Safety & records · Washington
Reading a daycare's record in Washington
Washington publishes inspection records through Washington DCYF 'Child Care Check'. 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 Washington before you fall in love with a center you cannot fund.
The portal
Washington DCYF 'Child Care Check'
Monitoring reports and valid complaints only, for three years, with each finding's correction status.
What this portal does not show
A federal monitoring review found Washington's archive missing reports from the pandemic era and missing complaint reasons — and injuries appear on no public record when no licensing standard was violated. A clean Washington record is a smaller promise than it looks.
How Washington grades what it finds
Citations to WAC 110-300 with Short Term / Long Term risk levels.
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 DCYF intake; only complaints found valid are posted, which is itself a filter to know about.
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.