Illinois Child Care Licensing Process
Client: Illinois Department of Early Childhood, Illinois Department of Children and Family Services | Partner: DLA Piper
Opportunity
The Illinois Department of Early Childhood (IDEC) was established in June 2024 to focus exclusively on early childhood programs and services for young children. The department will consolidate services currently spread across three State agencies: the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE), the Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS), and the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS). This consolidation will make it easier for parents and service providers to navigate the complex early childhood ecosystem. One of IDEC’s top priorities is to reimagine Illinois’ burdensome child care licensing process.
High-quality child care is essential for supporting children’s healthy development and learning, while enabling parents and caregivers to participate fully in the workforce and strengthen family economic stability. Yet, Illinois’ current child care licensing process can be seen as inefficient, outdated, and confusing, creating challenges for providers from opening or sustaining much-needed daycare centers across the state. Families must also navigate a complex and inefficient system to access services.
Given Civic Consulting Alliance’s expertise in process design and improvement, IDEC asked us to help reimagine the licensing process to ensure child care in Illinois is safe for all families, simpler for providers, and anchored in a continuum of quality.
Action
Our team and pro bono partner DLA Piper supported IDEC in reimagining the child care licensing process. This investment took place from April to December 2025 across two phases of work.
We began by conducting listening sessions with 540 stakeholders to help us understand the current state of the process and identify the top pain points for improvement. For those identified priorities, we then held design workshops with key stakeholders that helped us build an initial set of solutions.
In a second phase, our team dug deeper on two particularly complex priorities, background checks and licensing exemptions, to help staff envision a future state and steps to reach that goal, including:
Processes: Delivered a new framework for license exemptions and a centralized process flow for background checks.
People: Provided high-level staffing plans and roles.
Tools and technology: Designed user experience recommendations and a roadmap for new technology.
Rules and legislation: Our pro bono partner, DLA Piper, drafted updates to legislation and rules on exemptions and background checks for submission to the Illinois General Assembly in Spring 2026.
“DLA Piper engages with Civic Consulting Alliance because it allows our attorneys to contribute legal expertise to high‑impact pro bono initiatives that support the region’s government, nonprofits, and communities.”
Impact
IDEC’s reimagined approach sets the stage for a child care system that works for families, providers, and the state alike.
“Civic Consulting Alliance brought deep expertise and a thoughtful, collaborative approach to reimagining Illinois’s child care licensing system. Their work helped us identify practical, equitable solutions that will make it easier for providers to operate and for families to access high-quality care that will strengthen children’s futures and the state’s workforce.”
By reducing administrative burdens and increasing clarity for providers, the process will help more child care centers open and operate sustainably, expanding availability in communities that need it most.
A more consistent, streamlined child care licensing process will enable more families across Illinois to access high-quality, safe child care that supports children’s healthy development, early learning, and long-term success.