Child care regulations build a stronger social and economic future for North Carolina by promoting high quality early childhood experiences. Regulations are essential not only for maintaining quality child care but for promoting the healthy, intellectual growth of our children and the professionals who work with them.

The NC Child Care Commission is responsible for adopting rules to implement the child care laws established by the NC General Assembly. These rules are established as MINIMUM requirements for child care programs to protect children when they are not in the care of their families and prevent them from being exposed to potentially dangerous situations.

Licensing standards, however, are not the SEAL of quality-- they are the beginning. Increasingly, regulated child care programs in North Carolina exceed minimum rules and strive for higher quality.

To learn more about regulated child care programs and data related to child care programs, you can read information available in books from professional associations, visit other sites and observe their learning environments, and talk to your child care licensing consultant. To learn more, you can explore any of these web sites:

In North Carolina, the rating scales are used to determine part of the star-rated license for program standards. If you click on the particular scale name, there are NOTES that help clarify items within the scale that can support your quality improvement.