Because so many infants and young children are cared for in family day care homes, these can play a very important role in the promotion of children's health. Parents and family day care home caregivers should work closely to provide adequate child health supervision, emergency care, nutrition education, mental health services, and sick care services. Further documentation of the health-service needs in this area would be useful in indicating where in-service training and health education for parents and caregivers should be concentrated. Health professionals from both private and public agencies should begin to direct their efforts on behalf of the many children who are cared for in family day care homes and to utilize these as resources for health promotion and disease prevention.