What is quality child care?

Quality child care is more than a lofty ideal—it’s the bedrock of healthy child development, family stability, and a thriving economy. Yet, as the child care sector faces a looming crisis, understanding what quality means—and how to achieve it—has never been more critical.

For parents, quality care provides trust, safety, and the assurance their child is nurtured in a supportive environment. For educators, it’s about implementing evidence-based practices, fostering developmentally appropriate learning, and ensuring the well-being of both children and caregivers. For policymakers, it’s about building systems, setting standards, and providing funding that makes high-quality care accessible and sustainable.

However, recent legislative trends in several states are undermining these goals. Some states are working toward deregulation within the child care field and allowing teenagers as young as 14 to be the primary care provider for several infants at a time.

Explore these expert perspectives that address what it takes to build a system where quality is not just an aspiration, but a guarantee.

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In most states, the cost of child care exceeds the cost of college tuition.

As an early childhood professional development specialist, I believe quality child care for infants and toddlers means creating environments where every child—and every caregiver—can thrive. This is only achievable when state policies, systems, and funding prioritize continuous quality improvement across all early care and education (ECE) settings, from family child care homes to Early Head Start (EHS) programs.

Investing in the Workforce: Quality starts with well-supported professionals. Their compensation and benefits, training, and professional development must reflect the critical role they play in shaping children’s futures. Systems should empower providers through equitable incentives and sustainable resources, ensuring families retain access to care.

Meeting Developmental Needs: Infants and toddlers require care tailored to their unique developmental stages. Standards should include primary caregiving models, continuity of care, developmentally aligned curricula, and Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health (IECMH) consultations, with equitable access for all, including immigrant and refugee families.

Building Robust Partnerships: Collaboration is key. By aligning funding streams and fostering partnerships like EHS-Child Care collaborations, we can stabilize programs, enhance quality, and support families holistically. Shared service networks and equitable access to resources like the Child and Adult Care Food Program ensure programs are both sustainable and inclusive.

By prioritizing these pillars, we can build a system where quality care is not just an aspiration but a reality for every child, every family, and every provider.

Quality care depends on safety and strong standards. Cutting regulations undermines the environments children need to feel safe and thrive.

katrina macasaet

States are loosening their child care rules to cut costs

Don’t miss this poignant article from The Hechinger Report, featuring HealthySteps national director, Rahil Briggs PsyD, outlining the impact looser regulations could have.

Quality child care and early education is a cornerstone of a thriving society. It is not only vital for the healthy development of our youngest learners but also for supporting families, strengthening the workforce, and ensuring long-term economic stability.

For states and the federal government, achieving this vision requires a comprehensive and intentional approach:

Investing in the Workforce: Quality care starts with well-trained, well-compensated, and supported early childhood educators. States must establish pathways for professional development and ensure competitive wages and benefits that reflect the critical role caregivers play. Federal support can enhance these efforts through significant funding and other initiatives that bolster workforce stability and capacity.

Aligning Policies and Standards: States should align quality standards as appropriate across all child care settings—centers, family child care, and informal care—to reduce administrative burdens and ensure consistency in care. Policies must also address the unique needs of infants and toddlers, including appropriate adult-to-child ratios, training requirements, and continuity of care.

Expanding Access: Quality care should not be a privilege; it must be accessible to every family. This includes increasing funding for programs like Early Head Start (EHS) and Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) subsidies. The federal government plays a key role in ensuring equitable distribution of resources across states, particularly for underserved communities.

Supporting Holistic Development: Comprehensive supports such as Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health (IECMH) consultations, developmentally aligned curricula, and family engagement initiatives are essential for high-quality care. Federal funding should continue to prioritize programs that integrate these services into early childhood systems.

Stabilizing and Sustaining Programs: Policies must focus on financial sustainability for providers, including grants and shared services alliances that reduce operational costs. States and federal agencies can also incentivize innovation through pilot programs and funding for new models of care delivery.

The path to quality child care is through collaboration. States, federal agencies, providers, and families must work together to build systems that prioritize equity, sustainability, and excellence. By investing in child care as a key component of public infrastructure, we can create a future where every child has the opportunity to thrive, every family has the support they need, and every professional is empowered to succeed.

While the goal of expanding access to child care is critical, reducing regulations that ensure safety, quality, and developmental appropriateness is not the answer.

Lauren Blachowiak

Tell Congress to fund child care.

Our state policy self-assessment tool helps state systems guide policy change on behalf of infants and toddlers.

For parents, quality child care means finding a safe, nurturing environment where their child can be loved, learn, and grow. Parents are looking for settings with teachers who care, who truly enjoy the work and enjoy their child. They are also seeking a program that sparks their child’s early learning through a mix of structured learning experiences, play, and fun.

Caring Relationships and Responsiveness: When teachers notice and respond to a child’s cues and communications, babies and toddlers learn that they’re loved and important. Most importantly, these everyday moments—like singing, chatting, and sharing stories—are the key to early language and literacy development as well as a child’s growing sense of belongingness, safety and security. Quality care focuses on relationships and responsiveness as the pathways to critical early learning milestones.

Family Partnerships: High quality settings recognize that young children come with families who love them. Partnering with parents and primary caregivers ensures that there is continuity between home and child care and eases the transition stress for young children. Regular communication about curriculum helps parents take an active role in their child’s learning.
Honoring Children’s Individual Differences: Every child is unique, and quality programs adapt to meet individual strengths and needs. These differences could include home language and culture, and steps the program takes to integrate these into the classroom. Or these differences might result in modifications to the curriculum or environment to meet a child’s developmental needs. Honoring the whole child ensures that every baby or toddler feels included, valued and supported.

Quality child care helps children master new skills, develop a positive sense of self, and build new friendships. In settings like these, parents can trust that their little ones are safe, engaged and nurtured, and that their needs will be met with care.

Rebecca parlakian

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