Child and family support policies across Europe : national reports from 27 countries

Abstract

It is with a great sense of accomplishment that we are presenting this compendium of national reports about the contexts, current developments, and policy actions in the area of child and family support in 27 countries across Europe. The collection throws light on the conceptualisation and delivery of Family Support in Europe, which is one of the main areas of interest within the Family Support Network (EurofamNet) funded by COST. The national reports contribute to our body of knowledge by helping us learn more about national approaches to child and family support in the different countries (Daly et al 2015). As explained in Churchill et al (2019), the work helps us understand how family policy and support are offered in the different countries, and provide a detailed account of ‘provision in context’ across Europe. The reports address seven main areas, the details of which were provided to those responsible for completing the report a priori following rigourous piloting which attested to the viability of the various questions that were posed, and the extent to which they could be answered by the respondents. The first three provide the context of the country in question. They include trends and issues related to demography, such as fertility rates; households by number of children; the share of persons from 0 to 19 and of retiring age; vulnerable groups including immigrant and emigrant persons; trends and issues related to family structure; parental roles and children’s living arrangements (including out-of-home care). The third question seeks to depict the social landscape related to socio-economic disadvantage and welfare. The reports then provide the national public policy orientations, frameworks, institutions and actors which shape the goals, substance, and delivery of family support policy and provision. The family and/or children’s strategic policy documents launched in the last 20 years are then listed, and reference is made to whether child and family participation is mentioned in the document and the extent to which such participation has been implemented. The main forms and modalities of child and family support provision since the year 2000 is then provided with a particular emphasis on approaches and developments in the area. Cash support and other services; whether they are universal or targeted; are listed and the types of funding are indicated. Policy monitoring and evaluation are also taken into account.