Four Canadian provinces license or contract with family child care agencies, which in turn recruit and monitor child care providers. These family child care agencies have two primary roles: monitoring and supervising providers, and supplying their affiliated family child care providers with professional development opportunities and other types of support. This survey study examined how agencies fulfilled these primary roles and the types of services they made available to families. The study focused on providers' hours of work, time off, income levels, benefits, opportunities for career mobility within the agency system, and turnover rates. The study also examined directors' concerns related to the family child care program. Participating in the study were 24 Canadian family child care agency directors, 8 each in Alberta, Ontario, and Quebec. Findings indicate that the following were issues of concern to directors: (1) the inadequacy of agency operating funds; (2) the difficulty experienced with provider recruitment; (3) high provider turnover; (4) the challenges of making appropriate levels and types of support available to their affiliated providers; and (5) the unresolved issue of the employment status of family child care providers. Findings led to the development of recommendations related to recruitment and turnover difficulties, the provision of support to providers, the unresolved issue of provider employment status, the role of the agency, and the role of the government. (Four appendices provide: an overview of family child care requirements in jurisdictions using an agency model; the program and caregiver questionnaires; and recommendations for supporting quality in regulated family child care. Contains 48 references.) (KB)