A Taxonomy of Child Policies: Conceptualizing the Missing Step in Defamilization of Social Policy

Abstract

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child has created momentum for the notion of child policy to be advanced. The article elaborates a taxonomy of child policies for analyzing policy instruments aimed at promoting various aspects of children's welfare, and four different types of child policies are identified. The article explores the feasibility of this conceptual framework with a case study of Sweden. We frame the move toward child-centered policies in terms of defamilization: such policies may enhance "freedom as non-domination"and could be seen as the second round of the defamilization of social policy.