Care Triangle or Care Diamond? The Case of Childcare and Eldercare in Serbia

Abstract

Overall changes in political, social and economic spheres in Serbia, along with ongoing demographic processes, have affected various policies and all aspects of people’s lives, including system(s) of care. While care became an important analytical concept and category of social policy analysis internationally, it has not been systematically applied in the analysis of the Serbian welfare state. Incorporation of care in welfare state analysis is much needed as its organisation in the national context reveals a lot about the nature of the welfare state, changes in its socio-institutional arrangements and, most importantly, the effects of provision. This article thus aims to outline the evolution of childcare and eldercare policies in Serbia over the last decade, employing the concept of the care diamond developed by Shahra Razavi, which allows examining the “architecture” through which the care is provided: families/ households, markets, the state and the voluntary sector. By analysing the prevalent care policy “architecture” for children and the elderly in Serbia and the roles of different sectors in that respect, as well as by identifying similarities and differences in the provision of childcare and eldercare in the national context, the article exposes developments and current state in childcare and eldercare provision in Serbia. The analysis indicates the profound role of the informal sphere in both care systems in Serbia, childcare and eldercare. Some differences between the two care domains could also be noted. These relate to the configuration of welfare sectors involved in care provision, revealing the modified shape of the care diamond in the case of childcare. That is, while all four sectors are involved in providing care in the case of eldercare forming an eldercare diamond, this is not the case with childcare. In the latter case, the voluntary, nonprofit sector does not exist as a care provider in Serbia, with childcare “architecture” having a shape of a care triangle. In light of this evidence, the role of families and the voluntary, nonprofit sector should be taken into account in future planning and funding of policies as well as in their implementation.