Talk to your child care provider

If you have concerns about your child’s care, your first step is to talk to the staff or your child care provider. You should:

  • schedule a time with your child care provider to talk about your concerns (that way, both you and the staff or child care provider will be ready to talk)
  • be prepared and make notes ahead of time about your concerns
  • be clear about what’s being said (if you need clarification or have concerns about your child care provider’s response, ask them to explain it further)
  • arrange a follow-up meeting (if necessary)

The Ministry of Education is responsible for administering and enforcing the Child Care and Early Years Act, 2014 (CCEYA), which is the law governing child care in Ontario.

Complaints about child care providers should be made to the Ministry of Education.

Make a complaint

To report a complaint about licensed child care centre, licensed home child care agency, home provider who has an agreement with a licensed child care agency or an unlicensed child care provider, please contact us:

Telephone: 1-877-510-5333
Email: childcare_ontario@ontario.ca

What information to include

When making a complaint, please give as much as information as you can. This will make it easier for the Ministry of Education to look into your complaint. Please do not include any names or other identifying information about children if you are not the parent of the child/children the complaint is about.

Please include:

  • name of the home child care provider or child care centre or home child care agency
  • address where child care is provided
  • a description of your concern, including relevant dates and course of events

Search for a violation

Find out if a child care provider (licensed or unlicensed) in Ontario has a confirmed violation under the Child Care and Early Years Act, 2014 such as:

  • providing unlicensed child care to more than five children under the age of 13 years (including their own children who are under the age of four years)
  • providing unlicensed child care to more than three children under the age of two years (including their own children)
  • providing home child care at more than one premises
  • providing home child care under an agreement with a home child care agency for more than six children under the age of 13 years (including their own children under the age of four years)
  • obstruction of an inspector conducting an inspection of an unlicensed or licensed child care provider

You can also find out if a child care provider was issued a compliance order, protection order or administrative penalty or if they were convicted of an offence under the CCEYA.

Search the child care violations registry

How it works

You can use the registry to search for child care violations recorded and verified against:

  • unlicensed child care providers since January 2012
  • licensed providers since August 2015

Search by entering:

  • the individual’s name
  • business name
  • address

Your privacy

You are not required to provide personal information when you make a complaint. If you do, the ministry will not disclose it to the child care provider/program during the follow-up process. However, the program may be able to identify you based on the nature of the complaint.

While you are not required to provide your personal information, if the ministry has your personal information (such as your name, address, telephone number and/or email), ministry staff can contact you to get more information, if needed, and follow up with you after the complaint has been investigated.

Personal information provided in connection with a complaint is collected under the authority of the Child Care and Early Years Act, 2014.

There are some situations where the ministry may disclose your information. For example, the ministry may decide to disclose your personal information to other organizations, such as local police services or public health units, to allow them to investigate the complaint. In addition, the ministry is required to disclose information to children’s aid societies to allow them to investigate if there are reasonable grounds to suspect that a child is in need of protection. The ministry may also be required to disclose your information if the investigation of your complaint results in a hearing or prosecution involving the child care provider/program.

If you do not consent to the collection of your personal information, please do not include any personal information when making a complaint.

If you have any questions about the collection of your personal information, you can contact the Manager, Policy and Program Coordination Unit at 647-964-1825 or by mail at 77 Wellesley Street West, Box 980, Toronto ON M7A 1N3.