Child Care Worker Licensing Requirements by State

Child Care Workforce Licensing Requirements—by State

The Bipartisan Policy Center created a Child Care Workforce Licensing Database tool that enables users to view licensing requirements for child care workers by state. The tool breaks down the information into multiple categories to view and compare requirements for directors, teachers and teacher assistants in child care centers. According to BPC “only 21 states identify competencies for all positions.” BPC found that requirements “vary greatly” from state to state.

Indiana Occupational Licensing Ranking

The 2023 State Occupational Licensing Index ranked Indiana by the number of licensed occupations, focusing on the 331 occupations in the Knee Regulatory Research Center’s licensing database. Indiana establishes minimum entry requirements for 153 of those occupations; six of those occupations require licensure in 20 states or fewer nationally. Indiana, for example, remains one of only four states to license backflow prevention testers. In the 2023 SOLI, Indiana ranked 48th nationally—with 1^st the most burdensome.

States with Bills to Adopt Social Work Licensure Compact

Twenty-two states aim to adopt the social work licensure compact, in addition to Missouri, the lone state to accept the compact. Bloomberg Law provides a map of the United States, color coded to indicate the states with legislation pending and enacted, along with no legislation introduced. According to Matt Shafer, deputy program director at the Council of State Governments National Center for Interstate Compacts “State policymakers are interested in the social work compact as they’re looking for solutions for shortages of mental health providers and recognizing the mental health crisis that’s in the country right now.”