This thesis maps trends and development of partner cohabitation in relation to social policy changes. Marriage has a rich history and its form and nature has changed several times in the past. In the last sixty years, the divorce rate has risen, women have become more emancipated and their participation in the labour market. Unmarried cohabitation is similar to marriage which it also usually precedes. This type of partner cohabitation is currently more common and it sometimes replaces marriage completely. The theoretical part of this thesis also describes the founding of a family, its function and history, because starting a family is closely related to marriage and unmarried cohabitation. The remainder of the theoretical part is dedicated to social and family policy, which is characterized in greater detail, regarding its concepts, goals and tools, together with family support systems and measures. The goal of this thesis was to map preferred forms of partner cohabitation at various stages of social policy development in the Czech Republic and to determine the influence of individual social policy measures on population development in the context of marriage, birth or divorce rates in the short and long term. Two hypotheses related to the goals of this thesis have been established. Hypothesis no. 1: The concept of marriage has been more important for women than for men at all stages of social policy development. Hypothesis no. 2: University-educated individuals prefer marriage more than those with elementary education. The first part of the research results is a comparative analysis of available secondary resources relating to certain development stages of social policy in our country. The second part of the research was conducted in the form of a pilot study, using the quantitative method on questionnaires. Results indicate that significant change in the material conditions of families with children has positive effect on population growth. Women used to link marriage to motherhood and to greater certainty while raising children. The number of marriages among university graduates is increasing. This has also been caused by the higher number of people with university education. This trend started in the early 90s. Respondents with university degrees expressed the opinion that the main reason to form a marriage is having children, yet they do not consider it as important as those without university education.

The dissertation explores the Swedish child welfare officer system (barnavårdsmannainstitutionen) using gender as an analytical tool. The child welfare officer system was a public program designed to support single mothers and monitor the welfare of children born out of wedlock. The study concentrates on the first half of the 20th century, and particularly covers the introduction of this system in 1917/18 and the changes it underwent in 1938, after an income maintenance law (bidragsförskott) for children of unwed mothers was introduced. In 1917, Sweden was one of the first countries in Europe to introduce legislation that formalized men’s obligations towards children born out of wedlock. Consequently, state officials, called child welfare officers, were required to perform mandatory investigations of paternity. Their task was also to make sure that fathers provided economic support and mothers carried out sufficient care. The 1938 income maintenance law was one of the social policy initiatives of the 1930s. Single mothers were assured payment from the state for child support and the child welfare officers then sought to reclaim the money from the absent father. The history of the child welfare officer system is used as a case to investigate the power dynamics of gender and class, and the relationship between the state, the social work professionals and the individual citizen, concurrent with the birth of the Swedish welfare state. The political debates, the institutional arrangements and the practices connected to this policy area have been analyzed. Thus, politicians, social workers and unwed mothers and fathers are all brought into focus. An analytical point of departure is that the welfare state ”does gender”, i.e. that the welfare state regulates and directs the relation between men and women. However, the state is also treated as a complex and changeable entity, where state and welfare policy also functions as a means to change gender relations. Thus, the study argues that the introduction of the child welfare officer system opened up a new public arena for women – as politicians, social workers and as mothers – in which they were able to renegotiate the meaning of gender and their relation to the state. Prevalent ideas of gender were questioned and challenged in the public sphere of politics and labor as well as in the private sphere of the family. The study consists of a number of empirical chapters in which this social bureaucracy is scrutinized from various perspectives. The child welfare officer system is analyzed both on a national and local level. The latter is done through a case study of the local work in Stockholm. Gender was a vital component to all these levels.

The graduation thesis concerns the system of family support in France whose position among other national family policies is exceptional, as are the positive natality results. Historical development of French family policy has got considerably deep roots and its functioning has practically not changed since the World War Two. French system relies on a few specific features of which can be mentioned the family allowances awarded to families with two children in minimum independently of family earnings, preference of three-children family model, important role of tax-based instruments and organised representation of family interests. Also specialized help destined to incomplete families and populous families can not be forgotten. Because of the existence of the other ways of support the total financial expenditures in favour of families can not be reduced only to direct support represented by family grants which is often represented in international statistics. Another related problem is the living conditions of families with children, which is in general lower. In France thanks to all the assistance the living conditions get more favorable whereas the families with three and more children being the most advantaged. The system of French family policy can be compared with the Czech system. Situation in the Czech Republic is different especially as regards the magnitude of direct aid which was the main method of family support and targeted the poorest families. But by means of reforms and recently proposed measures the situation has been changing and the possible access to certain attributes of French system can be observed.

Thesis The economic and sociological view of the current family deals with the issue of the current situation of Czech families and comparing the differences between living conditions of childless couples and families. The main goal of this work is to determine whether these living conditions are improving and what is institutional support families in the Czech Republic. The first section explains the basic concepts associated with the topic. Furthermore, the observed evolution of the traditional family from prehistory to the 20th century. and the emergence of the modern family and its present form. The following chapter dealing with the economic view of the family , which is mainly based on the ideas of Gary S. Becker. The next part describes and evaluates the institutional support of the family in the Czech Republic. The last part deals with the comparative analysis of the living conditions of Czech families with children and couples without children, which monitors several years development based on data obtained from the CSO and the research on living conditions in the country.

