Kansas child care providers navigate streamlined services, looser regulations under new bill

House Bill 2024 created the Office of Early Childhood and made it easier for unlicensed child care providers to care for more kids. (Maya Smith for Kansas Reflector)

TOPEKA — Laura Gunderson, president of the Child Care Providers Coalition of Kansas, says the state’s child care system is broken and providers need more support. 

With the creation of a new child care law, advocates are now grappling with a system that will streamline departments into the Office of Early Childhood while also loosening regulations for child care providers. 

The Legislature passed House Bill 2045 earlier this year, changing regulations for child care providers at both home day cares and child care centers. Now, an unlicensed individual can provide care for up to four children for up to 35 hours per week, in addition to their own children. Before, an unlicensed provider could only care for two children for 20 hours per week.

“We are home educators. We understand that quality care can look multiple ways,” Gunderson said. “ However, with unlicensed care, our concerns are that there’s no background checks. There is no CPR or first aid being required. With these little ones, CPR and first aid should be basic.”

The Office of Early Childhood was created to streamline various services, including some from the Department of Health and Environment and the Department for Children and Families, with the office set to be operational by June 2026. 

The goal is to make the child care process easier for parents with nearly every resource in one place, said Christi Smith, executive director of Child Care Aware Kansas. 

“We are a huge supporter of the Office of Early Childhood,” Smith said. “I think it will be a game changer for the system. It’s been a long time coming.”

However, Kansas Action for Children released a statement earlier this year about the bill, emphasizing “last minute” provisions that could jeopardize child safety. 

“The possibility of harm to children from the last-minute additions that reduce the quality of care may outweigh the good Kansans see in the long term,” the statement said. “The child care community was unable to weigh in and advise on the risks to children if it became law.”

The 2025 Kansas Speaks survey, published by Fort Hayes State University in October, revealed that 91.4% of respondents say affordable, quality child care is important for families regardless of having children of their own. 

Gunderson and the Child Care Providers Coalition of Kansas were vocal against Gov. Laura Kelly’s concessions to achieve creating the new office. With reduced provider regulations, Gunderson said, the state isn’t moving toward the quality families need.

“ When you’re caring for someone else’s child, their safety is the utmost importance. We are home educators. We’ve put so much time into our environments and preparation for these kids,” Gunderson said. “There’s so much into it. And to have someone unlicensed, able to essentially do similar work, it made us all kind of feel like what are we putting so many hours in for?”

For rural Kansas, finding any child care at all can be a challenge. Smith said she approves of the bill because it can allow providers to care for children without a license, which was intended to help reduce barriers for potential providers in small communities.

“It’s not always about a person not wanting to be a licensed child care provider. They may not truly have the ability to be,” Smith said. “For a small community that has zero options, that may have been the only option.”

Smith said parents should look at it from both perspectives to choose what’s right for their family, whether that’s licensed or unlicensed care.

“It wasn’t designed to be one wrong over the other. I’ve never heard a legislator tell me we don’t care about the health and safety of infants and toddlers,” Smith said. 

New child care legislation means this is a critical time for parents to do their research when looking for child care, said Emily Barnes, education policy adviser for Kansas Action for Children. 

“It’s important to focus on educating parents about what they need to be aware of so that they can ask the right questions,” Barnes said. “Educating parents and the general public that when you have a licensed provider, you’re more likely to have a situation where health and safety standards are being followed.”