Children and Social Welfare in Europe

The aim of Mr Pringle's book is to compare and analyse the social organisation of child welfare in a number of European societies. Needless to say, this is an extremely complex and demanding task. Mr Pringle's book promises to become an important contribution to the field of international child care studies. The book can also be seen as a continuation of his earlier work on men and masculinities in that it in a scholarly sound manner combines issues of theory and practice within the field of social work." - Professor Sven-Axel Mansonn, Director of Research in the Department of Social Work at Goteborg University

This volume addresses the range of social problems experienced by children and their carers across Europe and the means by which these social problems are dealt with by welfare systems. For the first time it draws together material on welfare benefits, parental leave arrangements, day care resources and social care/social service provision right across Europe including Eastern Europe and pan-European institutions such as the European Union and the Council of Europe.

The book offers a critique of mainstream welfare frameworks on the grounds that they not only ignore issues of gender but also those of 'race', age, sexuality and disability. By adopting a clear anti-oppressive practice perspective, it demonstrates that the social welfare of children in Europe can only be truly secured by challenging the range of social oppressions which impact on their lives in numerous ways. Whilst acknowledging the considerable limitations of much provision in the United Kingdom, the book also suggests that in fact an anti-oppressive framework has been developed further in Britain than anywhere else in Europe. The reasons for this development are explored and the barriers to its implementation in the remainder of Europe challenged.

Children and Social Welfare in Europe has been designed for students across a wide range of social welfare training, as well as practitioners in the field. It is suitable for use on post-qualifying childcare courses and as a tool by which practitioners can advance the quality of their own day-to-day practice.