Berks Connect
Living in Berks

How to Check Daycare Inspection Reports in Berks County

Every PA daycare holds a state certificate and its inspections are posted online. Four steps to look up any Berks center and how to read the report.

Berks Connect Blog|Published October 28, 2026
Image for How to Check Daycare Inspection Reports in Berks County

Every daycare in Pennsylvania has to hold a certificate of compliance from the Department of Human Services; certified and licensed mean the same thing here. The state posts that certificate, the inspections it has made and anything an inspector cited on a free public search. If the two programs on your list hold a certificate, a center and a family home alike, they're in that search, and each history is a short read once you know the four pages.

Start with daycares in Berks County if the shortlist isn't built. Our listings don't show the license or quality rating, so the state search is the second stop.

How do you look up a daycare's inspection reports in Pennsylvania?

The steps below describe the search as it works this fall.

  1. Search by address or by name. Go to compass.dhs.pa.gov/providersearch, the state's provider search (it lives on COMPASS, the state's benefits website; no sign-in needed). Pick "By Address" or "By Provider Name". For an address, type a Berks address, town or ZIP and choose it from the drop-down list, pick a distance, check your children's ages and press "Find a Provider".
  2. Read the card, then "More Details". Each card shows the program's name, address, phone and distance, an enrollment badge (Enrolling, Call for Availability or Not Enrolling), its Keystone STARS rating and three links: "More Details", "Add to My List" and "Inspections". "More Details" opens the provider's page: provider type, certification status ("Active") with a "View History" link, maximum capacity, the fee list and the financial programs it accepts, including Child Care Works. The page notes the information may be outdated and to call the provider. Where a program shares rates, what daycare costs in Berks County puts them next to what Berks centers post.
  3. Open "Inspections". This is the Inspection History page, with four sections. Certifications lists the certificates the program has held, each with its dates and its type, Regular or Provisional. Waivers of Regulations lists any rule the state has excused the program from following exactly. Inspections lists the visits, each with its reason (such as Renewal, "Complaints- Legal Location" or Unannounced Monitoring), its date and a status such as "Compliant - Finalized". Negative Sanctions lists any action to deny, refuse to renew, revoke or downgrade the license, and shows "No Sanction Information is available" when there are none. It also shows the STARS rating or "No STARS Rating".
  4. Open "View Inspection Details" on any visit. Its Violations tab lists each item cited, by regulation topic and section number; its Regulations tab lists every regulation reviewed that visit.

To see only centers, family homes or group homes, use the results page's Provider Type filter. The rest of the shortlist homework is in our childcare guide's section on checking records.

What does the certificate tell you, and what does provisional mean?

Pennsylvania certifies three kinds of care. A family child care home cares for four, five or six children unrelated to the operator, in a home other than the child's own. A group child care home cares for more than six and fewer than thirteen (fewer than sixteen if all are in fourth grade or older). A child care center cares for seven or more. Someone caring for three or fewer unrelated children, or for relatives only, needs no certificate. Our childcare guide covers the kinds of child care Pennsylvania certifies.

The certificate runs for up to 12 months. It names the legal entity that holds it, the facility and its address, the type of care, the maximum number of children allowed at one time, and its start and end dates, and it's posted in a public place in the building.

A regular certificate means the program is in compliance with the regulations. A provisional certificate means "substantial, but not complete, compliance": close, but not all the way there. It runs for up to six months, the state can issue at most four in a row, and the certificate says "Provisional" and whether it's the first, second, third or fourth. Regular year after year in the Certifications section means the program passed and was renewed each year.

What does the state check when it inspects?

The state inspects every certified program at least once a year without notice, can inspect again on a complaint, and makes an announced visit to a family home before its first certificate. The inspector checks the program against every active regulation for its type, under topics such as staff-to-child ratio, physical site, fire safety, child health, nutrition, transportation and records.

The table shows the ratios inspectors enforce at a center: how many children one adult may care for at each age, and the most children allowed in one group.

Age group Children per staff person Maximum group size
Infant (under 1) 4 8
Young toddler (1 to 2) 5 10
Older toddler (2 to 3) 6 12
Preschool (3 until kindergarten) 10 20
Kindergarten to third grade 12 24
Fourth grade and up 15 30

A mixed-age group takes the youngest child's numbers. A family home may have no more than five infants and toddlers at once and no more than two infants.