This thesis analyzes the development and current form of family policy in the Czech Republic and Great Britain. With respect to the different attitude of the two policies, support for families is compared on several levels in order to determine which of these two countries provides families a better and more generous support. It was found out, that the ratio of spending relative to gross domestic product and total social spending in the UK is higher than in the Czech Republic, as well as some amount of support. On the other hand, Czech Republic, for example, provides much greater support in the period after childbirth, which may not be in all respects completely positive. This is one of the parts where possible improvements were suggested using the model of the support system in the UK.

This thesis deals with the support of the preschool children's care. The main aim of this work is to focus on the support of facilities such as nursery schools and kindergartens. The theoretical part is concerned with the problems of family as such and its support made by the state. The thesis further is focused on the search for importance of preschool facilities for all involved subjects including family, government, municipalities and companies, followed by the introduction of various forms of the extra familiar care with an emphasis on private services. In the practical part of the thesis, there is analysed the demand and supply of childcare services by demographic, regional and economic development. It points out the main problems in this area and compares the Czech system with European states. The final section presents new directions, where the area is approaching. It also brings an appraisal with findings that without the support of the state surveyed area cannot be developed further. Suggestions how to improve the whole system are mentioned as well.

The aim of this study is to compare family policies between three Nordic countries. Specifically, the differences and similarities of family policies between the three Nordic countries – Sweden, Finland, and Denmark – regarding formal childcare, parental leave, and parents’ employment are analyzed through a qualitative research method, document analysis. The government documents of three Nordic countries are analyzed. Along with that, the latest differences in family policies between the three Nordic countries in 2019 and 2020 with regards to these aspects are explored through descriptive statistics. Thus, this study adopts a mixed methods design that combines quantitative and qualitative research. Through analysis, this study found that the family policy of Sweden supports the health and lifestyle of families with children and promotes gender equity the most among the three Nordic countries. Sweden has a high formal childcare enrollment rate, a gender-equal parental leave policy, and a high employment rate of women with children. Denmark’s family policy has performed second after Sweden, with high formal childcare enrollment rates and the highest average number of weekly hours in formal care particularly impressive. Finland’s family policy was somewhat inferior to that of Sweden and Denmark because of the relatively low formal childcare enrollment rate, shorter length of parental leave, and the comparatively low employment rate of women with children. This study is of great significance in that it revealed the differences in family policy between the three Nordic countries that were previously unknown. It is also meaningful in that the qualitative findings and quantitative findings were complemented by using a mixed research method.

Models of public family support by cash benefits. Comparative study of models in the Czech Republic, Finland and United Kingdom This thesis is a comparative study of different models of welfare available for the family unit in the Czech Republic, Finland and in the United Kingdom. It considers many different aspects, and in the first two chapters looks at what characterizes a family, the social strcutures that influenced the formation of the family unit, and existing European principles which formed the basis upon which family assistance was modeled. These principles are divided into solidarity, citizenship, corporate, and liberal. The ensuing chapters discuss family politics within the individual states. Chapters are divided into parts such as historic, present and organization of public family policy. Public welfare in the Czech Republic focuses on low-income households and distributing income assistance from public funds. In Finland family welfare is focused mainly on ensuring the healthy development development of children, which is made possible through financial assistance, family leave and programs offering help for families. In Great Britain, public policy is geared towards relief for the poor, which occurs through tested financial support for the family unit. The practical section of the thesis...

This diploma thesis deals with the foster care for a temporary period. It examines how the legislation of this problamatics has changed since the reform in 2013 and how it is delivered into practice. The qualitative approach has been chosen for this research, using the primary and secondary data likewise. The primary data has been collected via semistructured interviews with three groups of respondents: the employees of OSPOD (the child's social and legal protection institutions in the foster care system), workers of nonprofit organization dealing with the foster care for a temporary period and parents for a temporary period. The respondents have been enquired with the questions based on the reviewed literature and articles. The whole system of the foster care for a temporary period, including its incorporation in legislation, is described in the text. The mentioned 2013 reform, important for the legislation too, is described as well. The theory of street-level bureaucracy and the theory of child development creates the academic basis for this thesis. The author first explains the implementation of the policy of the foster care for a temporary period, meaning the current setting and its real functioning. The biggest barriers for the accomplishment of the reform ambitions are mentioned together...

One of the main objectives of family policies in countries with low fertility levels is to stimulate birth rates and incentivize the citizens to have more children. Nevertheless, the research on whether this objective is being met remains inconclusive. In this thesis, we analyze two reforms which took place in the Czech Republic in 1995 and 2008, which adjusted the period of reception of the parental allowance. We use data from selected European OECD countries along with the synthetic control approach to construct a synthetic counterpart to the Czech Republic which gives us an idea about how fertility levels would have developed if the interventions did not take place. In both cases, 1995 reform and 2008 reform, we do not find any conclusive evidence that the interventions affected fertility levels in the Czech Republic. Moreover, we observe a change in the trend of total fertility rate about 2 years before each reform which suggests that these reforms were more likely reactions to changing fertility rates rather than remedies. JEL Classification J13, J17, J11, J12, E61, E65, F68 Keywords fertility, family policy, synthetic control estimator, parental allowance, parental leave Author's e-mail 31609261@fsv.cuni.cz Supervisor's e-mail barbara.pertold-gebicka@fsv.cuni.cz