Meant to orient a broad audience to basic issues of child and family policy in the United States today, this book includes an overview of the recent history of child and family policy in the United States, an exploration of several political economic conditions underlying changes in these policies, case studies of selected local, state and federal policies, an analysis of key themes that emerge from the cases, and some predictions about the future course of child and family policy. Following an introduction, the 11 chapters are: (1) "Child and Family Policy: Framing the Issues" (Francine H. Jacobs); (2) "Who's Minding the Baby? Reproductive Work, Productive Work, and Family Policy in the United States" (Margery W. Davies); (3) "Dependent Children and Their Families: A Historical Survey of United States Policies" (Cherilyn E. Davidson); (4) "Congressional Responses to Families in the Workplace: The Family and Medical Leave Act 1987-1988" (Katharine K. Kaitin); (5) "Policy Entrepreneurship and the Emergence of Family Support Programs" (Bonnie Hausman); (6) "Municipal Policies for Homeless Families" (Priscilla M. D. Little); (7) "Selective Nontreatment of Handicapped Newborns: Implementation of the Baby Doe Laws of 1984" (Martha Pott); (8) "AIDS Education in the Cambridge Public Schools: An Implementation Study" (Robert B. Griffith); (9) "A Season in the Sun: The Massachusetts Day Care Partnership Project" (Lucy Hudson and Susan Latts Vlodaver); (10) "Considering Race, Class, and Gender in Child and Family Policy" (Margery W. Davies and Francine H. Jacobs); and (11)"On the Eve of a New Millennium" (Francine H. Jacobs and Margery W. Davies). Contains an 83-item bibliography and chapter references. (ETB)