Family policy

Background: Much literature about kinship care has focused on grandparents, with limited attention to other kinship carers. Methods: This article describes results from the second part of an Australian research project that explored the prevalence, experiences and support needs of kinship carers aged 18-30 years through interviews with 41 kinship carers. Most were sisters or aunts. Results: Findings included deep commitment of the carers to children in their care and the children's positive development over time.

This paper reviews the work-family policy of Bulgaria before and after the transition. Before the transition the family policy was one of earner–carer where women were given support to combine work-force participation with childcare and men were at least encouraged to help with carework. After the transition women's access to help with carework became so limited that the family policy, by default, became one of dual earner, but with extremely high levels of unemployment.