Child care records

File HF-CA

Child care software in California.

Community Care Licensing, inside the Department of Social Services, is the Title 22 floor. State preschool also follows Title 5, which is stricter, and those two files are not interchangeable. Quality Counts California is a framework counties run locally. A Los Angeles quality coach and a Sacramento coach are not holding the same binder. Use the ratio on your license.

Licensor
California Department of Social Services
Quality system
Quality Counts California
Subsidy name
child care subsidies and state preschool contracts

What a visit in California usually asks to see

Family child care and centers are usually licensed on different rules, with different maximum group sizes. Honeyfold can run either. It does not collapse them into one ratio.

  • the LIC packet for today, plus Title 5 documents if you are a state preschool
  • Who is in each room right now, and which staff are with them
  • The ratio printed on your license for that room
  • The authorized pickup list, and any custody order in the file
  • Today's attendance with in and out times if you bill subsidy
  • Allergy and medication notes for the children who are here
  • The immunization or health record your state actually asks for
  • Incident reports that are finished, not half-written in a notebook
  • Meal counts taken at the point of service, if you are on CACFP

Quality Counts California

Quality Counts California is not the same document as the license. Directors get in trouble when they bring the quality binder to a visit that asked for today's attendance, or the other way around. Keep them as two files that can be opened separately.

child care subsidies and state preschool contracts

If you bill child care subsidies and state preschool contracts, the attendance that matters is the attendance a reviewer can match to a child and a time. A mark that only says present is how a month gets rebuilt on a Sunday. Honeyfold keeps in and out times so you are not retyping the day into a portal. Portal layouts differ. A walkthrough is where we confirm the file your office wants.

Program names were checked against public descriptions in November 2026. Offices rename themselves, and ratios change. Confirm the current rule with your licensor before a visit. Honeyfold does not file your packet and does not set your ratio.

How Honeyfold fits

Honeyfold is the operating record: rooms, licensed ratios, authorized pickup, family notes, meals, and the file you would hand someone standing in the lobby. It does not replace California Department of Social Services, and it does not submit Quality Counts California for you.

Introductory pricing does not change by state. See pricing, the ratio calculator, and the licensing-visit guide.

Cities

Los Angeles

Across the state line

Oregon · Nevada · Arizona

Questions about child care software in California