ABSTRACT
Welfare services such as child care, schools, medical care, elder care and other social services are important for most people's everyday life. Welfare services are created for the purpose of strengthening citizens' freedom of action and, in the long run, their welfare. New directives and new forms of management and operation have emerged on a broad front within the elder care sector, and the breakthrough of organizational models fashioned after the market has been more pronounced in this sector than in any other welfare service. In both child care and elder care, the ideal image of the universal Scandinavian welfare regime has become more remote, even though certain trends to the contrary have also been noted. Swedish child care policy has had a dual objective: on one hand, to make it easier for parents to combine parenthood and gainful employment or studies; and, on the other, to stimulate children's development through pedagogical interventions and to work towards equalising the conditions.
