Child care quality depends on child care regulation as plants depend on water. An insufficient amount guarantees problems, but an excessive amount may also be problematic. The principal responsibility for child care regulation in the United States resides with state government officials, who must regulate a highly diverse industry. Research shows that regulation promotes quality but that trade-offs exist. Quality improvements that undermine availability or affordability should be evaluated with care. Also, regulatory enforcement deserves as much attention as regulatory standard setting. To improve child care regulation, state policymakers should consider eliminating some local regulations, regulating more family day care homes, upgrading teacher-training requirements, allocating more resources to regulatory enforcement, and designing more effective enforcement strategies.
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