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Child Care · Private Equity · Regulation · Senate Investigation
U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley, Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, initiated an investigation into KinderCare Learning Companies and Learning Care Group, along with their private equity owners Partners Group and American Securities, scrutinizing whether profit motives for over 365,000 children served supersede health, safety, and welfare standards across their 2,600 combined centers.
Merkley expressed growing concern that private equity firms are applying their "playbook" to essential care industries, acquiring independent providers, consolidating them into large chains, and prioritizing investor profits over the well-being of families and communities. The investigation seeks financial records, ownership structures, tuition and cost trends, safety standards, and employment practices from these companies.
Since 2023, state regulators have cited KinderCare facilities for inadequate supervision, staff-to-child ratio violations, unsafe conditions, and failures to report abuse. Similarly, between 2015 and 2025, Learning Care Group centers faced health and safety violations, including incidents of children left unattended.
Merkley expects full cooperation from KinderCare Learning Companies, owned by Partners Group, and Learning Care Group, owned by American Securities, which operate 1,500 and 1,100 centers across 40 states, respectively.
