This paper discusses a survey which was conducted to determine what licensers in different states say to parents who call them seeking help in selecting a day care program for their children, and confirms the assumption that parents have few resources available to help them select good day care. A questionnaire regarding the kinds of information that licensers are able to provide parents was sent to state day care licensing agencies in each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Responses to the survey indicate that with a few exceptions, state day care licensing agencies have written or unwritten policies which prevent licensers from providing parents with information on the quality of specific local day care centers or recommending one center over another. In most cases, then, licensing guidelines do not provide parents with a tool they can use to distinguish those centers that barely meet minimum standards from those that go far beyond minimum standards. (CM)