Family policy and its reform in Europe

This chapter reviews family policy reform in Europe, especially from the vantage point of general trends and priorities, as well as political resonance and contestations. It highlights family policy as a focus of both development and change, underlining the increased role of policy in shaping family life and the place of families. Among the policy trends are the retargeting of financial and service support for families, reshaping parental roles and furthering work-life balance, and targeting the wellbeing and rights of children. These family policy developments indicate greater but quite selective state engagement with families. The chapter identifies pressures for change as coming from both people’s preferences and values around personal and family life, as well as the contestation between political actors who either endorse state support for a more egalitarian and diverse family policy or call for a return to traditional family values, gender relations, and racial orders.