Member support made it possible for us to conduct this child care investigation. Donate to our nonprofit newsroom today to support independent journalism that represents you.
Starting a decade ago, the federal government began requiring states to report how many kids were getting hurt or dying in child care programs every year.
The rule was created in 2014, when the country’s central child care funding mechanism, the Child Care and Development Block Grant, was reauthorized to introduce safety requirements for the first time. Before then, states weren’t required to publish any data annually on deaths, serious injuries or abuse at day cares; inspect centers; or post those results online. They weren’t even required to perform background checks.
The 19th thanks our sponsors. Become one.
Child care has always been very safe — the number of deaths in states each year is usually in the single digits — but advocates believed better data collection and regulations could lower the number of preventable deaths, injuries and abuse.
Over the past six months, The 19th performed an in-depth analysis of state-by-state compliance. Each state is required to produce annual data on the number of deaths, serious injuries and cases of substantiated abuse at child care centers. The numbers for death and serious injury are to be broken down by the type of child care program incidents took place in, and the data has to be published online every year where it is easily accessible to parents. States are also required to publish data on license-exempt child care providers, as well as a total number of children in child care for each category to serve as a benchmark.
Eight states are out of compliance with the reporting requirement, according to The 19th’s analysis and consultation with the federal Office of Child Care, the regulatory agency that oversees states’ child care systems. The 19th also found additional states beyond those on the federal office’s list that are missing data, including eight states that aren’t reporting portions of the requirement or have outdated information online, and six states that updated their reports when The 19th pointed out errors or missing data.
Is your state following regulations?
Below is a look at each state’s compliance status, as well as a link to the state’s most recent report on deaths, serious injuries and substantiated abuse in child care programs. The 19th included the total number of deaths in child care in each state for the most recent year available. Because each state defines serious injury and abuse differently, those numbers vary widely state-to-state and can be misleading when viewed together. They are, however, available to view in each state’s report linked below. The reports, while available online, can be incredibly difficult to find on state websites, where they are often buried under obscure names.
The 19th also provided a link to each state’s child care provider dashboards, a useful tool for caregivers to search for care, research individual programs and see the most recent inspection information.
State is in compliance with federal regulations
State’s data is incomplete, according to federal regulations
State is out of compliance with federal regulations
-
Alabama
Alabama is in compliance* with federal regulations.
- Reports deaths: Yes
- Reports serious injuries: Yes
- Reports substantiated abuse: Yes
- Note: Alabama was previously marked as out of compliance as of December 31 for not reporting the total number of serious injuries in license-exempt child care programs or the total number of children in child care. The state corrected that issue as of mid-January, according to a spokesperson for the Alabama Department of Human Resources.
- Most recent report year: 2023
- Number of deaths in child care: 0 (2023)
- Dashboard of child care providers: View here
-
Alaska
Alaska’s data is incomplete, according to federal regulations.
- Reports deaths: Yes, but some data is missing
- Reports serious injuries: Yes, but some data is missing
- Reports substantiated abuse: Yes, but some data is missing
- Data issue: Alaska only provides a total number of serious injuries at child care programs. It does not include a breakdown of which kinds of programs the serious injuries took place in. The state provided the numbers with the breakdown to The 19th, but hasn’t made them public.
- It also does not include data on license-exempt child care providers in its report. A spokesperson for the Alaska Department of Health told The 19th that’s because there haven’t been any cases among those providers, but the regulation requires those figures to be included regardless.
- The federal Office of Child Care does not list Alaska among the states that are out of compliance.
- Most recent report year: 2022
- Number of deaths in child care: 1 (2022)
- Dashboard of child care providers: View here
-
Arkansas
Arkansas’ data is incomplete, according to federal regulations.
- Reports deaths: Yes, but some data is missing
- Reports serious injuries: Yes, but some data is missing
- Reports substantiated abuse: Yes, but some data is missing
- Data issue: Arkansas does not collect or report data on license-exempt providers. A spokesperson for the Arkansas Department of Education told The 19th that Arkansas has fewer than 10 license-exempt child care providers.
- The federal Office of Child Care does not list Arkansas among the states that are out of compliance.
- Most recent report year: 2022
- Number of deaths in child care: 0 (2022)
- Dashboard of child care providers: View here
-
California
California is out of compliance with federal regulations. As of December 31, 2023, the federal government has notified the state of its compliance status.
