The purpose of this meeting, one of a series of family impact seminars, was to examine issues surrounding the child care market in the United States. This document provides highlights of the seminar and a background briefing report. The highlights section contains summaries of presentations by the panelists, beginning with Rachel Connelly's economic framework for understanding the child care market. Connelly describes the ways in which a family makes the decision to purchase child care and outlines four types of child care. She concludes that the supply of child care has generally been responsive to increased demands and that there is no evidence of widespread shortages. Next, Sandra Hofferth's overview of national data on the supply and demand for child care is summarized. Hofferth identifies several national trends, including increases in the numbers of children under age 6 and of working mothers, and changes in child care arrangements. Finally, the document summarizes Rebecca Maynard's discussion of a recent survey of the child care market for low-income families in Camden and Newark (New Jersey) and South Chicago (Illinois). The briefing report contains sections on: (1) questions about the market; (2) the status of research on preschool child care; (3) an economic framework for families' choices about child care; (4) an overview of national data related to child care, including data on maternal participation in the labor force, trends in child care arrangements, costs, prices, and expenditures; (5) the issue of affordability; (6) low-income parents and Aid to Families with Dependent Children recipients; (7) Mathematica's Urban Child Care Survey; (8) current and future problems in the child care market; and (9) a summary of research in progress. The document includes 31 references on the child care market. (AC)