Childcare Alerts

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Minnesota Child Care Licensing: What the Public Records Show

Childcare Alerts reviewed the official Minnesota licensing record for every licensed child care center in the state and translated it into plain English. This page summarizes what those public records contain. It is a factual overview — not a safety rating of any center.

2,394
licensed child care centers
100%
records reviewed
731
centers with a public action (31%)
1,185
total public licensing actions

Of Minnesota's 2,394 licensed child care centers, 731 (31%) have at least one public licensing action on record — 1,185 actions in all. The large majority of centers have a clean public record. Where actions exist, they range from routine paperwork corrections to serious safety matters, so the type of action matters far more than the raw count.

What kinds of actions appear

Action typeRecordsCentersWhat it means
Fine Order650500A monetary penalty for one or more licensing violations.
Maltreatment Memorandum355240A state investigation into alleged maltreatment of a child.
Correction Order138112The state cited rule violations and required the center to fix them.
Conditional License2316Operating under stricter conditions and closer monitoring after serious findings.
Settlement Agreement1010The provider and the state settled an enforcement matter.
Temporary Immediate Suspension52The state ordered the center to stop operating right away.
Revocation44The state moved to take away the center's license.

A maltreatment memorandum reflects that the state investigated a report; it does not by itself mean maltreatment was substantiated. Always read the official document, linked on each center's page.

Where the records are

Minnesota cities with the most centers carrying a public licensing action:

  1. Minneapolis — 108 of 268 centers have a record
  2. Saint Paul — 46 of 165 centers have a record
  3. Rochester — 25 of 71 centers have a record
  4. Plymouth — 14 of 40 centers have a record
  5. Maple Grove — 13 of 42 centers have a record
  6. Edina — 13 of 36 centers have a record
  7. Minnetonka — 13 of 29 centers have a record
  8. Brooklyn Park — 13 of 21 centers have a record
  9. Duluth — 12 of 50 centers have a record
  10. Eagan — 12 of 39 centers have a record
  11. Eden Prairie — 12 of 30 centers have a record
  12. Maplewood — 12 of 18 centers have a record

Minnesota child care in the news

Recent third-party coverage of Minnesota child care. Headlines link to the original source — these are news reports, not our licensing records.

Coverage is gathered automatically from public news sources and isn't an endorsement; we link out and don't host the articles.

How to check a specific center

Search any Minnesota center by name, city, or ZIP to see its full licensing history in plain English, with a link to the official state document — and follow it to get a free email alert whenever a new public record is posted.

Search a center →

Methodology & source

Center roster: the State of Minnesota's open child care center dataset. Licensing actions: official public documents released by the Minnesota Department of Children, Youth & Families (DCYF). Childcare Alerts surfaces and summarizes these public records; the official government record always controls, and the absence of a record is not a guarantee of safety. Figures update as new records are published. Childcare Alerts is an independent service and is not affiliated with the State of Minnesota or DCYF.