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There is no one-size-fit-all framework for family policy as there is no single family model. However, family policies can be made and reformed to enable better outcomes as family units are the key to better childhood health, education and development. This was a perspective presented at an expert group meeting on family policies and sustainable development, with a particular focus on health and well-being. The meeting took place on 12-13 May at United Nations Headquarters in New York on the theme, "Family Policies and the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda." The sessions were held in the run up to the 2016 International Day of Families, observed globally on 15 May.
A featured panel discussed the role of family policy and its intersection with the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. In particular, the meeting focused on families and Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3: ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being for all at all ages.
Speakers from research and academic institutions spoke about their studies into various aspects of family policy. Family policies tend to revolve around traditional, “nuclear family” models, but these are not the only, nor are they the dominant models of family life today. Wendy Wang, a Senior Researcher at Pew Research Center, shared data with the expert group on the increase of inter-generational households in the United States. As more retired seniors are living with their adult children and grandchildren, they take on childcare and development household responsibilities. More seniors today are educating and taking care of childhood health and development in the US than ever before.
Other panelists in the expert group called for family policies to be more nuanced in how they treat familial relationships in different cultural contexts, work-family balance, the involvement of fathers in childcare and development as well as how child protection systems ought to work. Gendered and cultural expectations must also be considered and scrutinized when developing family policies.
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Source & Copyright: UNDESA