These hearings of the Select Committee on Children, Youth, and Families mark the end of the hearing stage of the bipartisan child care initiative--the most in-depth congressional look at child care in a decade. Testimony and recommendations were given by representatives of business, labor, education, religious groups, child welfare and women's groups, as well as state and local elected officials, physicians and psychologists, and those who provide nonprofit and proprietary care. Issues specifically addressed included (1) the affordability, availability, and effectiveness of current child care provisions throughout the United States and predictions for future needs and (2) the effect of child care, particularly on young children. Numerous related reports and statements are appended, including a comparison of day care intervention programs of varying quality; an analysis of families' ability to pay for day care services and the impact of current New York State fee schedules on family income; the prepared statement of the Ad Hoc Day Care Coalition; an article entitled "Highlights of Official Child Neglect and Abuse Reporting 1982"; a preliminary report on a nationwide survey of maternity/parental leaves; the prepared statement of the Children's Defense Fund; a paper identifying unspoken assumptions underlying debate in the child care field; a paper discussing work schedules of two-parent earner families and their implications for child care and family life; an experimental study of the effects of employer-sponsored child care services on selected employee behaviors; a policy report on school-age child care; a report on inequities of salary reduction as national child care policy; a discussion of four early stages in the development of mother/infant interaction; and a paper on politics and the child care debate. (RH)