Developing policies for the ageing : the importance of family indicators

Abstract

At an Institute of Family Studies conference in 1984 it was argued that the major indicators of family well being were access to and receipt of tangible resources, effective services, and close companionship. The first is best delivered by government because only government really has the resources to meet the non-market income maintenance needs evident in modern societies. The second, effective services comes largely through an incredibly complex network of government service agencies, community agencies, and commercial services and this mix of government and non-government, community and commercial, shapes our service systems. The third, companionship and family support cannot be delivered bureaucratically, and analysis here gets us into the realm of informal services, family care systems, informal supports, and all the things that come with kinship and friendship networks.