families and family policies: developing a holistic policy agenda sheila b. kamerman

FAMILIES AND FAMILY POLICIES:DEVELOPING A HOLISTIC POLICY

AGENDA

Sheila B. Kamerman

Families & Family Policies 2

FAMILIES AND FAMILY POLICY

• Public commitment to children and their families varies across countries and over time.

• New initiatives are needed to cope with new risks and new problems

• Recently many countries have explored specialized and innovative benefits designed to strengthen families with children.



• Purpose of these developments:– Increasing women’s labor force attachment– Facilitating the reconciliation of work and

family life– Reducing child poverty– Strengthening children’s rights to education

and care– Enhancing child protection, development, and

well-being.



• In some countries, these goals were incorporated into a holistic approach to an explicit family policy.

• In others, the focus remained more categorical, and the family policy more implicit, but still guided by an increased effort at enhancing child well-being.



Organization of paper:

• Defining family policy.

• Illustrating what an explicit family policy looks like.

• Illustrating several important family and child policy initiatives that could be part of a policy package in Hong Kong.

• Conclusions


What is family policy?

• Family policy is what government does to and for children and their families.

• Characteristic of family policy internationally is concern for all children and their families, not just poor families and families with problems.


What is family policy (cont’d)?

• Family policy may be explicit or implicit.

• As a subcategory of social policy, family policy can be viewed as:– A policy field, – A policy instrument, or – A criterion by which all social policies can be

assessed.



• Family policy has 4 major characteristics:– A view of the family as a central institution in a

society.– A definition of family that allows for a variety

of types, usually at least one adult and one child.

– A definition of policy that assumes a diversity and multiplicity of policies rather than a single monolithic, comprehensive legislative act.



• Family policy instruments include:– Cash benefits– Services– Laws



• The major family policy instruments are:– Income transfers– Early childhood care and education services– Time for parenting, including paid and job protective

leaves from employment– Family law– Personal social services and family support programs– Housing allowances and policies– Maternal or family and child health services.


What is family policy?

• Today the concept of family policy is a global one.

• Families fulfill essential roles in: – Reproduction, – Socialization, – Early education, – Promotion of good health, and– Preparation for adulthood

• But families are changing and the need for care and care services is increasing.


What is family policy (concluded)?

• To carry out traditional roles as well as new roles, families require help from government.

• We need to know more about: – Family changes, – Responses of governments to new family

needs and problems – Which family policies may make a difference.


Countries with Explicit Family Policy

• Sweden– Historically Sweden’s family policy has been focused on:

• Protecting children, • Redistributing income, • Compensating for the economic costs of rearing

children, • Giving people the economic resources to have

children when they want to, • Promoting gender equity, • Facilitating the reconciliation of work and family life.• Policy based on principles of universality and

individual rights.


Countries with Explicit Family Policy- Sweden

Swedish family policy Includes:• Family cash benefits,• Income-tested housing allowances,• 18-month parental leave from employment,• Advance payment of child maintenance to

custodial parents,• Protective and supportive services, and• High quality public ECEC


Countries with Explicit Family Policy - Sweden

• Sweden– 2 current challenges

• Increasing difficulty for immigrant youth to obtain jobs

• Segregation of native born persons from those perceived as foreign.


Countries with Explicit Family Policy - France

Exceptionally generous cash benefits and ECEC services.

– 5 objectives have dominated French family policy• Solidarity• Pro-natilism• Social justice• Protecting the well-being of children, and• Protecting parental choice with regard to parents choosing to

work outside the home or remaining at home to rear children.



– Most important family benefit is universal family allowance• Supplemented by income-tested categorical cash benefits.

– Still doesn’t cover first children under the basic family allowance.

– Primary objective• Horizontal redistribution of income and wealth from those

with no children to those with children.• Easing women’s burden in balancing family and employment.



French family policy also includes a large service component:

• Universal voluntary and free public preschool system for all 3- to 6- years old, and almost half 2-year olds, covering the full school day

– Extended coverage for children with parents working a longer day

• Extensive subsidies for infant and child care• An extensive maternal and child health service.