- Reports deaths: Yes, but some data is missing
- Reports serious injuries: No
- Reports substantiated abuse: No
- Compliance issue: California does not post any data at all on serious injuries or substantiated incidents of child abuse, citing insufficient data systems. It is also missing data on the number of deaths at license-exempt programs run by family, friend and neighbor caregivers, the Office of Child Care said.
- Most recent report year: 2023
- Number of deaths in child care: 10 (2023)
- Dashboard of child care providers: View here
-
Delaware
Delaware is out of compliance with federal regulations. As of December 31, 2023, the federal government has notified the state of its compliance status.
- Reports deaths: Yes, but some data is missing
- Reports serious injuries: Yes, but some data is missing
- Reports substantiated abuse: Yes, but some data is missing
- Compliance issue: Delaware does not post data on deaths, serious injuries or incidents of substantiated child abuse taking place at license-exempt child care programs. It also does not report the total number of children in child care by all types of child care programs and licensing status.
- A spokesperson for the Delaware Department of Education told The 19th that the state is updating its data to clearly specify which programs are license-exempt.
- Most recent report year: 2023
- Number of deaths in child care: 0 (2023)
- Dashboard of child care providers: View here
-
Hawaii
Hawaii is out of compliance with federal regulations. As of December 31, 2023, the federal government has notified the state of its compliance status.
- Reports deaths: Yes
- Reports serious injuries: Yes, but some data is missing
- Reports substantiated abuse: Yes, but some data is missing
- Compliance issue: Hawaii has not published any data on serious injuries and substantiated incidents of child abuse at child care programs since 2016. The seven-year gap in data is the widest of any state, The 19th found.
- The state’s child care licensing department told the 19th it has struggled to come into compliance in part because it has not finalized its definition of “serious injury” or what constitutes child abuse. The state does not yet have a timeline for when it plans to begin reporting the data.
- Most recent report year: 2022
- Number of deaths in child care: 0 (2022)
- Dashboard of child care providers: Hawaii doesn’t have its own dashboard of child care providers, making it the only state out of compliance with this requirement. Instead, Hawaii’s child care resource and referral agency offers a dashboard with some information on local day cares. View here
-
Illinois
Illinois is in compliance with federal regulations.
- Reports deaths: Yes
- Reports serious injuries: Yes
- Reports substantiated abuse: Yes
- Note: The state was not reporting the total number of children in child care by the type of child care program and licensing status in its report. It updated its data in February after The 19th inquired.
- Most recent report year: 2023 (Data on license-exempt providers is in a separate report)
- Number of deaths in child care: 2 (2023)
- Dashboard of child care providers: View here
-
Indiana
Indiana is in compliance with federal regulations.
- Reports deaths: Yes
- Reports serious injuries: Yes
- Reports substantiated abuse: Yes
- Most recent report year: 2023 (Data on the number of children in child care in Indiana is in a separate report)
- Number of deaths in child care: 1 (2023)
- Dashboard of child care providers: View here
-
Kansas
Kansas is out of compliance with federal regulations. As of December 31, 2023, the federal government has notified the state of its compliance status.
- Reports deaths: Yes, but some data is missing
- Reports serious injuries: Yes, but some data is missing
- Reports substantiated abuse: Yes, but some data is missing
- Compliance issue: Kansas does not post data on deaths, serious injuries or incidents of substantiated child abuse taking place at license-exempt child care programs. It also does not report the total number of children in license-exempt child care.
- Most recent report year: 2023
- Number of deaths in child care: 0 (2023)
- Dashboard of child care providers: View here
-
Mississippi
Mississippi’s data is incomplete, according to federal regulations.
- Reports deaths: Yes, but some data is missing
- Reports serious injuries: Yes, but some data is missing
- Reports substantiated abuse: Yes, but some data is missing
- Data issue: As of December 31, 2023, the state had been notified by the federal government that it is out of compliance, the Office of Child Care said.
- But, Mississippi, in consultation with the federal office, has spent a year redesigning its website to include better data. A new website went live in January correcting many of the issues, but it is still only posting monthly data beginning in October 2023. The state believes it is now in compliance, and the federal office did not respond to The 19th’s requests to clarify Mississippi’s current status.
- For that reason, The 19th has marked Mississippi’s data as incomplete rather than out of compliance.
- Most recent report year: 2023
- Number of deaths in child care: 1 (October to December 2023)
- Dashboard of child care providers: View here
-
Missouri
Missouri’s data is incomplete, according to federal regulations.
- Reports deaths: Yes
- Reports serious injuries: Yes
- Reports substantiated abuse: Yes
- Data issue: Missouri does not report the total number of children in child care by the type of child care program and licensing status.
