Recognizing current changes in the labor force because of the increasing numbers of working mothers, this report examines the following options under which the government might provide dependent care assistance to federal employees: on-site care (setting up a dependent care facility at the employees' workplace); consortium care (several organizations joining together to establish a dependent care center); vendor care (contracting with a private day care organization for dependent care); and voucher care (providing direct payment to employees for some portion of their dependent care costs). This report, focusing on child care, summarizes costs and benefits reported by private sector employers; compares and contrasts the advantages and disadvantages of the four options; describes the federal government's current involvement; and estimates the cost of such assistance for federal employees under various assumptions of the level of subsidy, annual per child costs, and number of children sponsored. In conducting the study, current literature was searched for information on the advantages and disadvantages of each child care option, and existing day care centers at various federal agencies were reviewed. In addition, the study includes survey data on dependent care assistance needs from a review of federal employees' attitudes on alternative work schedules. Various appendices and tables provide details of study findings. (DST)