Promoting child welfare and supporting families in Europe: Multi-dimensional conceptual and developmental frameworks for national family support systems

Harriet Churchill, Carmel Devaney and Angela Abela

Children and Youth Services Review, 2024, vol. 161, issue C

Abstract: Family members across Europe are currently experiencing a range of socio-economic adversities, as well as health and welfare risks. These issues are particularly challenging in the context of recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, war in Ukraine, increasing poverty, socio-economic disadvantages, and societal and technological transformation. Consequently, there is an ongoing and pressing need to provide effective support for families in response to their diverse needs and circumstances. However, European governments have diverse political persuasions regarding social and family policies and operate in differentiated and complex contexts. Such factors influence their approaches to, and configurations of, family support policies and provisions. This article investigates the conceptualisation and development of family support policies and provisions, and proposes a multi-dimensional, multi-modal, and multi-level conception of formal family support. It also provides a framework for analysing and developing family support and highlights challenges that arise within and across the relevant ‘policy, provision and practice’ domains while promoting a participatory ethos.

Keywords: Parenting support; Family support; Early intervention; Children’s rights; Family policy; Social systems (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:161:y:2024:i:c:s0190740924002512

DOI: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2024.107679

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