Child Care: States' Efforts to Expand Programs Under Welfare Reform

GAO discussed how child care programs are changing at the state level through the revisions in the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, focusing on: (1) how much federal and state funds states are spending on child care subsidy programs and how they are allocating these resources; (2) how states are trying to increase the supply of child care to meet the projected demand under welfare reform; and (3) the extent to which states are changing standards for child care providers in response to the anticipated increased demand under welfare reform.