Lj’s Playpen Academy
A licensed child care center in Wilmington, Delaware 19802
2601 Carter Street, Wilmington, Delaware 19802. (302) 764-5853.
- Intent to Revoke (Delaware)
Watch and the shortlist are kept with a free account, on every device. Your watch list. Delaware’s own record is on data.delaware.gov.
The short answer
Record last released by Delaware Office of Child Care Licensing on Oct 23, 2026.
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?
1 visit with violations in the last three years, the latest on Feb 20, 2024; Delaware doesn’t list visits that found nothing.
19 violations cited in the last three years.
Delaware Office of Child Care Licensing, Child Care Licensing Compliance Review Information. Released Oct 23, 2026. Updated daily.
When those violations happened
19 violations in 1 month of the last 36. Last cited Feb 2024. The last 3 years, to Oct 24, 2026.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Nov | Dec | ||||||||||
| 2024 | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
| 2025 | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
| 2026 | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct |
Hover or focus a month to read it.
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.
Delaware Office of Child Care Licensing, Child Care Licensing Compliance Review Information. Released Oct 23, 2026. Updated daily.
Feb 20, 2024: unannounced Full Compliance Review19 violations
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Staff Qualifications
“The one’s teacher does not have a DEEDS certificate and was alone with 2 children. the two’s and three’s teachers do not have a DEEDS certificate and had 6 children. Have Staff #1, 2, and 3 apply for their DEEDS certificates and send a picture of application submission to OCCL.”
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Staffing
“Ensure there is one staff member trained in day to day operations and send documentation to OCCL.”
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Ratios, Group Size, and Supervision
“Ensure proper ratio’s and supervision are maintained. The one’s teacher does not have a DEEDS certificate and was alone with 2 children. The two’s and three’s teachers do not have a DEEDS certificate and had 6 children. Have Staff #1, 2, and 3 apply for their DEEDS certificates and send a picture of application submission to OCCL.”
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General Qualifications
“Ensure staff are fingerprinted and determined eligible before start of employment. Staff #7 and 8 started employment without being determined eligible by the Criminal History Unit. Review regulation 28 and send a signed acknowledgement of this regulation to OCCL.”
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Personnel Files
The inspectors’ words, 93 words
“Ensure staff files are complete. Staff #2 needs annual review of safe sleep and OCCL’s Health and Safety Training. Staff #3 needs a professional development plan, orientation form, and 4 references and a returned service letter or 2 documented attempts at sending the service letter. Staff #4 and 5 need a professional development plan. Staff #6 needs a professional development plan, review of safe sleep, OCCL Health and Safety training, job description, release of employment and service letter or 2 documented attempts. Staff #7 needs an attempted service letter or 2 documented attempts.”
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Staff Attendance
“Ensure staff sign in/out is accurately documented in each classroom. Staff do not sign in/out for each classroom as there is only a building attendance sheet. Submit documentation showing staff signing in and out of each classroom to OCCL.”
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Child Files
“Ensure child files are complete. Submit date of enrollment/hours and days of attendance for Children #2, 3, 4, 5, and 7. Submit health appraisal for Child #3, along with immunizations and their blood lead screening. Submit blood lead screening for Child #7. Submit infant feeding schedule for Children #2, 4, and 5. Submit developmental plans for Children 1-7.”
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Children’s Attendance
“Ensure accurate attendance is being maintained. The infant room did not have a sign-in/out sheet. There were 4 children signed in the ones room, but only 2 children were present. One child was removed and not signed out. The two’s room had 7 children signed in and 6 children were present. The fours room had 6 children signed in and 5 children present. Send 2 weeks attendance for all classrooms to OCCL.”
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Hazardous Materials
“Ensure hazardous materials are stored inaccessible to children. The ones/infant classroom had ant/mice poison traps in the cabinet, which was not locked. There was bug spray in the hallway of the ones classroom. Take a picture of hazards stored and locked away to OCCL.”
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Heating and Cooling
“Ensure the heating system is properly installed. The movie room downstairs reads 59 degrees, and the library/fours room reads 62 degrees. Send a picture of thermometer showing appropriate temperature to OCCL. Ensure there are no floor heaters available. There was one floor heater in the fours room. Send a picture of heater removed from the classroom to OCCL.”
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Indoor Space
“Replace ceiling tiles and wooden table in the library and send a picture to OCCL. Place lid on trashcan in the library and send to OCCL.”
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Kitchen and Food Preparation
“Ensure all open foods are labeled. The mixed fruit in the kitchen was open and not labeled. Send a picture of labeled fruit to OCCL. Ensure food/milk is not expired. The kitchen had a couple of expired cans of fruit and milk. Send picture of food/milk with up to date expirations.”
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Toilet Facilities
“Fix faucet in the children’s bathroom and send a video of running water to OCCL.”
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Outdoor Area
“Ensure there are no hazards outside. Remove all broken equipment on both sides of the playground, fix cracked slide, and remove all standing water. Send a picture of outdoor area to OCCL with corrections.”
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Equipment
“Ensure there are science and music materials in the infant and ones room. Send a picture of materials to OCCL.”
