截至目前，美国私营股权公司已控制了儿童保育市场总容量的10-12%，并拥有11家最大托儿机构中的8家。新冠疫情期间，大型公司以低估值收购小型提供者推动整合浪潮。私募股权核心策略包括规模经济与提价：以Primrose School为例，其注册费用比邻近独立中心高约50%。尽管平均托儿支出占美国家庭中位收入的9-16%，连锁中心仍能实现15-20%的经营利润。

连锁托儿机构具有吸引力的原因包括统一、现代化的设施和家长易于理解的技术解决方案（如实时更新应用程序）。标准化带来高质量保障，连锁中心易获家长信赖。然而，这些连锁更关注家长这一客户。儿童最需要的是关怀，但私募股权背景下的连锁中心通常工资偏低。在康涅狄格州，KinderCare的教师时薪为16.49美元，Little Friends为21.50美元且有福利。由于低薪难招到优质教师，一些连锁中心不得不用不合适的人，这影响了儿童的实际受益。

引发政策担忧后，2024年马萨诸塞州通过法案限制大型连锁获得的公共资金，佛蒙特州也对学费上涨设限。然而，政府在定价和薪酬管理上往往效率不高。孩子的托管服务在资本介入与政府监管之间变得更加复杂和充满挑战。

Private-equity firms now control 10-12% of America’s child-care market by capacity and own eight of the eleven largest providers. Large companies acquired smaller rivals at low prices during the COVID-19 pandemic, accelerating industry consolidation. The private-equity playbook involves two main moves: achieving economies of scale and raising prices. At Primrose School, a private-equity chain, tuition is about 50% higher than at nearby independents. Despite average child-care spending making up 9-16% of median family income, chains still achieve operating margins of 15-20%.

The attractiveness of chains lies in standardized, modern facilities and easily understood technologies like apps that update parents in real time. Standardization inspires parental trust and allows for higher, more consistent quality. However, these chains focus on parents as their primary customers, while children benefit most from attentive care. Private equity-backed chains tend to pay staff low wages—in Connecticut, teachers at KinderCare earn $16.49 per hour, compared to $21.50 (plus benefits) at Little Friends. Inadequate pay has led to hiring difficulties and, at times, retaining underqualified staff, diminishing actual child benefits.

Policy concerns have prompted legislative action. In 2024, Massachusetts passed a bill limiting how much public funding large for-profit chains can receive, and Vermont capped tuition hikes for publicly funded centers. Yet government is rarely efficient at setting prices or wages, so the provision of child care is likely to grow even messier amid competing influences of private capital and regulation.