# Florida Child Care — DCF Official Data + Quality Signals (`indramars2312/earlyeducation-actor`) Actor

Official Florida DCF child care registry (~11,800 providers, refreshed daily) — not scraped from Google Maps or Yelp. 18 filters incl. Gold Seal, VPK, Head Start & infant care, plus quality tier, license health & accreditation signals. Optional county market intelligence report.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/indramars2312/earlyeducation-actor.md
- **Developed by:** [Maria Reyes](https://apify.com/indramars2312) (community)
- **Categories:** Lead generation
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $0.50 / actor start

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

## Florida Child Care — DCF Official Data + Quality Signals

Extract structured, enriched data on every licensed child care provider in Florida — pulled directly from the official Department of Children & Families (DCF) registry, not scraped from Google Maps, Yelp, or third-party directories. ~11,800 providers, refreshed daily, 18 filters, and an optional county-level market intelligence report.

**Pricing:** $0.50 per run + $0.003 per result. A 100-lead pull costs about **$0.80**.

***

### Why this actor is different

Generic childcare scrapers pull from consumer platforms like Google Maps or Yelp — sources that are incomplete, stale, or inconsistently formatted. This actor goes straight to the official Florida government source: the DCF Excel registry, regenerated daily by the state. Every raw record is then enriched with computed intelligence fields that don't exist anywhere else: a quality tier signal, license health status, facility size band, national accreditation flag, and years in operation.

### What you get

Each result includes the raw DCF fields plus computed enrichment:

- Provider name, physical address, city, ZIP, county, and phone
- DCF license number, program type, and license status
- Director name and provider status
- Licensed capacity and size band (micro, small, medium, large)
- Gold Seal, VPK, Head Start, and national accreditation flags
- Computed **qualitySignal** tier (Alta / Media / Basica)
- **licenseHealth** status and **yearsInOperation**

### Who uses this

- EdTech and childcare platforms building Florida provider directories
- Enrollment agencies generating qualified leads by county
- Real estate and relocation services answering "where's the nearest quality daycare?"
- Policy researchers analyzing childcare access and quality gaps by region
- Investors and franchise operators identifying underserved markets

### Key features — 18 filters

- **Location** — county, city, ZIP code, or name contains
- **Quality** — Gold Seal only, VPK only, Head Start only, nationally accredited only, or quality signal tier (Alta / Media / Basica)
- **License** — active license only, license status, program type
- **Size** — min/max licensed capacity, infant care only
- **Data quality** — minimum record completeness score
- **Sorting** — by capacity, name, county, completeness, years in operation, or service count, ascending or descending
- **Output control** — limit results from 1 to unlimited

### Market intelligence report

Enable `includeMarketAnalysis` to get a county-level summary alongside your data: total capacity, quality-tier distribution, infant care gaps, and underserved-market opportunity signals.

### Example input

```json
{
  "county": "Miami-Dade",
  "goldSealOnly": false,
  "vpkOnly": false,
  "limit": 100,
  "includeMarketAnalysis": true
}
```

### FAQ

**How fresh is the data?** The source Excel file is regenerated daily by Florida DCF — every run pulls the current version, not a cached snapshot.

**Is this official data?** Yes. It comes directly from the Florida DCF child care provider registry, not from Google Maps, Yelp, or third-party aggregators.

**Can I combine filters?** Yes — all 18 filters can be combined in a single run to build precise, targeted lists.

**What does a 100-lead pull cost?** About $0.80 total ($0.50 run charge + $0.003 per result).

# Actor input Schema

## `county` (type: `string`):

Filter by county name (e.g. Miami-Dade, Broward). Single string or comma-separated list.

## `city` (type: `string`):

Filter by city name (partial match, case-insensitive).

## `zip` (type: `string`):

Filter by exact 5-digit ZIP code.

## `vpkOnly` (type: `boolean`):

Return only providers that offer Voluntary Pre-Kindergarten (VPK).

## `goldSealOnly` (type: `boolean`):

Return only providers with Gold Seal Quality Care certification.

## `nationallyAccreditedOnly` (type: `boolean`):

Return only nationally accredited providers (NAEYC, NECPA, NAFCC, APPLE, AdvancED, COA).

## `headStartOnly` (type: `boolean`):

Return only providers that participate in the Head Start program.

## `infantCareOnly` (type: `boolean`):

Return only providers that offer infant care services.

## `activeLicenseOnly` (type: `boolean`):

Return only providers with a currently active, non-expired license.

## `qualitySignal` (type: `string`):

Filter by calculated quality tier: Alta (nationally accredited), Media (Gold Seal or active School Readiness), Basica (standard).

## `programType` (type: `string`):

Filter by program type from the DCF registry (e.g. Child Care Facility, Family Day Care Home).

## `licenseStatus` (type: `string`):

Filter by license status value from the DCF registry (e.g. Licensed, Registered).

## `minCapacity` (type: `integer`):

Return only providers with licensed capacity greater than or equal to this value.

## `maxCapacity` (type: `integer`):

Return only providers with licensed capacity less than or equal to this value.

## `nameContains` (type: `string`):

Return only providers whose name contains this text (case-insensitive partial match).

## `minCompleteness` (type: `integer`):

Return only providers with record completeness score at or above this percentage (0-100).

## `sortBy` (type: `string`):

Sort results by this field. Defaults to no sorting.

## `sortDescending` (type: `boolean`):

Sort in descending order when sortBy is set. Default is true (highest first).

## `includeMarketAnalysis` (type: `boolean`):

Generate a county-level market intelligence report saved to the MARKET\_REPORT key-value store key.

## `limit` (type: `integer`):

Limit the total number of provider records returned. Leave blank for all results.

## `sourceUrl` (type: `string`):

Override the default DCF Excel URL. Leave blank to use the official daily-updated source.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "vpkOnly": false,
  "goldSealOnly": false,
  "nationallyAccreditedOnly": false,
  "headStartOnly": false,
  "infantCareOnly": false,
  "activeLicenseOnly": false,
  "sortDescending": true,
  "includeMarketAnalysis": false
}
```

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("indramars2312/earlyeducation-actor").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("indramars2312/earlyeducation-actor").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{}' |
apify call indramars2312/earlyeducation-actor --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,indramars2312/earlyeducation-actor"
        }
    }
}

```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/Mo74Lvp1ehY7FlBWe/builds/gWGCswkOGcJfQTPrQ/openapi.json