Little Cats’ Daycare
A licensed child care center in Riceville, Iowa
Watch and the shortlist are kept with a free account, on every device. Your watch list. Iowa’s own record is on secureapp.dhs.state.ia.us.
The short answer
Each figure’s source sits beside it, in its section below.
What these words mean3
- 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.
What did inspectors find?
Iowa lists 10 reports: 5 compliance reports and 5 regulation checklists, the latest dated Mar 15, 2026.
On its 4 regulation checklists from the last three years, Iowa marked 9 rules not met, 1 of them on the latest, on Mar 15, 2026.
What its other reports found is in each one, linked with it; this page doesn’t count it.
Iowa Department of Health and Human Services, Childcare Compliance and Complaint Reports and Regulation checklists (PDF), Childcare Compliance and Complaint Reports. Checked Oct 19, 2026. Updated daily.
Each deficiency, in its source’s words
Grouped by visit, newest first, with the level its source gave it.
Iowa Department of Health and Human Services, Regulation checklists (PDF), Childcare Compliance and Complaint Reports. Checked Oct 19, 2026. Updated daily.
Mar 15, 2026: regulation checklist1 deficiency
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Center must have safe outdoor program area adjacent to the center, with sufficient square footage to accommodate at least 30 percent of the enrollment capacity at any one time at 75 spear feet per child. Outdoor space must: •Be free from litter and unsafe materials and free from contamination by the drainage or ponding of sewage or storm water. •Include safe play equipment and an area of shade. •Include fencing to protect from bodies of water or vehicular traffic.
Apr 21, 2025: regulation checklist6 deficiencies
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109.10(1)a
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Center shall ensure that: 1.Facility and premises are sanitary, safe, and hazard free. 2.Adequate indoor and outdoor space is provided. The outdoor area shall include safe play equipment and area of shade. 3.Sufficient space provided for dining. 4.Sufficient lighting shall be provided. 5.Sufficient ventilation. 6.Sufficient heating. 7.sufficient cooling. 8.Sufficient bathroom and diapering facilities. 9.Equipment, including kitchen appliances, are maintained so as not to result in burns, shock, or injury to children. 10.Sanitation and safety procedures for the center are developed and implemented to reduce risk or injury or harm to children and reduce transmission of disease.
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•Sufficient toilet articles are provided for handwashing. •Sufficient and safe indoor play equipment, materials, and furniture that conforms with CPSC or ASTM. •Play equipment, materials, and furniture meet the developmental, activity, and special needs of the children. •Room’s arrangement does not obstruct the direct observation of children. •Individual covered mats, beds, or cots, and appropriate bedding is provided for all children who nap. •Procedures are developed and implemented to maintain equipment and materials in a sanitary manner. •Sufficient spacing is maintained between equipment to reduce transmission of disease and allow ease of movement by children and staff to respond to activities and care needs. •Sanitary procedures are followed for use and storage of personal hygiene articles.
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Center repeats national criminal history checks at a minimum of every four years or when aware of additional history that occurs.
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All files contain a pre-employment physical exam report completed within six months prior to hire and at least every three years. Physical exams shall be documented on form 470- 5152, Child Care Provider Physical Examination Report.
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Any child with allergies, a written emergency plan. Copy shall accompany child if they leave the premises.
Mar 24, 2024: regulation checklist2 deficiencies
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•Sufficient toilet articles are provided for handwashing. •Sufficient and safe indoor play equipment, materials, and furniture that conforms with CPSC or ASTM. •Play equipment, materials, and furniture meet the developmental, activity, and special needs of the children. •Room’s arrangement does not obstruct the direct observation of children. •Individual covered mats, beds, or cots, and appropriate bedding is provided for all children who nap. •Procedures are developed and implemented to maintain equipment and materials in a sanitary manner. •Sufficient spacing is maintained between equipment to reduce transmission of disease and allow ease of movement by children and staff to respond to activities and care needs. •Sanitary procedures are followed for use and storage of personal hygiene articles.
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•Sanitary and safe methods in food preparation, serving, and storage sufficient to prevent transmission of disease, infestation, and spoilage are followed. •Staff preparing food that have injuries on hands wear protective gloves. •Staff serving food use clean serving utensils and have clean hands/wear protective gloves.
All 10 visits on record
| Date | Visit | What the record says |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 15, 2026 | Child Care Center Evaluation and Recommendation for License | Findings are in Iowa’s report |
| Mar 15, 2026 | Regulation checklist | 1 rule marked not met |
| Mar 15, 2026 | Regulation checklist | No rule marked met or not met |
| Apr 21, 2025 | Child Care Center Evaluation and Recommendation for License | Findings are in Iowa’s report |
| Apr 21, 2025 | Regulation checklist | 6 rules marked not met |
| Mar 24, 2024 | Child Care Center Evaluation and Recommendation for License | Findings are in Iowa’s report |
| Mar 24, 2024 | Regulation checklist | 2 rules marked not met |
| Dec 21, 2023 | Child Care Center Evaluation and Recommendation for License | Findings are in Iowa’s report |
| Mar 21, 2023 | Child Care Center Evaluation and Recommendation for License | Findings are in Iowa’s report |
| Mar 21, 2023 | Regulation checklist | Findings are in Iowa’s report |
Is it licensed?
- Licensed Center, Iowa provider number 51683.
Iowa Department of Health and Human Services, Childcare Compliance and Complaint Reports. Checked Oct 19, 2026. Updated daily.
Has Iowa acted against it?
- Iowa’s report list doesn’t show enforcement actions; any are written in the reports themselves.
Who does the caring?
- Iowa’s report list doesn’t show staffing. State rules set staff-to-child ratios by age.
Who owns it?
- Iowa’s report list doesn’t name owners.
How is it rated?
- Iowa’s quality rating (IQ4K) isn’t in its report list, so it isn’t shown here.
How does it compare nearby?
- Providers aren’t compared: Iowa’s checklists don’t cover every visit, and complaint findings aren’t on them.
| Place | |
|---|---|
| Little Cats’ Daycare This child care provider | Not given |
What the record doesn’t say
- Findings here are the rules Iowa’s regulation checklists from the last three years mark as not met, in the checklists’ own words. What evaluations, letters and complaint investigations found is in those reports, linked with each one, and isn’t counted here.
- Iowa lists a report once it is written up: most within two weeks of the visit, some six weeks or more after it, so a recent visit may not be listed yet.
- Each report is dated the day Iowa created it, which can be weeks after the visit; a checklist is dated the day of the inspection it records.
- Iowa’s report list gives only a provider’s city and county, not its street address, ZIP code or phone number.
- Iowa’s report list doesn’t show quality ratings (IQ4K), capacity, ages served, hours, owners or enforcement actions.
Sources
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Iowa Department of Health and Human Services, Childcare Compliance and Complaint Reports.
Checked Oct 19, 2026. Updated daily. No licence stated.
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Iowa Department of Health and Human Services, Regulation checklists (PDF), Childcare Compliance and Complaint Reports.
Checked Oct 19, 2026. Updated daily. No licence stated.
If you believe something here is wrong, a correction starts with the agency whose record this copies: Iowa Department of Health and Human Services. Iowa’s own record is on secureapp.dhs.state.ia.us. 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 19, 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.