First Steps Preschool, LLC
A licensed child care center in Lincoln, Delaware 19960
10037 Dupont Boulevard, Lincoln, Delaware 19960. (302) 422-6565.
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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?
3 visits with violations in the last three years, the latest on Jun 23, 2026; Delaware doesn’t list visits that found nothing.
9 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
9 violations in 3 months of the last 36. Last cited Jun 2026. 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.
Jun 23, 2026: unannounced Full Compliance Review4 violations
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Child Files
“Ensure child files are complete. One child needs blood lead screening, parents right to know notice, and screen time permission. One child needs a health appraisal land immunization record. One child needs an updated health appraisal.”
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Indoor Space
“Ensure all sinks supply hot and cold water. The automatic sink in the school-age classroom and the automatic sink in the two-year-old classroom were observed to not supply hot water.”
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Toilet Facilities
“Ensure each toilet room has at least one sink with running water. The sinks in the two bathrooms located in the hallway were turned off. The owner stated the sinks are turned off to discourage the children from playing in the water, to ensure proper handwashing, and to cut down on the time spent in the bathrooms. She stated handwashing occurs at the sink located in the school-age classroom.”
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Outdoor Area
“Ensure fall zone material is under all climbing equipment designed for the children’s feet to leave the ground. Move the little tikes slide from the grass area in the toddler outdoor play area to the mulch fall zone.”
Jun 4, 2025: unannounced Full Compliance Review2 violations
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Personnel Files
“Ensure staff files are complete. Staff #1 needs nine hour annual training hours, one in health and safety, medication certification and an annuall abuse and neglect review.”
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Child Files
“Child #2 needs blood lead test results. Child #9 needs an updated health appraisal.”
Jun 4, 2024: unannounced Full Compliance Review3 violations
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Personnel Files
“Staff #1 needs OCCL Health and Safety training, two reference letters and a health appraisal w/TB Staff #2 needs OCCL Health and Safety training and comprehensive background check Staff #3 needs one additional reference letter Staff #4 (not determined) needs 2 hours in health and safety training”
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Child Files
“Ensure child files are complete Child #1,5,7 and 13 need blood lead test results”
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Outdoor Area
“Add mulch to the fall zones where the children’s feet leave the ground”
All 3 visits on record
| Date | Visit | What the record says |
|---|---|---|
| Jun 23, 2026 | Unannounced Full Compliance Review | 4 violations cited |
| Jun 4, 2025 | Unannounced Full Compliance Review | 2 violations cited |
| Jun 4, 2024 | Unannounced Full Compliance Review | 3 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 672760.
- Capacity: 71 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: Substantiated (1).
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Dec 29, 2025 | OCCL Standards Complaint: Substantiated | The Office of Child Care Licensing (OCCL) received a complaint on November 13, 2025, regarding the center not following their stated open-door policy, not following the termination policy, accident injury procedures, and not being respectful. An investigation was conducted on November 25, 2025. This complaint is substantiated for accident injury procedures and not following the open-door policy because a head injury occurred and the parent/guardian was not notified immediately, and parents/guardian are not permitted into the building at drop-off and pick-up as multiple parents were observed waiting outside until their children were brought to the door for pick up. There is no evidence to substantiate the allegations that staff are not respectful, and do not follow the center s termination policy based on staff interviews and the written parent handbook policies. |
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 |
|---|---|
| Love Drives Mckenzie Campus | Not given |
| Nahomi’s Childcare | Not given |
| Happyland Childcare Site #1 | Not given |
| Norma Larrimore | Not given |
| Ashley’s Christian Center | Not given |
| First Steps Preschool, LLC This child care provider | Not given |
| Tynetta Mullen | Not given |
| Lullaby Learning Center, Inc. | Not given |
| Tops Childcare LLC | Not given |
| Children’s Place Child Development Center | Not given |
| Beach Buddies School Age Program | Not given |
| Little Einstein’s Preschool - Millsboro | 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
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Paid listing
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