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This book focuses on how EU welfare policies are implemented at the local level in 11 European cities and how local policy making addresses women's care responsibilities. The book studies the complex combination of and the relationships between local political processes, policies, institutions, structural conditions and outputs, as well as outcomes for the women's labour market integration. It demonstrates how cultural settings and multi-level governance patterns form the 'playground' for local policy makers to formulate their welfare policies concerning service provision. The book further demonstrates how local production systems and the situation of the local labour market influence the prospects that women have in working and caring.EU welfare policy promotes the labour market integration of women as well as gender equality. The provision of adequate care services is vital in supporting women's employment. Within comparative welfare research, the focus has been on the national welfare systems and policies even if care services are overwhelmingly provided by local authorities that in many EU member states enjoy considerable autonomy. This book fills the gap in understanding local welfare policy making from a comparative perspective. Dagmar Kutsar, PhD., is an Associate Professor of Social Policy at the University of Tartu in Estonia. Her research interests are around family, childhood and welfare research and policies. She has been a partner in several international research projects such as EU 6FP PROFIT, IPROSEC, NoE EQUALSOC, EU FP7 FLOWS and others. She has been a member of a Standing Committee of Social Sciences of the European Science Foundation, member of the Executive Committee and Chair of the National Associations Council of the European Sociological Association and Expert of the EU 7FP Youth Social Inclusion Cluster at the European Commission. She has co-edited a book by Routledge 'Internationalisation of Social Sciences in Central and Eastern Europe. The 'Catching Up' - A Myth or a Strategy?' in 2010. Marjo Kuronen received her PhD at the University of Stirling, Scotland, UK in 1999. She is professor in social work at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland, adjunct professor at the University of Tampere, Finland and visiting professor at the University of Carlos III, Madrid, Spain. Her research interests combine family research, feminist research and social work research. She has studied e.g. the relationships between women, family and the welfare state and gender division in parenting. She has recently been involved in two EC FP7 funded projects, FAMILYPLATFORM (2009-10) and FLOWS (2010-14) and a Finnish Academy funded project on Children's Emotional Security in Multiple Family Relations (2011-14).

This book focuses on how EU welfare policies are implemented at the local level in 11 European cities and how local policy making addresses womenℓ́ℓs care responsibilities. The book studies the complex combination of and the relationships between local political processes, policies, institutions, structural conditions and outputs, as well as outcomes for the womenℓ́ℓs labour market integration. It demonstrates how cultural settings and multi-level governance patterns form the ℓ́ℓplaygroundℓ́ℓ for local policy makers to formulate their welfare policies concerning service provision. The book further demonstrates how local production systems and the situation of the local labour market influence the prospects that women have in working and caring. EU welfare policy promotes the labour market integration of women as well as gender equality. The provision of adequate care services is vital in supporting womenℓ́ℓs employment. Within comparative welfare research, the focus has been on the national welfare systems and policies even if care services are overwhelmingly provided by local authorities that in many EU member states enjoy considerable autonomy. This book fills the gap in understanding local welfare policy making from a comparative perspective.

Die Enttraditionalisierung der Familie, die sinkende Fertilität sowie die Erwerbstätigkeit der Mütter zeichnen schon länger die gesamteuropäischen Konturen der familienpolitischen Herausforderungen in den meisten europäischen Ländern ab. In dem Beitrag werden aus einer vergleichenden Perspektive einige sich abzeichnende Tendenzen in der Nachfrage an familienpolitischer Infrastruktur in Finnland analysiert, was auch für die jetzige Diskussion, z. B. um eine Ganztagsbetreuung in Deutschland, relevant sein könnte. Der Beitrag betrachtet zunächst Fertilität, Erwerbstätigkeit und Kinderwunsch in Finnland, geht auf die finnische Infrastruktur der Kinderbetreuung ein und analysiert die Fallen der häuslichen Betreuung. Behandelt werden außerdem die familienpolitischen Aspekte der finnischen Schule und Lösungsansätze für die auch in Finnland bestehende Versorgungslücke von Schülerinnen und Schülern am Nachmittag. Abschließend befasst sich der Beitrag mit Risikosituationen und Herausforderungen von pluralisierten Lebensverläufen. (ICB2).

The article is based on methodological reflections and recollections from two qualitative cross-national research projects, one of them comparing Finland and Scotland, and the other one Scotland and Spain. One of them was a case-oriented study of local regeneration strategies in two cities, while the other one used an ethnographic approach for the study of local practices on maternity and child healthcare services. The article is based on the authors' dialogue and it contributes to the discussion about the value of a qualitative approach in cross-national comparisons and its place in the field of comparative research. It points at its advantages in enabling the analysis of societies and their specific features from inside to recognize cultural and social contexts, but it also draws attention to some specific problems and challenges concerning qualitative cross-national research by providing concrete examples from the two pieces of research.

