Day care standards and the quality of care are investigated in the five research studies in this volume. The studies were commissioned as part of an effort to provide detailed analyses of issues of special relevance to child care and parental leave policies and the effects of such issues on the changing Canadian family. Reviewing day care legislation in Canada, Paper 1 describes the legislation, summarizes salient features of standards, and outlines legislation in each province and territory. It also examines the terms in which day care is defined and attempts to identify common licensing characteristics, seeking to determine how regulated standards might improve day care services. Paper 2 examines how provincial governments insure compliance with their day care standards, and is intended to be read in conjunction with Paper 1. Paper 3 focuses on issues in the definition and implementation of high quality day care programs. Paper 4 reviews and analyzes current literature on informal child care arrangements, focusing on Canadian data, but including information on other countries in cross-cultural comparisons. Future alternatives for informal child care are presented. Paper 5 reviews major research findings on the effects of day care on the development of children, families, and communities. (RH)