Although family child care has the potential to offer young children individual attention and customized, educational programs to help them thrive, the quality of these programs is dependent upon a workforce that is at the bottom of the occupational status and pay hierarchy. This report examines ways to promote high quality in family child care programs. Part 1, "Family Child Care Today," considers the demographics of family child care, its strengths and liabilities, and the role of education. Part 2, "Strategies for Supporting Quality in Family Child Care," examines characteristics of appropriate training and incentives for training family child care providers; ways to ensure small group size and low adult-child ratio; family child care regulations; methods of ensuring continuing professional development among providers; and infrastructure support such as provider associations, resource and referral agencies, and food programs. Part 3, "Barriers That Inhibit Quality in Family Child Care," addresses low compensation, low social status and cultural devaluation, low job retention of providers, family child care costs, inadequate financing, and the absence of a national alliance for early care and education. Part 4, "A Vision of Support for the Quality of Family Child Care," examines the coordination of effort at the national and community level necessary to secure comprehensive support for the quality of family child care, including a major shift in public opinion, federal legislation, foundation and corporation funding, community provider support, parent support, and improvement of compensation for providers. (Contains 92 references.) (Author/KB)