ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the apparent new social policy consensus embracing the concepts and ideas of welfare mix and welfare pluralism. It examines formulations indicating the new government’s intentions regarding future organisation of welfare in Germany. The rhetoric is very clear and embraces the vocabulary of the welfare mix approach to welfare. Public-private partnerships should be encouraged; active citizenship should be promoted; families should be supported. A common vocabulary has developed across Europe that of the welfare mix; and this new rhetoric sits uneasily with old” demarcations of the various welfare regimes. The welfare mix for childcare takes the shape of publicly financed but NGO-provided services, complemented with the informal help of mothers and grandparents. The Ministry of Social Affairs also emphasises that childcare facilities should better serve the needs of the children, and should “function as spaces of development and learning”.
