Although most of the substantial increase in states' child care spending between 1997 and 1999 is expended through child care subsidy programs or by contracts with child care resource and referral agencies, little research has focused on how the child care subsidy program operates, who is served, and what services are offered. This report is one of four being published by the Childcare Subsidy Dynamics Study Team. The report provides a detailed look at Oregon families receiving child care subsidies and the factors associated with length of subsidy receipt and provider stability, and compares the findings with those of the four other states studied by the dynamics study team--Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, and Texas. The report describes the characteristics of families and children receiving subsidies, the type of care used, the stability of that care, and the length of time on subsidy. Among the key findings was that the length of children's spells of subsidy receipts was short, with medians ranging from 3 to 7 months. There was considerable reentry into the subsidy system. Most families with short spells of subsidy receipt had a consistent provider, but about half of the children on subsidy for a year experienced at least one transition in their primary provider. Ongoing devolution of policymaking resulted in states developing diverse policies for child care subsidy and the TANF programs. Across the five states, TANF and child care policies interacted to bring different populations into the subsidy program and affected which services were provided. The length of subsidy receipt varied with family and service characteristics. (Contains a 15-item bibliography.) (KB)