Data App: Day Care Danger

More than 120 federally subsidized day care centers had their licenses denied or revoked by the state for violations of regulations and minimum standards in the last two years, according to a Texas Tribune analysis. 

Our latest data application maps these locations and allows users to drill down into the records by the provider name, location or action taken by the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services. A more detailed description of the violations, which include child injuries and deaths, is available in a few dozen cases examined by the Tribune. Select a provider name to see more information about it.

This simple app, of course, includes only a small fraction of the state's day care centers, many of which do not receive federal subsidies from the Texas Workforce Commission, which helps low-income parents find employment. The commission halted subsidies to these child care facilities the moment their licenses were revoked or denied. The funding listed in the app is the amount the child care provider received in 2008 and 2009 before having their license stripped.  

The troubled day care providers in the app, as expected, are concentrated in urban areas, especially in and around Houston and Dallas. But they are also sprinkled through the state, as evidenced by the map.