Inspection records · Arizona
What Arizona daycare inspectors cite
Arizona inspectors cited at least one rule at 96% of the 2,515 daycares they visited since October 2023. Health rules are cited most often, and the single rule cited at the most daycares is about the fence around outdoor play areas: 853 of them.
- Daycares visited
- 2,515
- Visits in the records
- 10,525
- Had at least one rule cited
- 96%
- Median cited rules per daycare
- 12
How it works
How daycare inspections work in Arizona
The Arizona Department of Health Services, Bureau of Child Care Licensing, licenses child care centers and small group homes and inspects them. Since October 2023 it made 10,525 visits to the daycares listed here: mostly routine inspections, plus 1,308 complaint investigations.
Arizona inspectors write out what they found for nearly every cited rule, so a finding names the rule and describes what was wrong, such as a missing outlet cover or an incomplete sign-in sheet. Inspectors check many small things on each visit, which is why most Arizona daycares have several cited rules over three years.
- Who inspects: Arizona Department of Health Services, Bureau of Child Care Licensing.
- Routine visits: Arizona reported inspecting licensed centers once a year, without notice (national survey of state licensing agencies, 2017).
- Visits in the records since October 2023: 8,669 inspections, 1,308 complaint investigations, 548 other visits, at 2,515 daycares (2,239 centers and 276 home daycares).
- Records on each listing go back to: 2023.
How common
How often inspectors cite a rule
- of the 2,515 daycares visited had at least one rule cited
- 96%
- cited rules for the middle daycare over three years
- 12
These figures describe Arizona's own inspection records since October 2023. States write and cite their rules in different ways, so a figure here cannot be compared with another state's. A cited rule is one finding at one visit, not a rating of a daycare.
What gets cited
What Arizona's cited rules are about
Share of the 43,593 rules cited since October 2023, sorted into plain groups.
Health rules are the largest group: health, medication and illness made up 25.2% of the rules Arizona inspectors cited, and 82% of the daycares visited had at least one. These include children's emergency and immunization cards and stocked, working bathrooms.
Safety and hazards (15%) and the building, equipment and play areas (14.7%) come next, each cited at three in four daycares or more. Records and paperwork follow at 11.7%. Supervision and ratio rules are a smaller share (5.6%), but 38% of the daycares visited had one cited.
Most cited
The rule areas Arizona cites most
Ordered by how many daycares had the rule cited since October 2023. The wording is the state's rule; no daycare is named here.
- Building, equipment and play areas853 daycares (33.9% of those visited)
A secure fence around the outdoor play area
The state's rule: AAC R9-5-603.C. C. Except as provided in subsection (D), a licensee shall ensure that an outdoor activity area:1. Is enclosed by a fence: a. A minimum of 4 feet high; b. Secured to the ground; and c. With either vertical
An outdoor play area must be fenced at least 4 feet high, fixed to the ground and without gaps a child could slip through. A citation means an inspector found a gap, a damaged section or something else that let the fence fall short.
Ask on a tour: Can I walk the playground fence and see the gates children use?
- Health, medication and illness844 daycares (33.6% of those visited)
An emergency and immunization card for every child
The state's rule: AAC R9-5-304.B. B. Except as required in A.R.S. § 36-3009, before an enrolled child receives child care services, a licensee shall require the enrolled child’s parent to complete a Department-provided Emergency, Informat
Before a child starts, the parent must fill in the state's emergency, information and immunization card. A citation means one or more children's cards were missing or incomplete, such as a second emergency contact or the doctor's details.
Ask on a tour: Can I check what you have on file for my child, including emergency contacts?
- Health, medication and illness683 daycares (27.2% of those visited)
Stocked, working bathrooms
The state's rule: AAC R9-5-512.F. F. A licensee shall ensure that:1. Each toilet room in a facility contains, within easy reach of enrolled children: a. Mounted toilet tissue; and b. Except as provided in subsection (G): i. A sink with ru
Each toilet room needs mounted toilet paper, a sink with running water, soap and towels within a child's reach, all in working order. A citation can mean a missing dispenser, an empty soap pump or a toilet or sink that did not work.
Ask on a tour: Can I see the bathroom my child would use?
- Safety and hazards677 daycares (26.9% of those visited)
A current fire inspection report on site
The state's rule: AAC R9-5-309.C. C. A licensee shall maintain on facility premises: 1. A current fire inspection report including documentation of any repairs or corrections required by the fire inspection report; and 2. If there are gas
A daycare must keep a current fire inspection report, with proof of any repairs it asked for, and a gas inspection where gas is used. A citation means the report was out of date or could not be shown when the inspector asked.
