YAKIMA COUNTY - There are more than seven-thousand childcare centers and home daycares licensed in Washington. The Department of Early Learning regulates them to make sure your child's provider is following the rules. "They will always find something, which is good, they need to it keeps us on our toes as well," said Katie Newquist, Director of The Learning Tree Children's Center.

Childcare centers are checked in on once a year, home daycares every 18 months. But if someone files a complaint, the state licensor shows up unannounced to investigate. In a special report, I looked at dozens of daycares in Yakima County. I examined the 3 spots in Yakima County with the most complaints in their state files, whether they were valid, invalid or inconclusive. Complaints can be as simple as not having enough equipment or broken toys. To more severe, like employing a criminal or injuring a child. " There's always an issue with that. You don't want to get complaints, but you do," said Sue Bernier, Owner of Busy Bear Daycare in Selah.

So how does your daycare stack up? Well, it's simple to find out. Just go to the web and with a click of the mouse you can find out how many complaints and what those complaints are that have been leveled against them. Once you're on the DEL's website you just click on the complaint history link. Then you can either put in the daycare's phone number or name and county. Newquist says, " We also have an opportunity to write below that what the reason was. We can explain ourselves if we need to." And Bernier agrees, " A lot of parents will call to make sure, they'll call the DOL to make sure we're on top of things and doing our job right too."

But even with all the tools available, very few parents are using them. " Maybe one or two in the past 3 years have actually asked me about the concerns that have been listed," said Newquist, director of the Learning Tree in Union Gap.

And just as any daycare, she has some complaints in her file: 9 in 2007 and 4 last year. But she says with each of those complaints, it forces her to be even more critical of the center and what they're doing to protect your kids. Ultimately though, it is still up to you, the parent to take charge of your child's safety.

Department of Early Learning Website: http://www.del.wa.gov/