Aurora · Licensed center
The Children's Courtyard
- Medium center, licensed for 111 children.
- A Children's Courtyard center. The chain is owned by American Securities, a private-equity firm.
- Shortlist has found no website for it yet.
What the state has found
The state cited rules at 4 of its 7 licensing inspections since May 2023.
Of the 157 Chicago-area centers with 7 licensing inspections, 13% had rules cited at 4 of them, as this center did. 40% had rules cited at all 7.
Licensing inspections
Mar 21, 20252 citations
Outdoor Play Area
89 Ill. Adm. Code 407.390(g)
Personnel Records
89 Ill. Adm. Code 407.120(a)(2)
Aug 10, 20237 citations
Enrollment and Discharge Procedures
89 Ill. Adm. Code 407.250(i)(4)
Personnel Records
89 Ill. Adm. Code 407.120(a)(3)
Equipment and Materials
89 Ill. Adm. Code 407.380(b)
General Requirements for Personnel
89 Ill. Adm. Code 407.100(c)(5)
3 more from this inspection
Personnel Records
89 Ill. Adm. Code 407.120(a)(2)
Staffing Structure
89 Ill. Adm. Code 407.90(a)
General Requirements for Personnel
89 Ill. Adm. Code 407.100(d)
Jul 17, 20231 citation
Physical Plant/Indoor Space
89 Ill. Adm. Code 407.370(e)
May 26, 20236 citations
Daily Arrival and Departure of Children
89 Ill. Adm. Code 407.260(f)(1)
Daily Arrival and Departure of Children
89 Ill. Adm. Code 407.260(f)(3)
Daily Arrival and Departure of Children
89 Ill. Adm. Code 407.260(f)(4)
Enrollment and Discharge Procedures
89 Ill. Adm. Code 407.250(k)(1)
2 more from this inspection
Diapering and Toileting Procedures
89 Ill. Adm. Code 407.340(a)(5)(f)
Diapering and Toileting Procedures
89 Ill. Adm. Code 407.340(a)(5)
Read every record and the state’s reports
Across The Children's Courtyard's 5 locations in the Chicago area, it cited something at 66% of 32 visits.
State record — Illinois DCFS
- Last visit
- February 9, 2026
- On file
- 7 visits since May 2023 — 3 cited nothing
- Fixed?
- The latest correction deadline was April 20, 2025. Illinois DCFS does not publish whether it was made.
- Most serious
- Illinois DCFS does not publish a severity level for a citation, so there is no most-serious to name.
Illinois DCFS cites each subsection of a rule separately, so one audit of a filing cabinet can produce ten citations. It publishes the rule’s title and a correction deadline, but no description of what was observed.
Mar 2025 Monitoring visit 2 findings
Monitoring visit · March 21, 2025
Personnel Records
1 citation · 89 Ill. Adm. Code 407.120(a)(2) · Violation corrected
Outdoor Play Area
1 citation · 89 Ill. Adm. Code 407.390(g) · Violation corrected
DCFS compliance lookup On that page, enter provider number 616214 in the Provider box and choose Search; the compliance report downloads from the button on the result row.
Aug 2023 Monitoring visit 7 findings
Monitoring visit · August 10, 2023
General Requirements for Personnel
2 citations · 89 Ill. Adm. Code 407.100(c)(5) through (d) · Violation corrected
89 Ill. Adm. Code 407.100(c)(5) · 407.100(d)
Personnel Records
2 citations · 89 Ill. Adm. Code 407.120(a)(2) through (3) · Violation corrected
89 Ill. Adm. Code 407.120(a)(2) · 407.120(a)(3)
Staffing Structure
1 citation · 89 Ill. Adm. Code 407.90(a) · Violation corrected
Enrollment and Discharge Procedures
1 citation · 89 Ill. Adm. Code 407.250(i)(4) · Violation corrected on site
Equipment and Materials
1 citation · 89 Ill. Adm. Code 407.380(b) · Violation corrected
DCFS compliance lookup On that page, enter provider number 616214 in the Provider box and choose Search; the compliance report downloads from the button on the result row.
Jul 2023 Monitoring visit 1 finding
Monitoring visit · July 17, 2023
Physical Plant/Indoor Space
1 citation · 89 Ill. Adm. Code 407.370(e) · Violation substantiated
DCFS compliance lookup On that page, enter provider number 616214 in the Provider box and choose Search; the compliance report downloads from the button on the result row.
May 2023 Monitoring visit 6 findings
Monitoring visit · May 26, 2023
Daily Arrival and Departure of Children
3 citations · 89 Ill. Adm. Code 407.260(f)(1) through (4) · Violation corrected
89 Ill. Adm. Code 407.260(f)(1) · 407.260(f)(3) · 407.260(f)(4)
Diapering and Toileting Procedures
2 citations · 89 Ill. Adm. Code 407.340(a)(5) through (f) · Violation corrected
89 Ill. Adm. Code 407.340(a)(5) · 407.340(a)(5)(f)
Enrollment and Discharge Procedures
1 citation · 89 Ill. Adm. Code 407.250(k)(1) · Violation corrected
DCFS compliance lookup On that page, enter provider number 616214 in the Provider box and choose Search; the compliance report downloads from the button on the result row.
Openings, child care subsidies, cost, hours and late pickup, teaching approach, ratios and staff, a typical day, and sick and biting policies aren’t on this page.
Details
- Address
- 1995 W Downer Pl
- License
- license issued (il)
Run The Children's Courtyard? Correct or add anything here, free.
Add what is missingSources and dates
Where every fact on this page came from, and when Shortlist last checked it against that source. Anything Shortlist could not source is named here rather than left blank.
State record
From Illinois DCFS’s published reports, last checked October 10, 2026.
Details
- Phone, Address, License — Checked August 2026 sunshine.dcfs.illinois.gov/…/ProviderLookup.aspx. To check it, open sunshine.dcfs.illinois.gov's Licensed Provider Lookup, enter "THE CHILDREN'S COURTYARD" under Provider Name and 60506 under Zip, and press Search (DCFS provider 616214).
- Who runs it — Checked October 2026 childrenscourtyard.com
- Who runs it — Checked October 2026 american-securities.com
The Children’s Courtyard is one of Learning Care Group's brands. The private-equity firm American Securities lists Learning Care Group among its current companies, an investment it made in 2014. american-securities.com
Medium means the middle half of Chicago-area’s 1,949 licensed centers by state-licensed capacity: 49 to 118 children. Small is 8 to 48; large is 119 to 487.