"Welfare service systems all over Europe and beyond are under major transformations with new models of service delivery and management, austerity measures, requirements for cost-effectiveness, marketization, and the prioritization of services. This book studies these from the standpoint of women in vulnerable positions in society. The women whose experiences and encounters with the service system are heard include women in poverty, homeless women, women with substance use problems, women sentenced of crime, and refugees and asylum-seeking women. They encounter severe obstacles, face stigma, social inequalities and oppression in their everyday life. They would need special attention and support from the professionals and the service system. Instead, they easily fall in between complex systems, do not have their individual needs met or their specific life situations recognised. Drawing upon research and critical discussions from different countries, Finland, Canada, Israel, Slovenia, Spain and the UK, the book provides new empirical findings, critical insights, and a valuable resource for the academics and students in social work, social policy, sociology and gender studies, but also for policy makers and professionals in social and health care"--

"Welfare service systems all over Europe and beyond are under major transformations with new models of service delivery and management, austerity measures, requirements for cost-effectiveness, marketization, and the prioritization of services. This book studies these from the standpoint of women in vulnerable positions in society. The women whose experiences and encounters with the service system are heard include women in poverty, homeless women, women with substance use problems, women sentenced of crime, and refugees and asylum-seeking women. They encounter severe obstacles, face stigma, social inequalities and oppression in their everyday life. They would need special attention and support from the professionals and the service system. Instead, they easily fall in between complex systems, do not have their individual needs met or their specific life situations recognised. Drawing upon research and critical discussions from different countries, Finland, Canada, Israel, Slovenia, Spain and the UK, the book provides new empirical findings, critical insights, and a valuable resource for the academics and students in social work, social policy, sociology and gender studies, but also for policy makers and professionals in social and health care"--

This article focuses on ethical considerations in the study of challenging family relations. Our perspective derives from multidisciplinary family studies, including social sciences, psychology and educational sciences. Our concerns include why and how to apply a sensitive approach in studying challenging family relations, and what the key ethical issues are in studies of this kind. We examine questions of multiplicity in family relations, the particularity of vulnerable family relations and the roles of researchers and gatekeepers in the research process. The article is based on a research project where informants were both children and adults, and both qualitative and quantitative data were collected. We argue that doing ethically appropriate research requires much more than formal assessments or ethical board reviews. We claim that rigid ethical regulations may even prevent studies from finding hard-to-reach families or impede the giving of a voice to those who would benefit most from being heard in family studies and in family politics.

This article focuses on ethical considerations in the study of challenging family relations. Our perspective derives from multidisciplinary family studies, including social sciences, psychology and educational sciences. Our concerns include why and how to apply a sensitive approach in studying challenging family relations, and what the key ethical issues are in studies of this kind. We examine questions of multiplicity in family relations, the particularity of vulnerable family relations and the roles of researchers and gatekeepers in the research process. The article is based on a research project where informants were both children and adults, and both qualitative and quantitative data were collected. We argue that doing ethically appropriate research requires much more than formal assessments or ethical board reviews. We claim that rigid ethical regulations may even prevent studies from finding hard-to-reach families or impede the giving of a voice to those who would benefit most from being heard in family studies and in family politics. ; peerReviewed

FAMILYPLATFORM's aim was to develop and publish a European Research Agenda for Research on Families and Family Policy, in order to enable policy makers and others to respond to current and future challenges facing families. Four concrete steps were taken towards elaborating the Research Agenda: 1. Charting the contemporary field of research on families and family policy in the EU. 2. Critically reviewing existing research involving a wide range of stakeholders. 3. An innovative exercise to identify future challenges facing families, so as to highlight future policy issues and develop questions for future research. 4. Bringing together all of the work into a Research Agenda on Families and Family Wellbeing for Europe. Each of these areas has a dedicated chapter in this book, presenting the main results and findings of this work. More than 120 civil society representatives, policy makers, and scientific experts were involved in the work of FAMILYPLATFORM. The sharing and negotiating of sometimes contradictory perspectives and thoughts was an exciting challenge for everyone involved, resulting in a great deal of shared learning. We hope that this book passes on some of these rich experiences, thereby improving the wellbeing of families in Europe through research and policy. ; Wellbeing of Families in Future Europe – Challenges for Research and Policy presents the results of the FAMILYPLATFORM project, a social platform on research for families and family policy.

