This study used ethnographic techniques to explore the adaptation of the Parents As Teachers (PAT) program in 7 child care centers in the St. Louis area during the 1988-89 school year. PAT is a parent involvement, family support program that begins in the home and sets the tone for a positive home-school partnership. Types of child care centers studied were nonprofit, corporate, hospital, United Way, community college, and private. The study's aim was to determine: (1) the ways in which the PAT program had been adapted and put into operation; (2) whether the adaptation had had an impact on families; and (3) whether the integrity of the model has been maintained. Discussions of the research methodology, the program, and the setting are followed by a narrative description and analysis. Detailed discussion of program implementation in the corporate-sponsored center focuses on the relationship between interactions and sentiments of program participants. Data revealed that even though the PAT adaptation was being successfully implemented in all but one of the centers, all the directors were struggling with the problem of integrating a new program into an established organizational system. However, the integrity of the program had been maintained, and goals had been reached. (RH)