This report presents the results of the first year of a 5-year project designed to investigate the impact of child care training programs on the employability of low-income women and assess the impact of such training on these women's parenting skills. The first year of the project was spent reviewing the literature. This report of the project and its literature review is divided into five sections. Section 1 studies the population of low-income women. Topics include theories of adult and adolescent development and learning, and women's career development. Section 2 chronicles the history of federal employment and training policies, vocational education efforts, and welfare programs. Section 3 examines programs designed to train low-income women for general employment and for child care occupations; compares the training of individuals for the child care field and for parenthood; and discusses parent education. Section 4 considers issues germane to the implementation of job training and parenting programs. These issues are: (1) child care worker supply and demand; (2) career ladders in the child care field; and (3) the funding of training programs. Section 5 summarizes the information gathered in the literature review and discusses its implications for future training and parent education efforts. A reference list of more than 300 items is provided. (BC)