The use of markets and market mechanisms to deliver care services is growing in both liberal and social democratic welfare states. This article examines debates and policies concerning the marketisation of eldercare and childcare in Sweden, England and Australia. It shows how market discourses and practices intersect with, reinforce or challenge traditions and existing policies and examines whether care markets deliver user empowerment and greater efficiency. Markets for eldercare and childcare have developed in uneven and context specific ways with varying consequences. Both politics and policy history help to shape market outcomes.
Journal of Youth StudiesPublication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/cjys20 'So that's how I found out I was a young carer and that I actually had been a carer most of my life'. Identifying and supporting hidden young carers A common theme in the literature on care-giving is the issue of 'hidden' carers, that is, people who undertake caring roles and responsibilities, yet do not identify themselves as carers. One reason people do not recognise themselves as carers relates to the nature of the caring relationship. When providing care for a family member, intra-familial bonds of love and reciprocity do not encourage parties to view the relationship as anything other than a 'normal' familial relationship. The lack of self-identification amongst young carers is complicated further by societal norms surrounding care-giving. Whereas adults are expected to provide care to other adults and children, young people are not expected to be care-givers but rather care recipients. As a result, many young carers remain 'hidden' and beyond the reach of services and supports designed to help them in their caring role. This paper draws on qualitative research with young carers and service providers to explore the issue of self-identification amongst young carers. The paper concludes with recommendations for identifying and supporting hidden young carers.
This article identifies key trends over the last 20 years in residential and community care for older people in England, Finland and Australia, investigating the extent of 'de-institutionalisation', 'privatisation' and 'individualisation'. The concepts of collective and individual 'voice' and 'choice' are used to interrogate the roles of collective and individual actors, older people and carers, in influencing policy formulation. While these three processes have been pursued by policy-makers in each country, their implementation is illuminated by understanding how 'voice' and 'choice' have been operationalised -individually and collectively -in each context. In the reshaping of eldercare in the three states, the analysis identifies the greater influence of claims-making by family carers, who provide the informal bastion of formal care services in the push to de-institutionalisation, in comparison with the collective and individual voices of older people as 'service users'.
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