FAMILYPLATFORM's aim was to develop and publish a European Research Agenda for Research on Families and Family Policy, in order to enable policy makers and others to respond to current and future challenges facing families. Four concrete steps were taken towards elaborating the Research Agenda: 1. Charting the contemporary field of research on families and family policy in the EU. 2. Critically reviewing existing research involving a wide range of stakeholders. 3. An innovative exercise to identify future challenges facing families, so as to highlight future policy issues and develop questions for future research. 4. Bringing together all of the work into a Research Agenda on Families and Family Wellbeing for Europe. Each of these areas has a dedicated chapter in this book, presenting the main results and findings of this work. More than 120 civil society representatives, policy makers, and scientific experts were involved in the work of FAMILYPLATFORM. The sharing and negotiating of sometimes contradictory perspectives and thoughts was an exciting challenge for everyone involved, resulting in a great deal of shared learning. We hope that this book passes on some of these rich experiences, thereby improving the wellbeing of families in Europe through research and policy. ; Wellbeing of Families in Future Europe – Challenges for Research and Policy presents the results of the FAMILYPLATFORM project, a social platform on research for families and family policy.

Children and families are at the heart of social work all over the world, but, until now Nordic perspectives have been rare in the body of English-language child welfare literature. Is there something that makes child welfare ideas and practices that are in use in the Nordic countries characteristically 'Nordic'? If so, what kinds of challenges do the current globalization trends pose for Nordic child welfare practices, especially for social work with children and families? Covering a broad range of child welfare issues, this edited collection provides examples of Nordic approaches to child welfare, looking at differences between Nordic states as well as the similarities. It considers, and critically examines, the particular features of the Nordic welfare model - including universal social care services that are available to all citizens and family policies that promote equality and individuality - as a resource for social work with children and families. Drawing on contemporary research and debates from different Nordic countries, the book examines how social work and child welfare politics are produced and challenged as both global and local ideas and practices. Social work and child welfare politics is aimed at academics and researchers in social work, childhood studies, children's policy and social policy, as well as social work practitioners, policy makers and service providers, all over the world who are interested in Nordic experiences of providing care and welfare for families with children

Spotlights on Contemporary Family Life covers four issues of cross-cutting importance to families Structures and forms of families: issues relating to a diversification of families away from the 'traditional nuclear family form' are relatively uncontroversial from an academic perspective, but much more so for policy makers and family associations. Chapter 1 provides a thorough overview of the state of contemporary European families. Solidarities in families: too often the issue of an 'ageing society' is simply reduced to the problem of over-burdening social care systems, but longevity also represents opportunities for new kinds of solidarities inside families and family networks, and new relations between family members – not to mention the satisfaction felt by people who can continue to live fulfilling and rewarding lives long after they're considered 'elderly'. Chapter 2 gives voice to authors who identify these new opportunities and challenges. Demographic change: women are having fewer children and having them later in life. Having children is now a conscious decision and fertility rates have declined below the level required to sustain our current populations. At the same time we witness the 'greying' of Europe, which brings with it a whole host of opportunities and challenges. Chapter 3 raises important issues for policy makers today. Volunteering: inspired by family associations who could not survive without the support of volunteers, this chapter gives an overview of what's known - and what isn't - about volunteering. Coinciding with the European Year of Volunteering 2011, this chapter takes a timely look at the efforts that families put into volunteering across Europe and the important benefits that Europe gains from all of this combined voluntary effort. Linden Farrer and William Lay work for the Confederation of Family Organisations in the European Union (COFACE). This publication was produced by FAMILYPLATFORM, a project funded by the European Commission.

Spotlights on Contemporary Family Life covers four issues of cross-cutting importance to families Structures and forms of families: issues relating to a diversification of families away from the 'traditional nuclear family form' are relatively uncontroversial from an academic perspective, but much more so for policy makers and family associations. Chapter 1 provides a thorough overview of the state of contemporary European families. Solidarities in families: too often the issue of an 'ageing society' is simply reduced to the problem of over-burdening social care systems, but longevity also represents opportunities for new kinds of solidarities inside families and family networks, and new relations between family members – not to mention the satisfaction felt by people who can continue to live fulfilling and rewarding lives long after they're considered 'elderly'. Chapter 2 gives voice to authors who identify these new opportunities and challenges. Demographic change: women are having fewer children and having them later in life. Having children is now a conscious decision and fertility rates have declined below the level required to sustain our current populations. At the same time we witness the 'greying' of Europe, which brings with it a whole host of opportunities and challenges. Chapter 3 raises important issues for policy makers today. Volunteering: inspired by family associations who could not survive without the support of volunteers, this chapter gives an overview of what's known - and what isn't - about volunteering. Coinciding with the European Year of Volunteering 2011, this chapter takes a timely look at the efforts that families put into volunteering across Europe and the important benefits that Europe gains from all of this combined voluntary effort. Linden Farrer and William Lay work for the Confederation of Family Organisations in the European Union (COFACE). This publication was produced by FAMILYPLATFORM, a project funded by the European Commission.