For beleaguered parents in regulation-free Idaho, help is on the way.

The state is working on a system that will provide a five-star rating system for day-care centers. It would be similar to guides consumers have grown accustomed to with hotels and restaurants.

As it did last year, IdahoSTARS – State Training and Registry System – is culling information from randomly selected day-care providers. Eight of the 29 providers are in North Idaho. Providers voluntarily submit information to the state, which, in turn, offers advice on how to improve the quality of care.

For instance, The Cottage Childcare & Learning Center in Post Falls participated last year and introduced hammocks to the infant room after getting feedback from IdahoSTARS. The gentle swaying calms infants and promotes brain development. The Cottage also installed more sinks and lowered them.

By next year, the state hopes the registry will be ready for any day care that wants to use it. Once child-care professionals determine the ratings, it is up to each facility to publicize them.

The voluntary nature of the project presents obvious limitations for consumers. Not every day care will participate, but if enough do – and 70 volunteered this year – IdahoSTARS can be a useful resource. Plus, centers that decline to be rated run the risk of raising consumers’ suspicions.

What would’ve been a nice companion piece to this effort is the statewide regulation of more day cares, which has been unsuccessfully pursued in the Legislature for the past four years. Less than half of the estimated 4,000 child-care programs in the state have licenses. Centers that take less than seven children are unregulated, which means that they need not bother with criminal background checks of staffers or with fire and health inspections. To fill this void, a half-dozen cities have adopted their own regulations. But centers that want to elude scrutiny can just move outside city limits.

Such elementary safety measures imposed statewide would’ve dovetailed nicely with the IdahoSTARS initiative to improve quality and to reward facilities with the best practices.

Still, the program is better than nothing, which is what so many working parents in Idaho have faced in determining the best places for their young children.