INTRODUCTION

The Trustees of the Johnson and Johnson Institute for Pediatric Service (now The Johnson & Johnson Pediatric Institute) have, over the past 25 years, sponsored symposia on topics of major importance to the health and well-being of children. The subject of group day care for children was chosen for the symposium held October 4 and 5, 1991 at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Arlington, Virginia. This choice was made, not only because the subject has been propelled into prominence by the dramatic recent changes in the pattern of family life and the role of women in our society, particularly the remarkable increase in the number of mothers working outside of the home, but because group day care was growing with little sense of direction. The Trustees felt that the quality of care would, to a large extent, shape the early development of the involved children, and that it is evolving with insufficient coordination among the disciplines essential to the development of child care settings of high quality. They felt that too little attention had been paid to the fact that the quality of care which was being substituted for maternal care demanded not only safe supervision, but also specific attention to the developmental needs of children at a time in life now recognized as perhaps the most developmentally critical. They felt it was time to bring together authorities in diverse disciplines, whose work impacted on this burgeoning field, to exchange information which could determine the future direction of child care by emphasizing those features in early care that enhance the child's full developmental potential.