Frequently Asked Questions

The District of Columbia has more than 400 licensed child development facilities. These are child development centers or child development homes/expanded child development homes that have met educational, safety, training and other licensing requirements. These facilities have also completed a successful inspection. Licenses must be renewed every three years. My Child Care DC provides a complete up-to-date search of these licensed child development facilities in DC.

It is important to note that other types of early care and education do not have to undergo this licensing process. DC Public Schools, charter schools and private schools that provide pre-K education do not go through this licensing process. If you are interested in learning about pre-K education in a DC Public School or charter school, please visit My School DC.

Facilities that provide only before- or after-care, summertime educational services or classes and activities such as music or dance for children are not licensed in the same way as child development facilities.
Similarly, caregiving in a family’s home, participation in a nanny share and occasional child care, such as babysitting or child care during religious services, do not need to abide by the same licensing regulations. Since these types of child care are not licensed, they do not appear in the search options on My Child Care DC.

All licensed child development facilities are included on My Child Care DC. You can do a provider search by the name of the facility, address, location within DC or by features important to you and your family.

Strong Start is DC’s comprehensive and coordinated system for infants and toddlers with developmental delays. This system provides early intervention therapeutic and other services. The Strong Start DC Early Intervention Program serves as the single point of entry for infants and toddlers in Washington, DC, whose families have concerns about their development. If you believe that a child may benefit from Strong Start services or you have questions, please contact the Strong Start team at (202) 727-3665 or [email protected].

To submit a complaint about child development facilities, please call the Complaint and Unusual Incidents Hotline: (202) 727-2993 or send an email to [email protected].Complaints may also be faxed to the Compliance and Integrity Division at (202) 727-7295.

A child development center is a child development facility based in a center, while a child development home provides care in the provider’s home. Child development centers have no maximum number of seats, while child development homes can have up to six children. Expanded child development homes are also located in the provider’s home, but can enroll up to 12 children.

Please see OSSE’s website for more information about the licensing process and requirements for child development providers, including background checks.

Please Click Here for an aggregate, annual report of all child deaths and serious injuries occurring in a child development facility in the District. This report also includes instances of child abuse in child development facilities that OSSE has investigated and confirmed. In addition, each provider profile on My Child Care DC includes substantiated complaints and findings from facilities inspections for that provider.

Capital Quality replaces Going for the Gold, DC’s original QRIS, with a system that measures early care and education program quality and focuses on continuous quality improvement. Capital Quality is not just a new name, it includes more robust information about the quality of the early care and education settings. These changes will allow families to review and compare the quality of various early care and education programs throughout the District, and make informed decisions when deciding where to enroll their child. Please see the Capital Quality page on OSSE’s website for more information about Capital Quality.

Capital Quality Designations:

• Developing: These programs meet children’s basic health and safety standards and there is minimal evidence that the program provides a nurturing environment with supportive interactions (e.g., responsive scheduling, warm/positive interactions) that promotes children’s cognitive, physical and social-emotional development.
• Progressing: These programs meet children’s basic health and safety standards and there is adequate evidence that the program provides a nurturing environment with supportive interactions (e.g., responsive scheduling, warm/positive interactions) that promotes children’s cognitive, physical and social-emotional development.
• Quality: These programs meet children’s basic health and safety standards and there is good evidence that the program provides a nurturing environment with supportive interactions (e.g., responsive scheduling, warm/positive interactions) that promotes children’s cognitive, physical and social-emotional development.
• High-Quality: These programs meet children’s basic health and safety standards and there is considerable evidence that the program provides a nurturing environment with supportive interactions (e.g., responsive scheduling, warm/positive interactions) that promotes children’s cognitive, physical and social-emotional development.
• Preliminary: These programs meet children’s basic health and safety standards. This is an initial designation provided to programs that have just entered the Capital Quality rating system. These programs are still in the process of being rated to determine their Capital Quality designation of Developing, Progressing, Quality or High-Quality.

Right now, only child development facilities who accept child care vouchers are required to participate in Capital Quality. As the District continues to support Capital Quality, the goal is for more providers to choose to participate in the Capital Quality rating system so that families can have equally comparable information for more child development facilities.

To provide the most recent facility inspection reports, My Child Care DC data begins on Oct. 1, 2017. Data is updated in real-time and will be housed for three years at a time.

Employees and volunteers working in licensed child care facilities in the District of Columbia must follow the background check process as outlined and posted on the OSSE website. Residents of the District of Columbia who work in child development facilities outside of the District, such as in Maryland or Virginia, must follow a slightly different process.

Early learning professionals who are District residents working at child development facilities outside of the District must obtain a District of Columbia criminal background check and sex offender registry (SOR) through the District of Columbia’s Metropolitan Police Department .

This record will contain a listing only of adult convictions for which the sentence was completed not more than 10 years before the date on which the records were requested and forfeitures of collateral in a court proceeding that have occurred not more than 10 years before the date on which the record was requested.

Individuals can make a background check in person or via mail.

• Making a Background Check Request in Person
• To obtain requests for records in person, you must make an appointment. Click here to make an appointment .
• To make a request, you will need one of the following:
  • • Driver's License
  • • Non-Driver ID
  • • Original Birth Certificate AND Social Security Card
• There is a $7 fee (cash or money orders only, payable to DC Treasurer; no credit cards or personal checks) to obtain these records.
• On the day of your appointment, report to:
  • Henry J. Daly Building
  • 300 Indiana Avenue NW
  • Room 1075
  • Washington, DC 20001

• Making a Background Check Request Via Mail
• To obtain a background check via mail:
• Write a notarized letter requesting a background check to:
  • Metropolitan Police Department
  • Criminal History Section
  • 300 Indiana Avenue NW, Room 1075
  • Washington, DC 20001
• The letter must include the following information:
  • • Full Name
  • • Date of Birth
  • • Social Security Number
  • • Self-addressed Stamped Envelope
  • • $7 Money Order payable to the DC Treasurer (Checks Not Accepted)
• The letter must be notarized by a Notary Public prior to mailing. Please allow six weeks for processing from the date the request is made. For more information or additional assistance, contact (202) 727-4245.

Federal law states that anyone working in a child care program as an employee or volunteer, who cares for or supervises children or with unsupervised access to children is required to undergo a background check which includes a criminal check and a child abuse and neglect check.

The child abuse and neglect check process for employees and volunteers of child development facilities in the District is as follow:

• • Employees and volunteers working in licensed child development facilities in the District of Columbia must request a child abuse and neglect check for the District of Columbia, the state where they currently reside and every state where they have resided over the past 5 years.
• • In the District of Columbia, the process for child protection register (CPR) check requests is fully electronic. There is no fee required. Applications and current government-issued photo IDs, that include the applicant’s date of birth, must be submitted online by using the DC Human Resources (DCHR) CPR Form: dcgov.seamlessdocs.com/f/dchr_cpr_form.
• • Click here to request a Maryland Child Protective Services Background/Adam Walsh Background Clearance Request.
• • Click here to request a Virginia Child Abuse and Neglect Central Registry clearance.

An applicant may appeal their CPR results. To appeal, the applicant must follow the appeal process for the jurisdiction in which they are listed on the registry. The applicant’s suitability determination case will be closed and the original decision will remain final unless the applicant receives a new CPR result. To request a fair hearing to appeal a CPR result in the District of Columbia, contact Tamara Rutland, Fair Hearings Coordinator, between 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. at (202) 724-3748, (202) 213-9590 or [email protected].