In 2023, the Office of Childhood (OOC) contracted with the University of Central Missouri (UCM) – Early Childhood Education program to research child care licensing in Missouri, specifically Missouri’s alignment with relevant state and best practices. 

The results from this research aim to:

• describe Missouri child care licensing compared to neighboring and relevant states, and best practices in child care regulatory practices,
• illuminate strengths and challenges of current child care licensing practices, and
• provide research-based recommendations to guide decisions regarding licensing regulations (i.e. describe recommendations that would reduce barriers, remove, or update rules that are outdated, etc.).

Read the final Missouri Child Care Licensing Alignment Study.

The Missouri Child Care Licensing Alignment study was funded by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Office of Childhood through the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) which is a federal and state partnership program authorized under the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) and administered by states, territories and tribes with funding and support from the Administration for Children and Families’ Office of Child Care.