European family policies
One of the important facets of Europe's efforts to cope with demographic change, beyond the issue of how population growth can be affected positively in future, is how European families can be helped now, in the present, to better reconcile their care-giving responsibilities towards family members and their every-day working life.
The Member States of the European Union have a variety of family policy approaches and instruments to address this challenge. Every country in the EU stands to gain from an exchange of information on the various policy approaches.
A successful example of international interaction about family-friendly policies is the "European Alliance for Families". The Alliance offers a forum for the discussion of family policy issues and thus the possibility for participating countries to learn from each other. The broad exchanges of experience offered within the scope of this initiative cover demographic issues and their effects on family policy as well as topics such as intergenerational solidarity, gender equality and the situation of young people.
The European Alliance for Families operates an extensive Web portal in order to provide information to all persons or institutions interested in the topic of the family.
Within the scope of the "European Alliance for Families", the expert network for family policy questions offers a special space for quick interaction on successful family policy approaches.
In addition to the activities of the European Alliance, scientists, representatives of civil society and politicians from various Member States are collaborating on an EU project entitled the "Family Platform". Its goals are to collect information on the current state of family research in Europe, to uncover possible gaps in the research and to formulate an agenda for future work in this field.
The Observatory provides further information about European Familiy Policies for you in the following publications:
Working paper No. 3, Kathrin Linz, Sabrina Stula, 06/2010
Working paper No. 3 gives an insight in the complex institutional arrangement in Belgium characterizing the organisation of policies for families and elderly people in Belgium. The competencies are divided between the federal level and the regions and language communities in Belgium. The working paper presents existing policy measures as well as current reform debates.
This working paper in only available in German!
Family support services in Europe: current challenges and developments
Conference report, Annette Angermann, Sabrina Stula, 01/2010
Families with children and dependants in need of care need a wide range of family-supporting services in order to reconcile family and working life. The international conference ‘Family-supporting Services in Europe: current challenges and developments’, which took place on 29 January 2010, provided an opportunity to present and discuss current policy approaches and service concepts of European States (Belgium, France, Sweden). The conference report summarises the fruitful discussion during the conference.