Family Policy Developments and Innovations

• Term “ social protection” includes:– Government actions that provide individuals

and families with a defined minimum standard of living and protection against traditional social risks

– The concept of social protection provides a policy framework for dealing holistically with poverty and vulnerability.


Family Policy Developments and Innovations (cont’d)

• Child-conditioned social protection includes those policies that are contingent on the presence of children:– Social insurance,– Social assistance,– Child-related demogrants, – Social services, and– Social infrastructure.


Family Policy Developments and Innovations (cont’d)

• Social Protection in Hong Kong– Scholars describe the state as playing a major role in

Hong Kong, as direct provider of education, health care, housing, and cash benefits for the poor.

– Missing from a family policy agenda are:• Child benefits,• Special child-conditioned benefits,• Some sense of the adequacy of these benefits,• More extensive ECEC services,• ECEC services for children under age 3, and• More extensive parental leave.


Possible Components of a Family Policy Package

• Income Transfers, in particular:– Asset-based Policy and Child-development

Accounts.• Hypothesis is that providing assets before a crisis

occurs would lead to: • Less family breakdown, • Fewer school dropouts, and • Less movement of orphans to becoming street

children.


Possible Components of a Family Policy Package (cont’d)

• Child Trust Funds– Goal: to strengthen savings habits, help

redistribute assets, and educate people to the need for and value of savings.

– Unclear whether it will alleviate child policy



• Conditional Cash Transfers– New form of cash transfers that focuses on

improving:• The health, education, and well-being of poor

children and their families

– Requires that the receipt of the grants be contingent on:

• Enrolling and maintaining children in school, • Obtaining preventive health care, and • In some countries, participating in other social

services, and parental employment.



• Major questions currently debated:– Whether policy is limited to the more affluent

countries or can be adopted by poor countries as well.

– Whether provision without conditions would accomplish the same objectives at lower costs.

– What is the role of personal social services?.



• Early childhood education and care services (ECEC)– Services for children below compulsory school

age involving elements of both physical care and education.

– Apart from significant contribution to cognitive stimulation, socialization, child development, and early education, an essential service to employed parents.



• Early childhood education and care services– Include a wide range of part-day, full-school-

day, full-work-day programs under education, health, and social welfare auspices.

– Are funded and delivered in a variety of ways in both the public and the private sectors.

– Are voluntary and take-up is high where the programs are free or the fees are very modest, and the quality adequate.



• Early childhood education and care services (ECEC)– Acknowledged in Hong Kong too, as

essential foundation for child development– Current stress on:

• Improving quality,• Enhancing staff qualifications, and• Strengthening the links between preschool and

primary school.



• Early childhood education and care services:– Almost universal coverage for 3- to 6- year

olds but largely part-day– Unclear how care is provided for the rest of

the working day.– Inadequate data regarding infant and toddler

care.


Conclusions

• Difficult to obtain a coherent picture of what is provided to enhance the wellbeing of Hong Kong children and their families, with what consequences.

• Among initiatives mentioned are:– Family commission,– Family advisory council,– Family impact analyses and reports, and– Family-friendly policies.

• Biggest gap is a holistic picture of the situation of the children and the policies designed to respond to their needs and problems.


Conclusions (cont’d)

• Family policy is a holistic approach to evaluating social policies affecting children and their families.

• A holistic approach to developing a coherent policy agenda remains to be developed in Hong Kong.

• Even without that it would be useful to make the policy package that exists more visible.


Conclusions

• No one policy can achieve all the desired goals:– Reducing child policy,– Increasing capital investment,– Protecting children’s rights,– Strengthening families, and– Enhancing child development and well-being.

• An explicit family policy may not be the answer but making the condition of children and their families more visible and assessing the policies affecting them would help if the goal is to achieve greater coherence.

families and family policies: developing a holistic policy agenda sheila b. kamerman

Documents

family policy contd

explicit family policy

family policy purpose

concept of family policy

families family policies10

families family policies6

families family policies7

families family policies8