Minnesota’s home-based child care providers are shutting their doors at an alarming rate. Some say one reason so many providers are quitting is because they feel burdened by complex regulations and strict enforcement actions that drive up their cost of doing business.

Kelsey Hayley, 35, is a family child care provider from Mounds View in Ramsey County and has been running her business for three years.

“I’ve always loved the family child care business, being able to work with kids, having a small group, being able to apply my education from early childhood and apply it in my home,” Hayley said.

But a growing part of her job is all the documentation and paperwork she needs to do to keep her license up to date and meeting all the state’s rules and regulations. Hayley agrees that most of th

See Full Page