- The federal Office of Child Care does not list Missouri among the states that are out of compliance.
- Most recent report year: 2023
- Number of deaths in child care: 4 (2023)
- Dashboard of child care providers: View here
-
Montana
Montana is in compliance with federal regulations.
- Reports deaths: Yes
- Reports serious injuries: Yes
- Reports substantiated abuse: Yes
- Most recent report year: 2023 (Data on the total number of children in child care in Montana is in a separate report)
- Number of deaths in child care: 5 (2023)
- Dashboard of child care providers: View here
-
Nebraska
Nebraska’s data is incomplete, according to federal regulations.
- Reports deaths: Yes, but some data is missing
- Reports serious injuries: Yes, but some data is missing
- Reports substantiated abuse: Yes, but some data is missing
- Data issue: Nebraska does not track or report data on license-exempt providers, a spokesperson for the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services confirmed with The 19th.
- The federal Office of Child Care does not list Nebraska among the states that are out of compliance.
- Most recent report year: 2022 (Data on the total number of children in child care in Nebraska is in a separate report)
- Number of deaths in child care: 0 (2022)
- Dashboard of child care providers: View here
-
Nevada
Nevada is out of compliance with federal regulations. As of December 31, 2023, the federal government has notified the state of its compliance status.
- Reports deaths: Yes
- Reports serious injuries: Yes
- Reports substantiated abuse: No
- Compliance issue: Nevada publishes two reports with different totals on some of the required categories. One report has no breakdown at all on which kinds of programs deaths, serious injuries and incidents of child abuse took place in, the Office of Child Care said.
- The two reports also have vastly different data in terms of the number of child abuse cases. In its more recent report, the state also does not list how many abuse investigations resulted in substantiated cases of child abuse — it’s not a number Nevada tracks despite being a requirement under federal law, the state confirmed. Nevada is in the process of moving its child care division to a different department, state officials said, which has led to the two different reports.
- Most recent report year: 2022
- Number of deaths in child care: 0 (2022)
- Dashboard of child care providers: View here
-
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is in compliance* with federal regulations.
- Reports deaths: Yes
- Reports serious injuries: Yes
- Reports substantiated abuse: Yes
- Note: Until January, the state had not published data since 2020, but its report was updated after The 19th inquired.
- Most recent report year: 2023
- Number of deaths in child care: 0 (2023)
- Dashboard of child care providers: View here
-
New Jersey
New Jersey is out of compliance with federal regulations. As of December 31, 2023, the federal government has notified the state of its compliance status.
- Reports deaths: Yes, but some data is missing
- Reports serious injuries: Yes, but some data is missing
- Reports substantiated abuse: Yes, but some data is missing
- Compliance issue: New Jersey does not breakdown the number of deaths, serious injuries and instances of child abuse in license-exempt child care programs.
- New Jersey told The 19th it was working to correct its report to reflect registered family child care providers and care by family, friend and neighbor caregivers — the state’s two license-exempt types of child care.
- Most recent report year: 2022
- Number of deaths in child care: 1 (2022)
- Dashboard of child care providers: View here
-
New York
New York is in compliance* with federal regulations.
- Reports deaths: Yes
- Reports serious injuries: Yes
- Reports substantiated abuse: Yes
- Note: New York was previously marked as out of compliance by the federal Office of Child Care as of December 31, 2023, for not posting data on substantiated cases of child abuse in child care programs and failing to report the total number of children in child care by type of program and licensing status.
- As of February, that data had been updated, and the state told The 19th it is working to be removed from the list of states that are out of compliance.
- Most recent report year: 2023 (Data on the number of children in child care in New York is in a separate report)
- Number of deaths in child care: 1 (2023)
- Dashboard of child care providers: View here
-
North Carolina
North Carolina is in compliance with federal regulations.
- Reports deaths: Yes
- Reports serious injuries: Yes
- Reports substantiated abuse: Yes
- Most recent report year: 2023 (Abuse data is in a separate report)
- Number of deaths in child care: 3 (2023)
- Dashboard of child care providers: View here
-
Oklahoma
Oklahoma’s data is incomplete, according to federal regulations.
- Reports deaths: Yes, but some data is missing
- Reports serious injuries: Yes, but some data is missing
- Reports substantiated abuse: Yes, but some data is missing
- Data issue: Oklahoma does not track or report data on license-exempt providers, a spokesperson for Oklahoma Human Services confirmed with The 19th.
