ABSTRACT
This chapter identifies trends in the adoption of care policies that support informal care for older people. These trends in social security conflict with the policy goals formulated for informal care policies. The concern with informal care is both an acknowledgment and a response to far-reacting changes that are taking place in the industrialized countries. Economic, social and cultural changes affect the issue of informal care in numerous ways. The challenge of finding new models of caregiving is a daunting one and calling for informal care policies based on the needs of working carers. In developing policies that envisage some form of “shared care” between the formal and informal spheres, compromise formulae need to be found for the dilemmas and conflicts outlined. Regular payments and formal agreements on caregiving occur infrequently when carer and cared-for are relatives. The Cash and Counselling Demonstration and Evaluation Project is an example of developments in informal carer’s policies in the United States.
