Beginner’s Choice Day Care Center
A licensed child care center in Selbyville, Delaware 19975
38081 Community Ln, Selbyville, Delaware 19975. (302) 436-4460.
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?
3 visits with violations in the last three years, the latest on Mar 16, 2026; Delaware doesn’t list visits that found nothing.
15 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
15 violations in 3 months of the last 36. Last cited Mar 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.
Mar 16, 2026: unannounced Full Compliance Review5 violations
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Ratios, Group Size, and Supervision
“Ensure infants are cared for by staff who are Assistant Teacher, Teacher or Administrator qualified. Specialist noted there were two interns alone with the infants at the visit.”
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Personnel Files
“Ensure staff files are complete. One staff needs Administration of Medication training, OCCL’s Health and Safety Training, application/ resume, job description, references, adult abuse registry check, health appraisal with TB results, service letters or two documented attempts and 2 additional references.”
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Kitchen and Food Preparation
“Ensure stored food is labeled with date of expiration.”
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Outdoor Area
“Ensure gates exiting the playground are self-closing/ self latching. Ensure fall zones have at least 9 inches of material and expand six feet in all directions around play equipment.”
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Lesson Plans
“Ensure lesson plans are posted. School Age classroom needs a posted lesson plan.”
Mar 10, 2025: unannounced Full Compliance Review5 violations
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Child Files
“Ensure child files are complete. One child needs transportation permission. Seven children need a development plan. Two children need a MAR for diaper cream.”
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Hazardous Materials
“Ensure radon testing is done every five years. Current radon expired on 2/13/2025.”
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Kitchen and Food Preparation
“Ensure refrigerators have a thermometer. The refrigerator in the infant room needs a thermometer.”
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Outdoor Area
“Ensure gates are self closing. Gates leading out of the playground are only self latching, not self closing.”
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License Renewal
“Ensure 60 days before license expiration a notarized renewal application is submitted.”
Mar 14, 2024: unannounced Full Compliance Review5 violations
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Child Files
“Ensure child files are complete. Child #2 and #4 need blood lead screening results.”
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Indoor Space
“Ensure garbage cans are covered. The bathroom for both the boys and girls in the school age room need a covered garbage can.”
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Toilet Facilities
“Ensure liquid soap is accessible in all bathrooms. The school age girls bathroom needs soap.”
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Outdoor Area
“Ensure outdoor space has working exit gates with self closing, self latching locks and fall zones have at least 9 inches of material to absorb falls. Specialist noticed the exit gate on the older kids playground was bent and latches on both playgrounds were broken. Mulch on both playgrounds needs to be replenished.”
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Lesson Plans
“Ensure lesson plans are posted in each classroom and there are opportunities for special activities weekly. The school age classroom needs to have a lesson plan posted and each classroom needs to include a healthy habits/food component.”
All 3 visits on record
| Date | Visit | What the record says |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 16, 2026 | Unannounced Full Compliance Review | 5 violations cited |
| Mar 10, 2025 | Unannounced Full Compliance Review | 5 violations cited |
| Mar 14, 2024 | Unannounced Full Compliance Review | 5 violations cited |
Is it licensed?
- Licensed Child Care Center.
- Ages served, in Delaware’s words: 6 weeks through 12 years.
- Takes part in: Purchase of Care (state-subsidized child care).
- Licence number 900294.
- Capacity: 76 children.
Delaware Office of Child Care Licensing, Licensed Child Care Providers and Facilities. Released Oct 23, 2026. Updated daily.
Has Delaware acted against it?
- 3 complaint investigations in the last three years. Results, in Delaware’s words: No Evidence to Substantiate (3).
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 17, 2026 | OCCL Standards Complaint: No Evidence to Substantiate | The Office of Child Care Licensing (OCCL) received a complaint on August 14, 2026, regarding accident/ injury procedures, not following weather guidelines and having each child go outside, not following suspension/expulsion and complaint policies, and lack of respectful communication. An investigation was conducted on August 24, 2026. There is no evidence to substantiate lack of accident/injury reports because staff stated the child was not injured at the center. There is no evidence to substantiate not following weather guidelines and having children go outside because staff stated they follow weather advisories and only keep children in when necessary. There is no evidence to substantiate not following suspension/expulsion and complaint policies because staff stated they work with families who have concerns and did not terminate care; the parent pulled Child #1 from care. There is no evidence to substantiate lack of respectful communication because staff stated they remained calm while the parent yelled at staff. |
| May 20, 2026 | OCCL Standards Complaint: No Evidence to Substantiate | The Office of Child Care Licensing (OCCL) received a complaint on March 30, 2026, regarding not following the suspension/expulsion policies in their handbook. An investigation was conducted on April 9, 2026. There is no evidence to substantiate not following the suspension/expulsion policies in the handbook because the administrator stated they followed all their policies before terminating a child from the center. The licensing specialist confirmed this by reviewing the parent handbook. |
| Jan 22, 2025 | OCCL Standards Complaint: No Evidence to Substantiate | OCCL s investigation of regulatory non-compliance began after clearance from other agencies was received. On December 20, 2024, the Office of Child Care Licensing (OCCL) received a complaint regarding not providing truthful information and having materials used for routine cleaning within the children s reach. An investigation was conducted on January 15, 2025. There is no evidence to substantiate not providing truthful information because the administrator stated parents were informed of the exact details of the incident. There is no evidence to substantiate having materials used for routine cleaning in the children s reach because staff stated the vacuum cleaner is kept in the closet and was only brought out to clean up a quick mess. The staff member did not leave the vacuum unattended but turned her attention to assist another child in the classroom. The vacuum was still next to the staff member. |
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 |
|---|---|
| Children & Families First Head Start Selbyville | Not given |
| YMCA of Delaware/Phillip C. Showell | Not given |
| Kathy M. Collins | Not given |
| The Next Step Learning Center, Inc. | Not given |
| Beginner’s Choice Day Care Center This child care provider | 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 |
| Gigglebugs Early Learning Center, LLC | Not given |
| Boys & Girls Club @ Milford | 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.