States play a significant role in shaping the policies that determine child care access, affordability, quality and sustainability. In recent years, states have made improvements to their child care systems by expanding subsidy eligibility, simplifying the subsidy application process for families, boosting provider payments, improving payment practices, increasing wages for early childhood educators, and making funding opportunities available to build the supply of care. Click on a link below to jump to that section.
State Policy Tracking
While all states could invest resources in child care and sustain critical policies to support families, providers, and communities, not all are choosing to do, resulting in a patchwork of state child care policies and investments. CCAoA is tracking state efforts to improve their child care systems in the following resources:
State Policy Dashboard is a comprehensive, interactive dashboard that tracks child care and early childhood education (ECE) policies across the nation.
State Session Round Up: Summer 2024 provides an overview of state child care policy highlights in 2024.
State Session Round Up: Summer 2023 provides an overview of state child care policy highlights in 2023.
State Session Round Up, Summer 2022 provides an overview of state child care policy highlights in 2022.
State Policy Analysis and Resources
Public-Private Partnerships for Child Care provides strategies that leverage support from both the public and private sectors to help build supply and improve access to child care and early learning.
For Our Youngest Learners, We Cannot Compromise on Health and Safety highlights the importance of implementing health and safety guardrails that provide important safeguards for children and program staff while upholding the quality of care.
2025-27 CCDF Plan hub page provides resources about the current Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) plans and the 2024 public hearing process in states.
Federal Child Care Funding provides a basic overview of how federal child care funding works and current funding levels for child care and early education programs.
Insights from the Field: Strategies for Growing Family Child Care offers policymakers and leaders policy considerations for increasing the supply of family child care homes in their states.
The Child Care and Adult Food Program (CACFP): Strategies for Change provides tactics states can implement to promote CACFP and increase provider participation.
Federal Relief Funding for Child Care is Over. Now What? shares an update on how states are navigating the end of federal relief funding for child care, and explores what changes this may bring over the coming months absent additional funding.