- The federal Office of Child Care does not list Oklahoma among the states that are out of compliance.
- Most recent report year: 2023
- Number of deaths in child care: 0 (2023)
- Dashboard of child care providers: View here
-
Oregon
Oregon is out of compliance with federal regulations. As of December 31, 2023, the federal government has notified the state of its compliance status
- Reports deaths: Yes
- Reports serious injuries: Yes
- Reports substantiated abuse: Yes
- Compliance issue: Oregon does not report the total number of children in license-exempt child care programs.
- Most recent report year: 2022
- Number of deaths in child care: 0 (2022)
- Dashboard of child care providers: View here
-
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania is in compliance with federal regulations.
- Reports deaths: Yes
- Reports serious injuries: Yes
- Reports substantiated abuse: Yes
- Most recent report year: 2023 (Data on the number of children in child care in Pennsylvania is in a separate report)
- Number of deaths in child care: 0 (2023)
- Dashboard of child care providers: View here
-
South Dakota
South Dakota publishes outdated statistics.
- Reports deaths: Yes
- Reports serious injuries: Yes
- Reports substantiated abuse: Yes
- Data issue: South Dakota has not published data on deaths, serious injuries and incidents of substantiated child abuse in child care programs since 2021.
- The federal Office of Child Care does not list South Dakota among the states that are out of compliance.
- Most recent report year: 2021
- Number of deaths in child care: 1 (2021)
- Dashboard of child care providers: View here
-
Texas
-
Utah
Utah is in compliance with federal regulations.
- Reports deaths: Yes
- Reports serious injuries: Yes
- Reports substantiated abuse: Yes
- Most recent report year: 2023 (Data on the number of children in child care in Utah is in a separate report)
- Number of deaths in child care: 0 (2023)
- Dashboard of child care providers: View here
-
Vermont
Vermont is in compliance with federal regulations.
- Reports deaths: Yes
- Reports serious injuries: Yes
- Reports substantiated abuse: Yes
- Note: Vermont was not posting a breakdown of where deaths and serious injuries took place, nor was it reporting the total number of children in child care by type of program and licensing status. It corrected both issues after The 19th inquired.
- Most recent report year: 2023
- Number of deaths in child care: 1 (2023)
- Dashboard of child care providers: View here (Data on the number of children in child care in Vermont is in a separate report)
-
Virginia
-
Washington
Washington is in compliance with federal regulations.
- Reports deaths: Yes
- Reports serious injuries: Yes
- Reports substantiated abuse: Yes
- Most recent report year: 2023 (To see a breakdown by where incidents took place, roll over the hyperlinked numbers. Data on family, friend and neighbor caregivers is in a separate report.)
- Number of deaths in child care: 0 (2023)
- Dashboard of child care providers: View here
-
West Virginia
West Virginia is out of compliance with federal regulations.
- Reports deaths: Yes, but some data is missing
- Reports serious injuries: Yes, but some data is missing
- Reports substantiated abuse: Yes, but some data is missing
- Compliance issue: West Virginia does not post complete data on the number of deaths, serious injuries and instances of substantiated child abuse that took place at in-home child care programs, the Office of Child Care said. The state told The 19th that this is because it has not had any in-home providers, what the state defines as licensed child care providers that take care of children in the child’s home, since 2019.
- The state also doesn’t post the total number of children in child care by the type of child care program and licensing status. West Virginia told The 19th that it will update its report in February to reflect both figures.
- A spokesperson for the West Virginia Department of Human Services said no such notice had been received. The 19th asked the federal office to clarify this discrepancy, which it declined to do.
- Most recent report year: 2023
- Number of deaths in child care: 0 (2023)
- Dashboard of child care providers: View here
-
Wisconsin
Wisconsin’s data is incomplete, according to federal regulations.
- Reports deaths: Yes
- Reports serious injuries: Yes, but some data is missing
- Reports substantiated abuse: Yes
- Data issue: Wisconsin only provides a total number of serious injuries at child care programs. It does not include a breakdown of which kind of programs the serious injuries took place in. The state previously did not include a total for the number of deaths in 2021, an issue it corrected after The 19th pointed it out. The state said both reports, 2022 and 2021, will be updated in the near future to include a breakdown by the kind of programs.
- The federal Office of Child Care does not list Wisconsin among the states that are out of compliance.
- Most recent report year: 2022
- Number of deaths in child care: 2 (2022)
- Dashboard of child care providers: View here
-
Wyoming
Wyoming is in compliance* with federal regulations.
