If no aggregate function ise used (e.g. SUM, COUNT) then VFP will return the value contained in the last record physically in the table that adheres to the GROUP BY clause. As Marek suggested, use the MAX function to return the highest date in the group:

SELECT MASTER.MASTERKEY,MAX(CHILD.DATE) AS CHILDDATE FROM CHILD;
   INNER JOIN MASTER ON CHILD.MASTERKEY=MASTER.MASTERKEY;
   GROUP BY CHILD.MASTERKEY ORDER BY CHILD.DATE DESCENDING;
   INTO CURSOR TEMP

This will return:

000001 01/01/2000
000002 01/01/2000

>I am doing a query on two tables. Multiple records are found in the child table based on the primary key of the master table. I need to only keep one record from the child table. That record is the one on top of the ORDER BY.
>
>If I don't include the GROUP BY, the record I want to keep is always at the top. However, as I only need to keep one record from the child record, I have to put a GROUP BY. When I put, it doesn't take the top record.
>
>SELECT MASTER.MASTERKEY,CHILD.DATE AS CHILDDATE FROM CHILD;
> INNER JOIN MASTER ON CHILD.MASTERKEY=MASTER.MASTERKEY;
> GROUP BY CHILD.MASTERKEY ORDER BY CHILD.DATE DESCENDING;
> INTO CURSOR TEMP
>
>If I don't put the GROUP BY, I'll have something like this:
>
>000001 01/01/2000
>000001 12/12/1999
>000001 05/06/1999
>000001 05/05/1999
>000002 01/01/2000
>000002 12/11/1999
>000002 10/10/1999
>000002 09/09/1999
>
>If I put the GROUP BY, I'll have something like this:
>
>000001 05/05/1999
>000002 09/09/1999