How we read the record
Cubbycheck is the state's inspection record, read out loud in plain words. This page says exactly where the words come from and where they stop.
Sources
Federal rule 45 CFR 98.33 requires every state to publish full childcare inspection results. Texas does so as open data, which we reload every night. California publishes a daily facility export with visit dates and citation counts, and the inspection reports themselves on its transparency site, which we read report by report.
Texas
| Dataset | What it holds |
|---|---|
| HHSC CCL Daycare and Residential Operations | One row per licensed operation: name, address, permit, capacity, ages, hours, subsidy acceptance, enforcement flags. |
| HHSC CCL Inspection, Investigation, Assessment | One row per visit since October 2017: date, type, whether a violation was found. |
| HHSC CCL Non-Compliance | One row per finding: the standard cited, the Texas risk level, the inspector's narrative, correction dates. |
We include licensed centers, licensed and registered child-care homes, and listed family homes. Listed family homes are registered with the state but not inspected on a schedule, and their pages say so. We exclude residential treatment operations and child-placing agencies, which are not daycare.
California
| Source | What it holds |
|---|---|
| CCLD facility export | One row per licensed child care center and family child care home: licensee, capacity, status, every visit date by kind, Type A and Type B counts, the sections cited with plan-of-correction dates, and complaint outcomes. Five-year window, refreshed daily. |
| CCLD inspection and complaint reports | One report per visit (LIC809 facility evaluation, LIC9099 complaint investigation): each citation's type, section, the regulation text, the inspector's deficient-practice statement and the plan of correction. We read these continuously; a citation shows as “cited” until its report has been read. |
California does not publish hours, ages served or program details in its data, so those fields are absent on California pages until a provider claims the page.
Severity: four words for every state's scale
Each state grades findings on its own scale. We fold them into four words so a parent in Dallas and a parent in San Diego are reading the same thing. The state's own level is always printed beside ours.
Texas
| Cubbycheck | Texas risk level | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Critical | High | Also any operation with an adverse or corrective action on file. |
| Serious | Medium High · Medium | |
| Minor | Medium Low · Low | |
| Clear | No violation found | An inspection or investigation that cited nothing. |
Why Medium counts as Serious: Texas uses Medium for findings such as ratio violations and medication errors. Calling those Minor would give parents false comfort, and the choice barely changes which daycares qualify for the badge.
California
| Cubbycheck | California citation | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Critical | Type A | Immediate risk to the health, safety or personal rights of children in care. Also any facility on probation or under legal action. |
| Serious | Type B, safety sections | Type B citations under supervision, ratios, background-check, hazard and equipment sections. |
| Minor | Type B, other sections | Records, postings, training paperwork and other administrative sections. |
| Clear | No deficiencies observed | A visit whose report cites nothing. |
California has two levels where Texas has five, and Type B spans everything from a missing form to a supervision lapse. The section cited decides which: Title 22 sections on staffing and ratios (101215 to 101229), supervision (101226), buildings and grounds (101238), equipment (101239), and the Health and Safety Code sections on abuse reporting and background checks (1596.866, 1596.871) count as Serious; all other Type B sections count as Minor. Facilities on probation are marked as under enforcement.
The 36-month record
Every count on a facility page covers the trailing 36 months and is computed by us from the visit and finding tables, not copied from the state's own rolling totals. Older visits stay on the page; they just don't count toward the summary.
Cubbycheck Clear
A daycare shows the Clear badge when all four hold on the day the page was generated:
- Its license is active, not temporarily closed, on a Full Permit, Registered or Listed issuance. Initial permits are too young.
- The permit was issued at least 36 months ago and Texas has published at least one visit in that window.
- Zero Critical and zero Serious findings in the trailing 36 months.
- No adverse or corrective action on file.
Minor findings do not block the badge; paperwork is not danger. The badge is recomputed after every nightly reload and disappears the day the record changes. No daycare can pay to receive it.
What we do not do
- We publish no reviews, ratings, stars or recommendations.
- We do not edit the inspector's narrative. It appears as Texas published it.
- We do not delete a daycare when it leaves the state's list. Its page says it is no longer listed and keeps the record for the years it was open.
- We do not sell placement, and no daycare can pay to change what its page says.
Corrections
Texas owns these records and is the only party that can change them. If a finding is wrong, contact Texas HHSC Child Care Regulation through its contact page; once the state changes its data, our page changes on the next nightly reload.
If our page misreads the state's data, or shows something the state no longer publishes, email corrections@cubbycheck.com with the page link. We answer every message and fix genuine errors within two business days.
Questions about the data or press enquiries: hello@cubbycheck.com. Back to search.