Children and Social Welfare in Europe

Confronting a wide range of social problems experienced by children and their carers across Europe, and the means by which these problems are dealt with by the welfare systems, this volume draws together material from disparate sources. These materials pertain to 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 text 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 aiming to adopt a clear anti-oppressive practice perspective, the argument hopes to demonstrate that the social welfare of children in Europe can only be secured by challenging the range of social oppressions which impact on their lives.;Whilst ackowledging the considerable limitation of much provision in the UK, the book also suggests that an anti-oppressive framework has been developed further in that country than anywhere else in Europe. The justifications for this thesis are explored and the barriers to implementing similar anti-oppressive standards in the rest of Europe are challenged.