Families, Work and Home Care: Assessing the Finnish child home care allowance

Abstract

This article discusses the Finnish child home care allowance. It describes the main features of the allowance and positions it into the broader picture of Finnish childcare policies. The article approaches the home care allowance also from the perspective of daily life and asks how the beneficiaries themselves assess the use of the benefit. This discussion is based on interviews of 20 parents. The interviews were conducted as part of the research project Contradictory Reality of the Child Home Care Allowance funded by the Academy of Finland. The article pays attention to the contradictory nature of the child home care allowance and brings out possible problems related to it. It highlights three themes through and in relation to which parents make sense of their choice of home care. These are family time, the best interest of the child and manageable daily life.