Hearth Record

Joanne Colwell

A family child care home in North Branford, Connecticut 06471

5 Clear Lake Rd, North Branford, Connecticut 06471. (203) 530-7254.

Connecticut’s own record, on elicense.ct.gov

Watch and the shortlist are kept with a free account, on every device. Your watch list. Connecticut’s own record is on elicense.ct.gov.

The short answer

Record last released by Connecticut Office of Early Childhood on Nov 5, 2026.

The last 24 months 13 violations in 4 months of the last 36. Last cited Oct 2026. Every month

Each figure’s source sits beside it, in its section below.

What these words mean4
Inspection (survey)
A visit by state inspectors, often unannounced, who check a place against the rules it must meet. For nursing homes and other places Medicare pays, CMS calls these visits surveys: a standard survey of a nursing home comes at least every 15 months, and a complaint survey whenever a complaint calls for one. Source: CMS; 42 CFR 488.308.
Deficiency, citation, violation
What inspectors write up when a place didn’t meet a rule: the rule, what they saw, and when. CMS calls it a deficiency; states may say citation or violation. It is the inspectors’ finding, not a court’s, and the place is usually asked for a plan to correct it. Source: CMS, statement of deficiencies (Form CMS-2567); each state’s licensing agency.
Licence status
Whether the state’s licence lets the place operate now, in the state’s own words: licensed, on probation (allowed to keep operating on conditions, after problems), provisional, pending or expired. Source: Each state’s licensing agency.
Capacity
The most people the licence or certification lets the place care for at once: residents, children, beds or apartments, as the state counts them. It isn’t how many are there now. Source: Each state’s licensing agency.

What did inspectors find?

5 inspections in the last three years, the latest on Oct 22, 2026.

13 violations cited in the last three years.

Source:

Connecticut Office of Early Childhood, Child Care & Youth Camp Licensing Inspections. Released Nov 4, 2026. Updated daily.

Connecticut Office of Early Childhood, Child Care & Youth Camp Licensing Investigations and Child Care & Youth Camp Licensing Violations. Released Nov 5, 2026. Updated daily.

When those violations happened

13 violations in 4 months of the last 36. Last cited Oct 2026. The last 3 years, to Nov 5, 2026.

13 violations by month over the last 3 years. Each cell is one month.
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
2023 Dec
2024 JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
2025 JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
2026 JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNov

Hover or focus a month to read it.

No visit on record Visited, nothing cited A stronger orange is more serious, on its source’s own levels, read onto four bands: from the least serious it publishes to the most
Source:

Hearth Record drew this from the dates and levels in the source’s own records.

Each violation, in its source’s words

Grouped by visit, newest first, with the level its source gave it.

Source:

Connecticut Office of Early Childhood, Child Care & Youth Camp Licensing Violations. Released Nov 5, 2026. Updated daily.

Oct 22, 2026: unannounced inspection (full)1 violation

  • Medical Statement: The provider shall be physically, emotionally and mentally able to handle child care responsibilities and emergencies and shall be free from any mental, emotional or physical health problems which may impair such ability or otherwise adversely affect the children in care. The provider shall furnish to the Office of Early Childhood, medical information and documentation as requested.

    Rule 19a-87b-6(b).

Jan 21, 2026: unannounced inspection (full)3 violations

  • First Aid Certificate: The provider shall maintain a current certificate from an approved course in basic first aid appropriate for child care providers and shall maintain verification of such training on file at the family child care home.

    Rule 19a-87b-6(c)(1).

  • CPR Certificate: The provider shall maintain a current certificate from an approved course in CPR for child care providers and shall maintain verification of such training on file at the family child care home.

    Rule 19a-87b-6(c)(2).

  • First Aid Supplies: The provider shall have at least one portable, readily accessible first aid kit where children are in care, including field trips. Each kit shall be a closed container for storing first aid supplies, accessible to the provider and substitute at all times but out of the reach of children. First aid kits shall contain required supplies and shall be restocked after use.

    Rule 19a-87b-9(m) and/or 19a-87b-9(n).

Jan 24, 2025: unannounced inspection (full)1 violation

  • Background Check: The applicant, provider, prospective employees, assistants, substitutes and each household member shall submit to a comprehensive background check. Such persons shall not have record that the Commissioner reasonably believes renders such person ineligible. The provider shall not employ program staff who have a record the commissioner reasonably believes renders such staff ineligible. The provider shall maintain at the family child care home evidence of compliance with the comprehensive background check requirements. The provider shall make available to the OEC any information obtained concerning comprehensive background checks upon request.

    Rule 19a-87b-8a.

Dec 27, 2023: unannounced inspection (full)8 violations

  • Immunizations: For each child enrolled, the provider shall maintain on file a complete immunization record.

    Rule 19a-87b-10(b)(2)(A)(v) and/or 19a-87b-10(l).

  • Medical Statement: The provider shall be physically, emotionally and mentally able to handle child care responsibilities and emergencies and shall be free from any mental, emotional or physical health problems which may impair such ability or otherwise adversely affect the children in care. The provider shall furnish to the Office of Early Childhood, medical information and documentation as requested.

    Rule 19a-87b-6(b).

  • First Aid Certificate: The provider shall maintain a current certificate from an approved course in basic first aid appropriate for child care providers and shall maintain verification of such training on file at the family child care home.

    Rule 19a-87b-6(c).

  • CPR Certificate: The provider shall maintain a current certificate from an approved course in CPR for child care providers and shall maintain verification of such training on file at the family child care home.

    Rule 19a-87b-6(c).

