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Pennsylvania Child Care Licensing: A Parent's Guide
A plain-English guide to how child care licensing works in Pennsylvania — who regulates it, how to check any provider's license and public record, and where to find the official state information. Childcare Alerts indexes 6,543 licensed Pennsylvania providers, free.
Who licenses child care in Pennsylvania?
Child care in Pennsylvania is licensed and monitored by the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services. Pennsylvania licenses providers through the Department of Human Services. The COMPASS provider search shows the license, Keystone STARS level, and any negative licensing sanctions.
How to check a provider's license and record
- Search on Childcare Alerts. Look up any Pennsylvania provider by name, city, or ZIP — free. Each page shows what's on the public record in plain English and links to the official state file.
- Read the record. Check the license status and any licensing actions. Not sure what a term means? See violations explained.
- Confirm on the state's own site. Pennsylvania Find Child Care (COMPASS) ↗ is the system of record — always the final word.
What Childcare Alerts shows for Pennsylvania
For Pennsylvania, we surface the provider directory, the Keystone STARS quality rating where available, and a flag on any provider listed under a negative licensing sanction.
See the Pennsylvania child care report and the Pennsylvania deserts map for the statewide picture.
Pennsylvania's quality rating: Keystone STARS
Pennsylvania runs a voluntary quality-rating system called Keystone STARS. A higher rating reflects more of the state's program-quality standards met — but participation is voluntary, so an unrated provider is not necessarily lower quality. We show the rating on a provider's page when the state publishes it.
Before you choose care
The record is one input, not the whole story. See 10 questions to ask on a tour and what accreditation means. A provider with no action on record has not necessarily had a clean history — always open the official record.
Worried a provider is operating without a license, or seen something unsafe? Here's how to report it in Pennsylvania.
Childcare Alerts is an independent service — not affiliated with the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services. We surface public records from official state sources; the official government record always controls, and the absence of a record is not a guarantee of safety.