Families - A Summary of the Situation in Europe Today

Information brochure No. 1 on the state of knowledge on contemporary family life in Europe and key issues for policy and researc

Civil Society Perspective

Three case studies, taken from within the FAMILYPLATFORM consortium, of family organisations operating at the local, national, European, and global levels

Wellbeing of Families in Future Europe

FAMILYPLATFORM’s aim was to develop and publish a European Research Agenda for Research on Families and Family Policy, in order to enable policy makers and others to respond to current and future challenges facing families. Four concrete steps were taken towards elaborating the Research Agenda: 1. Charting the contemporary field of research on families and family policy in the EU. 2. Critically reviewing existing research involving a wide range of stakeholders. 3. An innovative exercise to identify future challenges facing families, so as to highlight future policy issues and develop questions for future research. 4. Bringing together all of the work into a Research Agenda on Families and Family Wellbeing for Europe. Each of these areas has a dedicated chapter in this book, presenting the main results and findings of this work. More than 120 civil society representatives, policy makers, and scientific experts were involved in the work of FAMILYPLATFORM. The sharing and negotiating of sometimes contradictory perspectives and thoughts was an exciting challenge for everyone involved, resulting in a great deal of shared learning. We hope that this book passes on some of these rich experiences, thereby improving the wellbeing of families in Europe through research and policy.Wellbeing of Families in Future Europe – Challenges for Research and Policy presents the results of the FAMILYPLATFORM project, a social platform on research for families and family policy

Spotlights on Contemporary Family Life

Spotlights on Contemporary Family Life covers four issues of cross-cutting importance to families Structures and forms of families: issues relating to a diversification of families away from the ‘traditional nuclear family form’ are relatively uncontroversial from an academic perspective, but much more so for policy makers and family associations. Chapter 1 provides a thorough overview of the state of contemporary European families. Solidarities in families: too often the issue of an ‘ageing society’ is simply reduced to the problem of over-burdening social care systems, but longevity also represents opportunities for new kinds of solidarities inside families and family networks, and new relations between family members – not to mention the satisfaction felt by people who can continue to live fulfilling and rewarding lives long after they’re considered ‘elderly’. Chapter 2 gives voice to authors who identify these new opportunities and challenges. Demographic change: women are having fewer children and having them later in life. Having children is now a conscious decision and fertility rates have declined below the level required to sustain our current populations. At the same time we witness the ‘greying’ of Europe, which brings with it a whole host of opportunities and challenges. Chapter 3 raises important issues for policy makers today. Volunteering: inspired by family associations who could not survive without the support of volunteers, this chapter gives an overview of what’s known - and what isn’t - about volunteering. Coinciding with the European Year of Volunteering 2011, this chapter takes a timely look at the efforts that families put into volunteering across Europe and the important benefits that Europe gains from all of this combined voluntary effort. Linden Farrer and William Lay work for the Confederation of Family Organisations in the European Union (COFACE). This publication was produced by FAMILYPLATFORM, a project funded by the European Commission