Advocates of increasing regulation want uniform national standards dictating the ratio of providers per child, training requirements for providers, health and safety requirements, and they want to extend regulation to all providers, including those who watch only one child. There seems to be no confidence that parents might themselves discriminate between good and bad childcare facilities for their children. We don t need more rules. We need a systematic and reasonable reform of regulations. Regulation should focus on reasonable minimum standards in areas that parents cannot easily check themselves, and hold childcare providers liable for abuses.
Smart parents looking out for their children can do the rest.
We should have a childcare market where parents are not reduced to humbly petitioning to be added to a waiting list, but where providers compete for their business on the quality of services they offer and their price. More reasonable regulation will allow the supply of childcare to respond to demand, especially as a growing number of welfare parents return to work and begin to look for childcare. Return to the Public Policy Connection Resources Page.