Refuting the widely held belief that the child care crisis in America is irresolvableor that it can be resolved by simply relying on market forcesthis book presents an alternative vision for ensuring that American families with children will have access to high-quality, affordable child care, shifting the perception of the issue as primarily one of parental responsibility to one of common concern as an educational priority. The book presents creative and practical ideas about how to invest in and reform America's child care system to make it work better for everyone, and offers a historical perspective, a review of demographics and research, and a policy perspective, as well as a look at promising practice and a vision for the future. The chapters are: (1) "Reframing Child Care"; (2) "Looking Back: Child Care in the United States in the Twentieth Century"; (3) "A Good Beginning: Redesigning Child Care as Early Education and Family Support"; (4) "The New Neighborhood: Redefining Education after School"; (5) "The Caring Community: Rekindling a Commitment to Our Children"; and (6) "Toward Redesigned Child Care: A Call for Investment and Reform." (Contains extensive notes organized by chapter.) (HTH)