Long-term and Child Care Policies in Italy between Familism and Privatisation

Abstract

Italy is unanimously considered a familistic country, where informal caregiving provided by household members is higher than in most other European countries (Chiatti et al., 2013). Welfare policy has long implicitly supported family networks in providing the most vulnerable people with care and services, with comparatively low public provision (Saraceno, 1994). This model has come under strain since recent demographic and social trends have increased the demand for greater provision of care services both for dependent people and young children. On one side, the ageing of population¹ and the growth in the absolute number of dependent people, and especially of the heavily dependent, which increased by 35 per cent between 1994 and 2005 (Pavolini and Ranci, 2008), have made the care needs of families grow. On the other side, the increased propensity of women to participate to the labour market,² together with rising retirement age, have radically changed the capacity of households to care for their dependent members. The combination of socio-demographic trends and of the restructuring of Italian families has thus provoked a growth of care needs. Faced with these challenges, the Italian care system did not see any radical change in the last two decades. Whereas other latecomer European countries have introduced relevant reforms in public care policies, institutional inertia has been the main characteristic in Italy (Costa, 2012; Da Roit and Sabatinelli, 2013; Ranci and Pavolini, 2012).