Child Care Choices

Although it has become part of the daily schedule of the majority of children growing up in the 1990s, child care in the United States displays a patchwork development. As this examination of the system demonstrates, child-care environments are too often unavailable to families in need and are frequently inconsistent and unregulated. The authors also offer a comprehensive view of the societal forces--single parents, working mothers, fragmented families--that have brought business and government into the field. The proposals made in this enlightening study include a forward-looking model for a national approach to improved child care at all economic levels, encompassingg handicapped and school-age children as well as preschoolers. Zigler is professor of psychology at Yale and a founder of the Head Start program. (Nov.)