On November 4 and 5, 2010, Social Platform held its annual conference on Care.

The main recommendations from the workshop on Care practices are the following:

• Providing support to informal carers (training, measures to recognise informal care)
• Providing more information to care professional and informal carers
• In relation to cross border provision, recognition of professional carers and improvement of the status of care workforce
• Building bridging between the different care sectors
• Need for more empowerment
• Home care should be promoted as a possible option
• Facilitate the cooperation between informal and professional carers
• Involvement of all stakeholders in the design and implementation and evaluation of care policies at EU level.

The main recommendations from the Workshop on Care policies:

• Guarantee public funding for care services
• Develop alternative caring options, including by renewing the Barcelona child care targets and adopting the parental leave instruments
• Systematic gender mainstreaming
• More and better “user” involvement and empowerment
• Better and regularly updated monitoring of public service obligations (availability-accessibility-affordability)
• Development of alternative “beyond GDP” measurement including measurement of unpaid careand care by young carers
• Promote the implementation of social standards and the European Voluntary Quality Framework ; promote innovation
• Promote training, mutual learning, research
• Better recognition of the value of care, including unpaid care
• Legal issues : the Swedish “freedom of choice” model ; labour law (posting of workers, temporary work, undocumented migrants); need to develop collective bargaining at national and EU level, work-life balance, to solve conflicts between EU and national law)
• Importance of “good governance” frameworks in order to ensure a good interaction between authorities – funders – planners – care managers - providers – users - families and communities ; and between authorities themselves
• International dimension : “care drain” for neighboring countries
• Invest in preparation EY 2011 on volunteering and address some of the most burning questions w.r.t. trade-off with “regular” employment
• Use more extensively the “Active inclusion” framework.

The presentations available are the following:

• The perspectives of Care givers, receivers and policy makers - how their demands can be reconciled, Fiona Williams, University of Leeds
• Social Platform and Care: Where we are and where we're going, Heather Roy, Member, Social Platform Management Committee

WORKSHOP A: Care practices

• The European Charter on the rights and responsibilities of older people in need of long-term care and assistance: how it can be used to reduce elder abuse, Marjan Sedmak, AGE Platform Europe
  
• Independent living - the Way Forward: Rights and Responsibilities or Regression, John Evans, Board Member, European Network for Independent Living
  
• Case study from Italy: “Un euro all’ora” - Improving the working conditions of migrant carers and better matching the needs of care receivers, Sicilia D'Arista, European Anti-Poverty Network Italy
  
• Home Care services: Caring for people, caring for Care workers, Adriana Opromolla, Caritas Europa
  
• Case study from Belgium: how the programme “Living better with Alzheimer’s” has improved family carers’ well-being and the quality of Care giving, Nadine Bosman and Jean-Christophe Bier, Confederation of Family Organisations in the EU
  
• Care for children and young people – the Eurochild perspective, Diane Daniel, Eurochild
  
• Protected home for young people, leaving specialized institutions, calledhomes for children deprived of parental care, in Haskovo, Bulgaria, Gergana Atanasova, Eurochild

WORKSHOP B: Care policies

• The effects of the financial crisis on social services for people with disabilities in Ireland, Lillian Buchanan, EASPD
  
• Squaring the circle? Proposals for safeguarding quality in Care in times of financial crisis, Laura Jones and Clotilde Clark-Foulquier, Eurodiaconia
  
• Innovative models in mental health Care in Europe, Stijn Jannes, Mental Health Europe
  
• The rights and responsibilities of Carers and Care receivers in Formal Care and NGOs, Titti Fränkel and Yvonne Ahlstrom, International Federation of Social Workers
  
• Recognising Family Care: a key policy objective for the 21st century, Áine Uí Ghiollagáin, Fédération Européenne des Femmes Actives au Foyer
  
• Working conditions in the Care sector for migrant carers and household helpers in Germany and Italy, Mathias Maucher, SOLIDAR
  
• Who cares? Efficient Care policies from a gender equality perspective, Alexandra Jachanova-Dolezelova, European Women’s Lobby
  
• The perspective of local authorities: Contracting for quality Care in a multi-actor system, results of a comparative study on Care in six European countries, Stephen Barnett, European Social Network.