Everyone who works or volunteers at a certified program holds a Pennsylvania child abuse history clearance and a Pennsylvania State Police criminal history clearance. Employees also hold an FBI criminal history clearance, and anyone working in certified child care clears a National Sex Offender Registry check. Clearances are renewed at least every 60 months. The operator may not let into the facility anyone it knows has been convicted of, or is awaiting trial on, a charge involving child abuse, child neglect, physical violence or moral corruptness.

What's normal on an inspection report, and what isn't?

Each item the inspector cited has four parts.

  • The Non-Compliance Area: what the inspector saw, in a sentence.
  • The Correction Required: the rule in its own words.
  • The Provider's Plans of Correction: the written fix, with what was done and the date.
  • The Provider's Plan to Maintain Compliance: how the provider keeps it from happening again.

A cited item doesn't mean you cross the program off. A report marked compliant can still list cited items; the status tells you they were fixed and checked. A single cited item with a dated correction is how the system is built: the inspector documents it, the provider fixes it, and the state verifies.

What I'd read for is the pattern across the history. Does each year's certificate say Regular? Does every inspection read Compliant - Finalized, and is anything listed under Negative Sanctions? Does the same regulation section come up on visit after visit? Did the complaint inspections end compliant? Two programs that come through those questions are ready to tour. If one program's current certificate says Provisional, that's the first question on the tour: what was cited and when the fix is due.

A question about a particular program's record goes to the state's regional child care office for Berks, which sits in Scranton: the Northeast Region of the Office of Child Development and Early Learning, 100 Lackawanna Avenue, Scranton, PA 18503, 570-963-4371 or toll free 800-222-2108. The Inspection History page's footer adds: "Need more information? Email the Office of Child Development and Early Learning at ra-pelicanprovcert@pa.gov to learn more."

What do Keystone STARS levels mean?

Keystone STARS is the state's quality rating, STAR 1 through STAR 4. Every program with a regular certificate gets STAR 1 for meeting health and safety rules. STAR 2 means the program meets every required standard at that level, such as staff training, a developmental screening within 45 days of enrollment, a yearly family conference, a family handbook, a written improvement plan and an annual budget.

STAR 3 and STAR 4 add more standards and a points score, at least 70 percent of the available points for STAR 3 and at least 85 percent for STAR 4, in each of four categories: staff qualifications, the learning program, family partnerships, and leadership and management. The regional Early Learning Resource Center sets the level, which shows on the state search. If a card says "No STARS Rating", ask whoever runs the program whether it's in Keystone STARS.

What should you ask when you tour?

The state search tells you a program is in compliance, not which one fits your family. Pull phone numbers from daycares in Berks County (and preschools in Berks County if your child is three or four) and book both tours.

The state's own checklist for picking a provider includes these seven questions.

  • "May I see a copy of your state certificate of compliance?" Check the end date and whether it says Provisional.
  • "Do you participate in Keystone STARS?"
  • "How many children are in your care? What age groups do you serve?"
  • "Do you have a substitute or back-up caregiver?"
  • "Where do children nap? How do you ensure that babies sleep on their backs?"
  • "Can I visit anytime?"
  • "What do you do if a child is sick?"

For a concern, the search's home page has a "Submit a Complaint or Incident" link, and suspected abuse or neglect goes to ChildLine at 1-800-932-0313.

Questions Berks parents ask about daycare inspections.

Is a daycare license the same as a certificate of compliance in Pennsylvania?

Yes. The certificate of compliance from the Department of Human Services is the license; certified and licensed mean the same thing. Every center, group home and family home must hold one.

How often does the state inspect a daycare?

At least once a year, without notice, and the program is also subject to complaint inspections. A family home also gets an announced visit before its first certificate.

What does Compliant - Finalized mean on an inspection report?

No violation was found, or every violation was corrected and verified. A report with that status can still list cited items, each with a dated plan of correction the state checked.

So tonight: look both programs up, read the four pages for each, and bring what you found to the tour. The state has done the inspecting; your part is reading it.

Sources