A study of child care for children with special needs that also examines related issues of welfare reform and coordination with early intervention services at the community level. The research is based on focus groups and in-depth interviews with low income parents of children with special needs in six communities in Maine and Connecticut, as well as interviews with welfare caseworkers, early intervention case managers, child care providers, and low-wage employees, to provide a context for parents' perspectives. Surveys of 189 child care providers and 441 parents of children with special needs in Maine was conducted as well as a secondary analysis of data from a sample of families with children with special needs drawn from the National Survey of America's Families.