State Family Policies

Existential Field 3: State Family Policies

The report on State Family Policies has been written by Sonja Blum & Christiane Rille-Pfeiffer at the Austrian Institute for Family Studies, University of Vienna in Austria.

Keywords: state family policies, welfare states, institutional settings, leave policies, care systems, family cash and tax benefits.

Abstract: This Existential Field analyses the major trends of state family policies across Europe. While family policies are facing common challenges (e.g. population ageing, diversification of family forms), the national reactions to these challenges are very heterogeneous. Despite this, family policies everywhere show a number of specific characteristics: for example, they developed later and more hesitantly than most other social policies (e.g. pension or health policies). Furthermore, they are a typical cross-cutting issue and may, amongst others, include topics as varied as employment, urban development, food or education policies – all of which affect families in one way or other.

The report to this existential field starts off from a policy analysis perspective, i.e. it asks: "What governments do in family policies across Europe, why they do it, and what difference it makes?". Against this background, it studies and summarises previous research results regarding the major family policy areas: institutional settings and regulatory frameworks; leave policies; care services; cash and tax benefits. Furthermore, a survey was conducted across welfare state researchers from all 27 EU Member States, who informed about current family policy trends in their countries.

On this basis, this Existential Field reviews the existing research on state family policies across Europe and develop important future research needs.

Download and Comment

Please find available to download the summary and the full working reports (to the left of this text). The Summary highlights key points and findings of the work, whilst the Full Report should be read by those wanting a more in-depth knowledge of the subject area.

Stakeholders are invited to comment on the report, making reference to their own findings and policies as appropriate; these critical comments will be analysed and processed as part of the Critical Review of the Existing Research on Families. Please note that only registered stakeholders are able to comment and download the full reports. To register, click here.