Ask on a tour: When was your last fire inspection, and can I see the report?
- Safety and hazards629 daycares (25% of those visited)
A building kept free of hazards
The state's rule: AAC R9-5-501.A.12. A. A licensee shall ensure that: 12. The facility premises, including the buildings, are maintained free from hazards;
The rooms, building and grounds must be kept free of anything that could hurt a child. Citations cover things like uncovered outlets, exposed wires or unsafe equipment in a classroom.
Ask on a tour: How often do staff walk the rooms and the yard looking for hazards?
- Building, equipment and play areas625 daycares (24.9% of those visited)
Soft ground under swings and climbers
The state's rule: AAC R9-5-603.E. E. A licensee shall ensure that the following is provided and maintained within the fall zones of swings and climbing equipment in an outdoor activity area:1. A shock-absorbing unitary surfacing material
The fall zones under swings, slides and climbing equipment need enough soft, shock-absorbing surface. A citation usually means the surface was too thin or had packed down hard.
Ask on a tour: What is under the climbing equipment, and how often do you check its depth?
- Records and paperwork595 daycares (23.7% of those visited)
Knowing which children are in each area
The state's rule: AAC R9-5-306.B. B. A licensee shall: 1. Develop, document, and implement policies and procedures to ensure that a staff member maintains daily documentation of the presence of an enrolled child in an activity area that i
Staff must keep a daily record of which children are in each activity area, and it must match who is really there. A citation means the roster and the children in a room or on the playground did not match.
Ask on a tour: How do staff keep count of the children when a class moves outside or to another room?
- Records and paperwork588 daycares (23.4% of those visited)
Signing children in and out
The state's rule: AAC R9-5-306.A. A. A licensee shall maintain a dated attendance form containing an enrolled child’s name with the time of each admission and release of the enrolled child. 1. Except as provided in subsection (A)(2), a li
A daycare must keep a dated attendance form with each child's arrival and pick-up times. A citation means sign-in or sign-out entries were missing or incomplete.
Ask on a tour: How do you record when my child arrives and who picks them up?
On the tour
What to ask when you visit
Health rules lead Arizona's citations, so ask to see a bathroom and ask how the daycare keeps each child's emergency card current. Then walk the playground: look at the fence and the soft surface under the climbers.
The roster rules matter too. Ask how staff keep count of children as groups move from room to room or outside, and watch how they do it while you are there.
The full tour checklist for Arizona puts these questions on one printable page.
On each listing
How to read a daycare's record
Each Arizona listing on DaycarePal shows the state's inspection visits for that daycare, with each cited rule and the inspector's own description of what was wrong. Because inspectors check many small items, a list of cited rules is normal; the middle Arizona daycare had 12 over three years.
Read what each finding says rather than counting them. A playground surface that needed topping up says less than a roster that did not match the children in the room. The records we carry do not show when each problem was fixed, so ask the director about anything that worries you and what changed after it.
More detail: how to read a daycare inspection report. Find a daycare's record on its listing from daycares in Arizona, or search the state's records.
Questions
Questions about Arizona daycare inspections
How often are Arizona daycares inspected?
Arizona reported inspecting licensed centers once a year without notice, and group homes twice a year, in a 2017 national survey of state licensing agencies. Since October 2023, Arizona made 10,525 visits to the 2,515 daycares listed here.
How do I look up an Arizona daycare's inspection report?
Open the daycare's listing on DaycarePal and go to its inspection section, or search Arizona's child care licensing records by name or city.
Why do so many Arizona daycares have a cited rule?
96% of the Arizona daycares visited since October 2023 had at least one rule cited, because inspectors check many small items on each visit, from soap dispensers to sign-in sheets. What was cited matters more than how many.
Does a cited rule mean a daycare is unsafe?
No. A cited rule is one finding at one visit. Read the inspector's description: a missing paper towel holder and a gap in the playground fence are both citations, but they are not the same.
What do Arizona inspectors cite most?
Health, medication and illness rules, at 25.2% of all cited rules since October 2023. The single rule cited at the most daycares, 853 of them, covers the fence around outdoor play areas.
Source: Arizona Department of Health Services, Bureau of Child Care Licensing, inspection records October 2023 to September 2026, for the daycares listed on DaycarePal. Inspection schedule: National Database of Child Care Licensing Regulations (ACF), from a 2017 survey of state licensing agencies.