Licensed child care centers, school‑age programs, and family home providers aim to create safe places where children can learn, explore, and grow. Staff are trained in safety topics like CPR/First Aid, medication rules, and safe sleep.
Even with training, children can still get hurt sometimes because they are naturally curious. Many injuries happen on playgrounds, but having safe spaces, enough adults, and active supervision helps prevent most injuries.
DCYF works to protect children and support child care programs so injuries and deaths are as rare as possible.
Number of Child Fatality & Serious Injury Occurrences
| Type | 10/1/2022 - 9/30/2023 | 10/1/2023 - 9/30/2024 | 10/1/2024 - 9/30/2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Deaths | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Serious injuries | 135 | 202 | 185 |
| Substantiated child abuse incidents | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Total Maximum Possible Capacity of Children in Care by Provider Type/Licensing Status as of Sept. 30, 2025
| Centers | 132,760 |
| Family Homes | 39,866 |
| School-age | 37,093 |
| Outdoor Nature Based | 681 |
| Overall | 210,400 |
Serious Injuries and Fatalities in Child Care
What counts as a “serious injury”
DCYF defines a serious injury as any of the following:
- An injury that requires a child to stay in the hospital overnight
- A major head or neck injury
- Choking or unexpected trouble breathing
- Heavy bleeding
- Shock or sudden confusion
- Loss of consciousness
- Chemicals getting in the eyes, on the skin, or swallowed
- Near‑drowning
- A broken bone
- A severe burn that needs medical treatment
- Poisoning
- Medication overdose
When a serious injury or death happens, the child care program must notify the parents and DCYF. A DCYF licensor then investigates to understand what happened. If a child dies, state law requires a full investigation and a report (RCW 43.216.650). A special committee reviews the case and may recommend changes to child care rules. These recommendations go to DCYF leadership, lawmakers, and the Governor.
If DCYF finds that a provider broke a safety rule, the provider must fix the problem. For example, if a child is hurt on a playground, the provider might be required to add more wood chips under the play equipment.
Substantiated Child Abuse Cases
DCYF runs background checks on people who work in child care. The number of substantiated child abuse cases in the chart refers to providers whose background check status was changed to “disqualified” because they were found to have abused or neglected a child while caring for children unsupervised.
“Substantiated child abuse” means DCYF determined—based on the information available—that it is more likely than not that abuse or neglect happened. These findings count as substantiated if they were made on or after Oct. 1, 1998, and the person had a chance to appeal.
Child Fatality Reviews
No child fatality reviews were done during this reporting period.
