ABSTRACT
Location clearly constrains practical arrangements for caregiving, but the dynamics and histories of particular families also shape the development of care networks, and the capacity for shared care. Caregiving roles are also placed at the boundary of informal care and public-sector service delivery. This chapter draws on a study of public sector employees in two large city councils in New Zealand and takes a comparative perspective on the intersection of formal and informal care, examining the concept of “zones of care” and gaps in the continuum of care. The experience of the working carers involved in this study suggests that gaps and boundaries between “public” and “private” care and support systems for older people are contested, sometimes permeable, and regularly blurred.