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Diapering and Soiled Clothing
“Ensure diaper changing mat is not ripped. The mat in the one year old room is ripped. Replace mats and send a picture to OCCL.”
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Feeding of Infants
“Ensure all infant bottles are labeled. Ensure all infants have an infant feeding schedule.”
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Lesson Plans
“Ensure school-age room has a calendar of activities or a lesson plan. Send a picture of calendar to OCCL.”
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Infant and Toddler Care
“Ensure all infants have a daily log documenting sleep checks, feeding, and diapering. Ensure there is adult seating in the infant room.”
The one visit on record
| Date | Visit | What the record says |
|---|---|---|
| Feb 20, 2024 | Unannounced Full Compliance Review | 19 violations cited |
Is it licensed?
- Licensed Child Care Center.
- Ages served, in Delaware’s words: 6 weeks through 12 years.
- Takes part in: Child Care Food Program (meals reimbursed), Purchase of Care (state-subsidized child care).
- Licence number 641907.
- Capacity: 115 children.
Delaware Office of Child Care Licensing, Licensed Child Care Providers and Facilities. Released Oct 23, 2026. Updated daily.
Has Delaware acted against it?
- 1 complaint investigation in the last three years. Results, in Delaware’s words: No Evidence to Substantiate with Concern (1).
- Delaware has given notice: Intent to Revoke.
Delaware Office of Child Care Licensing, Child Care Licensing Complaint Reviews and Licensed Child Care Providers and Facilities. Released Oct 23, 2026. Updated daily.
| Date | What | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Intent to Revoke | Delaware has given notice: Intent to Revoke. | |
| Jul 15, 2024 | OCCL Standards Complaint: No Evidence to Substantiate with Concern | The Office of Child Care Licensing (OCCL) received a complaint on June 21, 2024, regarding concerns of an ant infestation, improper staff-to-child ratios, and unqualified staff members working alone with children. An investigation began on June 26, 2024, and concluded on July 7, 2024. There is no evidence to substantiate this complaint for an ant infestation based on observation of the center. There were a few ants observed throughout six areas of the center, but not enough to be considered an infestation. There is no evidence to substantiate this complaint for improper staff-to-child ratios or unqualified staff members working alone with children based on observation of the classrooms and observation of attendance records for the week of July 1, 2024. All classrooms were within staff-to-child ratio at this visit. An additional concern noted at this visit was inaccurate staff attendance records. At the time of this visit, all attendance records were stapled together and being held in the office, and staff members were not signed into their respective classrooms. |
Who does the caring?
- Delaware doesn’t publish staffing levels for individual providers.
Who owns it?
- Delaware’s open data doesn’t list owners.
How is it rated?
- No facility injuries reported. No facility deaths reported.
Delaware Office of Child Care Licensing, Licensed Child Care Providers and Facilities. Released Oct 23, 2026. Updated daily.
How does it compare nearby?
- Providers aren’t compared: Delaware lists only the visits that found violations, so a count can’t tell a clean record from one never visited.
Delaware Office of Child Care Licensing, Child Care Licensing Compliance Review Information. Released Oct 23, 2026. Updated daily.
| Place | Violations cited in the last three years |
|---|---|
| Lj’s Playpen Academy This child care provider | Not given |
| Kool Kids Learning Center | Not given |
| Chosen Children Child Care, LLC | Not given |
| Donna Nichols | Not given |
| Carter’s Child Care and Learning Center | Not given |
| Shining Stars Childcare Inc. | Not given |
| My Children Childcare Center, LLC | Not given |
| Lily Dollard | Not given |
| Little Hearts Childcare, LLC | Not given |
| Little Legends Learning & Family Development Center | Not given |
| Boys & Girls Club @ Warner Elementary | Not given |
| Brandy Moore | Not given |
| The Choir School of Delaware | Not given |
What the record doesn’t say
- Delaware doesn’t grade violations by severity, so read what was cited.
- Delaware’s open data lists a visit only when a violation was cited there, so visits that found nothing aren’t shown.
- Delaware publishes five years of reviews and complaints; this page shows the last three.
- Delaware doesn’t publish staffing levels or owners for individual providers.
- Delaware lists only the visits that found violations, so a provider with none listed may not have been visited at all: no count of violations is used to headline, filter or compare its providers.
Sources
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Delaware Office of Child Care Licensing, Licensed Child Care Providers and Facilities (iuzd-3dbt).
Released Oct 23, 2026 and checked Oct 24, 2026. Updated daily. Public Domain.
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Delaware Office of Child Care Licensing, Child Care Licensing Compliance Review Information (wb83-pkcv).
Released Oct 23, 2026 and checked Oct 24, 2026. Updated daily. Public Domain.
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Delaware Office of Child Care Licensing, Child Care Licensing Complaint Reviews (pnbd-85r6).
Released Oct 23, 2026 and checked Oct 24, 2026. Updated daily. Public Domain.
If you believe something here is wrong, a correction starts with the agency whose record this copies: Delaware Office of Child Care Licensing. Delaware’s own record is on data.delaware.gov. If Hearth Record copied something wrongly, it will fix it and log the correction publicly, with its date: how corrections work.
This copy of the record was made on Oct 24, 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.