A mixed methods examination of how child care subsidy policies and practices affect the child care decisions of parents, specifically the quality of child care parents choose. The responsiveness of child care subsidy policies to the needs of low income families and the implementation of these policies have been identified as important variables in the child care decision-making processes of parents. The devolved nature of child care subsidy disbursement to the county level has resulted in important differences in both the content and implementation of subsidy policies and provides an opportunity to examine the impact of the policies themselves, as well as their implementation. This study is designed to answer two research questions: (1) In what ways do child care subsidy policies and procedures vary in their responsiveness to family needs, both as they are written and as subsidy workers implement them?; and (2) How does the variation in the implementation of these child care subsidy policies, as determined by adherence, or lack thereof, to written policies, affect parental decision making as it relates to high quality child care choices?