Four brief project reports present aspects of child care provided by voluntary societies in England: (1) A statistical survey describes the characteristics of young children (0-5 years) admitted to the care of voluntary societies and the factors associated with the early restoration of some children to their parents, and the lengthy stay in care of others. (2) A study of 2-year-olds in residential nurseries compared development of children who had spent most of their lives in residential care with working class children living at home. (3) Language development of residential nursery children (2-5 years) was examined using verbal and nonverbal tests to determine presence and degree of language retardation. (4) An observational study of residential nurseries attempted to assess the manner in which specific aspects of the children's environment affected their psychological development. Emphasis was placed on comparison of the speech and actions of staff in different types of nurseries. A short discussion follows each report and specifies outcomes and conclusions. (WY)