  • Emergency Evacuation Drills-Quarterly: The provider and staff shall be periodically instructed and kept informed of their duties under the plan and shall practice at least quarterly an emergency evacuation drill. A written log of the practiced drills shall be maintained at the family child care home for one year.

    Rule 19a-87b-9(d)(5).

  • Carbon Monoxide Detector: Family child care homes that utilize combustible fuel shall be equipped with at least one operable carbon monoxide (CO) detector on each occupied level of the home. CO detectors shall comply with the Underwriters Laboratories Standards for Safety and shall be operated in accordance with the manufacturer�s instructions.

    Rule 19a-87b-9(d)(7).

  • Body of Water: When there is a swimming pool or any other bodies of water at the facility or near enough to the facility to attract or be accessible to children at any time of the year, there shall be a sturdy fence or barrier, four (4) feet high or higher, which totally and effectively bars access to the water by the children. All entries and exits through such fence or barrier shall have self-closing, self-latching devices or locks. When an outside wall of the facility that serves as one side of the fence or barrier to the body of water has a doorway, such doorway shall remain locked. Shallow wading pools that are not fenced shall be emptied after each use and shall not collect water. Decorative ponds, fish ponds, fountains or similar bodies of water that do not have a fence or barrier, shall be completely covered with childproofing grate or other barrier to prevent access to children.

    Rule 19a-87b-9(f)(2) and/or 19a-87b-9(f)(4).

  • First Aid Supplies: The provider shall have at least one portable, readily accessible first aid kit where children are in care, including field trips. Each kit shall be a closed container for storing first aid supplies, accessible to the provider and substitute at all times but out of the reach of children. First aid kits shall contain required supplies and shall be restocked after use.

    Rule 19a-87b-9(m) and/or 19a-87b-9(n).

All 5 visits on record
Visits on record
DateVisitWhat the record says
Oct 22, 2026Unannounced inspection (full)1 violation cited
Jan 21, 2026Unannounced inspection (full)3 violations cited
Jan 24, 2025Unannounced inspection (full)1 violation cited
Feb 15, 2024Follow-up visitNo violations cited
Dec 27, 2023Unannounced inspection (full)8 violations cited

Is it licensed?

  • Family Child Care Home, first licensed Aug 8, 1988.
  • Licence DCFH.24985, valid Sep 1, 2026 to Aug 31, 2030.
  • Capacity: 6 children, plus 3 of school age.
Source:

Connecticut Office of Early Childhood, Child Care & Youth Camp Licensing Program Data. Released Nov 5, 2026. Updated daily.

Has Connecticut acted against it?

  • No investigations in the last three years.
Source:

Connecticut Office of Early Childhood, Child Care & Youth Camp Licensing Investigations. Released Nov 5, 2026. Updated daily.

Connecticut Office of Early Childhood, Child Care & Youth Camp Licensing Inspections. Released Nov 4, 2026. Updated daily.

Who does the caring?

  • Connecticut doesn’t publish staffing levels for individual providers.

Who owns it?

  • Connecticut’s open data doesn’t list owners.

How is it rated?

  • Connecticut’s licensing data has no quality rating.

How does it compare nearby?

  • Among 905 child care providers in New Haven County, the middle value for violations cited in the last three years was 9; this one had 13.
Source:

Connecticut Office of Early Childhood, Child Care & Youth Camp Licensing Violations. Released Nov 5, 2026. Updated daily.

11 of the 905 in New Haven County, as the source lists them, same ZIP code first
PlaceViolations cited in the last three years
Nursery on Notch Hill5
Wee Care of North Branford4
Bright Years North Branford22
Precious Treasurers Academy18
Joanne Colwell This child care provider13
Alberta A Delucia17
Country Garden Day Care and Preschool11
Kiddie Kollege Nursery School13
Neighborhood Music School Preschool & Toddler Pgm4
Milford Cooperative Preschool Learning Ctr7
Calvin Hill Day Care Ctr-Klf Kindergarten4
Kindercare Learning Center #07022020

What the record doesn’t say

  • Connecticut doesn’t grade violations by severity, so read what was cited.
  • Connecticut’s open data gives the rule behind each violation, not what the inspector saw.
  • Connecticut doesn’t publish whether a complaint was substantiated, only how each investigation was resolved.
  • Connecticut doesn’t publish staffing levels or owners for individual providers.
  • This page shows Connecticut’s records from the last three years; its open data goes back to 2005.

Sources

If you believe something here is wrong, a correction starts with the agency whose record this copies: Connecticut Office of Early Childhood. Connecticut’s own record is on elicense.ct.gov. If Hearth Record copied something wrongly, it will fix it and log the correction publicly, with its date: how corrections work.

Source:

This copy of the record was made on Nov 5, 2026.

From the provider

The public record above comes first. Anything the provider adds will appear here, below it, and say who wrote it.

Replies

None. Replies aren’t open yet. When they open, the provider will be able to answer any finding for free, and the reply will show beside that finding, unedited and dated.

Paid listing

None. Paid listings aren’t open yet. When they open, anything paid for will say “Paid by the provider”, and paying will never change a finding, a rating or the order of results.

How to read a record

Four things every record does, shown on an example record made up for this guide.

An example record, made up for this guide

An example nursing home

Made up for this guide: no real place is shown

Not fully inspected in over two years (CMS flag)

11 health citations at the latest inspection cycle

The state average is 14.3.

Source:

CMS, State and US Averages and Health Deficiencies. Released Oct 28, 2026. Updated monthly.

From the homeNone yet. Replies and paid listings aren’t open, and when they open they will sit here, below the record.

1 of 4

Every fact names its source.

Who published it, when, and how often it changes sit beside each fact, with a link to the agency’s own file.

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