"Kid Nation" raised questions about the appropriate minimum age of participants in reality shows. As with most other reality shows, the children were signed on contracts requiring them to be available for filming for 24 hours a day through the 40-day filming period. The federal Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 normally limits the number of hours that children can work in a day, but has exemptions for those involved in film and television production, leaving it to states to regulate those further. At the time of filming, New Mexico had passed a law to limit children's participation in film and television productions to nine hours a day while "Kid Nation" was filming, but it did not come into enforcement until a month after filming completed. However, New Mexico had other general child-labor provisions that limited children under 14 to a maximum number of hours per week or day unless previously cleared with the state, which CBS had not appeared to have obtained. Adults were on site with the children but the nature of how the adults supervised the children made it appear that the children were unlawfully engaged in labor under New Mexico law, according to the state. The producers challenged these claims by declaring the set a summer camp rather than a place of employment. This was further questioned by the state, as there are additional rules related to camp operations set by the state that were not followed by production. The ostensible loopholes production had claimed have since been closed.