Social policy

The European Commission (DG EMPL) invited tenders for a study of care provision within families and the socio-economic impact of family care-giving. The tender was won by a team of researchers from the Social Policy Research Unit, University of York, England and Vilans, the Dutch Expertise Centre on Long-Term Care.

The UK children's commissioners met with 50 children who offered their questions about policy & personal experiences to be answered by the panel. Youths from organizations including the Liverpool Dyslexia Project & Barnardo's Action with Young Carers looked to the panel for more inclusion & further action to benefit their causes. 

In early 1999 the government announced money was to be spent on giving carers respite breaks. Reports on how the money, despite coming through to local authorities, has not reached the carers themselves.

Caring for a dependent elderly family member and employment are competing demands for men, and especially women, who work in the United States. Women traditionally function in the caregiving role for parents in need. Yet unlike their mothers before them, modern day women caring for elderly parents have more roles, and thus more role demands upon them. Traditional familial roles as wives, homemakers, and mothers are more often coupled with roles as paid workers and as caregiving daughters to dependent parents.

This article examines three policy statements on informal carers published in the UK in 1999—the National Strategy for Carers, the report of the Royal Commission on Long Term Care and the note of dissent by two members of the Royal Commission. These three documents contain two rather different approaches to policy for carers. On the one hand, the National Strategy and note of dissent emphasize respite care or short-term breaks for carers, and are concerned with sustaining the well-being of carers as well as ensuring the continuation of caring itself.

Reviews policy trends for informal carers which have been implemented in various countries between 1996 - 1998. The article focuses on respite care and direct payments for carers of older ill and disabled adults.

Government policy has directed local services to address the needs of carers as a way of maintaining care in the community. This study was initiated to enable carers to develop an information pack based upon their identified needs. Cooperative inquiry was the method used to ensure full participation of the carers. Group meetings were already in existence through a charity organization who provides a carers support network. The first author participated in a number of carers group meetings.