Intended primarily for professionals teaching early childhood and infant intervention courses, this handbook presents an overview of child care as both a support to families and an economic necessity, meeting changing and dynamic needs. Child care settings and types of care are discussed, along with quality indicators, licensing, and provider safety and training. Suggestions are offered for locating care for families and employers, as well as a discussion of the national network of resource and referral centers. Also covered are the diversity of child care needs and health concerns and the many funding resources available to support child care and related needs. The eight chapters are: (1) "Child Care in the Nineties: Diversity and Changing Needs" (Carol Baglin); (2) "Child Care Settings and Targeting Care for Quality" (Carol Baglin); (3) "The Role of Licensing in Ensuring Quality Child Care" (Roberta Ward); (4) "Healthy Child Care" (Janeen Taylor and W. S. Taylor); (5) "Meeting the Need: Child Care Resource Centers" (Sandra Skolnick); (6) "Trained Providers and Quality Curriculum" (Christina Mandelson); (7) "Promising Practices in Programming" which contains four essays--"Programming for Children Who Are HIV+ or Exposed to Substance Abuse" (Clare Siegel), "Serving the Needs of Low Incidence Children: Local School and Community-Based Model" (Judy Kanigel), "Child Care for Children with Complex Medical Needs" (Polly Harrison and others), "Child Care: A Setting of Early Intervention (Joan Karasik); and (8) "Finding Funding: Sources of Resources for Child Care" (John Surr). References are included with each article. Six appendixes contain a variety of additional resources including National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies, federal programs, funding resources, and selection criteria for child care settings. (TJQ)