE Child Care Facility Search
Each facility's profile, its star rating, printable visit summary reports, and administrative actions — three years of history.
What this portal does not show
There is no single severity class to lean on; the visit narrative and the administrative-action ladder carry the meaning.
How North Carolina grades what it finds
Visit findings plus an administrative-action ladder; no single severity class.
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
Report a concern to the DCDEE consumer education line or your county's child care licensing contact.
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.