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Review Guidelines

Last updated October 9, 2026 · Version 2026-10-draft

Draft placeholder in plain language. Reviews are not yet open to the public.

Draft — not yet legal advice or final terms. This page is a placeholder that has not been reviewed by counsel. Bracketed items marked [OWNER TO CONFIRM] are facts the site owner still has to supply. Do not rely on this text as final.

What we remove, whatever the star rating

We apply the same rules to every review, whether it is positive or negative. A review is held or removed for reasons like these, never because of its rating or sentiment:

  • Statements of fact you did not witness or cannot back up, that could be defamatory
  • Harassment, threats or hate
  • Obscene content
  • Private information about anyone
  • Children's names or identifying details, and medical details about children
  • Spam or advertising
  • Conflicts of interest, such as reviews by the provider, its staff or its family
  • Content that is not about your experience with the provider

If you believe a child was abused, neglected or hurt

A review is not the way to report it. If a child is in immediate danger, call 911. To report suspected abuse, neglect or a licensing violation, contact your state's licensing agency. In California, that is the Community Care Licensing Division of the Department of Social Services: [OWNER TO CONFIRM: CCLD complaint hotline number and web link].

Intended policy once reviews open: a review that alleges abuse, neglect or injury is held rather than published right away, and its author is pointed to those resources. [OWNER TO CONFIRM: confirm this process exists before launch]

How moderation works

  • Intended policy: every review is checked by a person before it is published. [OWNER TO CONFIRM: confirm moderation staffing and process before launch]
  • Expected turnaround: [OWNER TO CONFIRM: moderation turnaround time].
  • Payment never affects reviews. Providers cannot pay to have a review removed, hidden, reordered or rewritten, and no paid placement changes how reviews are shown.

Labels on reviews

We do not show reviewer labels today. If we add them, this section will explain exactly how each is assigned. Planned labels are “Invited by provider” (the provider asked the reviewer to write it) and “Verified visit” (we confirmed a visit by a specific method we will describe here).

AI-generated summaries

We do not publish AI summaries of reviews today. If we do, this section will describe how they are produced and that they are drawn only from approved reviews on DaycareNearMe. The license that covers this is in the Terms of Use.