Excerpts from the report:

"This is a paper about the social policy experience of the western, pluralist democracies and the options faced by the central and eastern European countries as they complete the transition to market economies and test the existing child and family policy models. In what follows, I will summarize the current dominant welfare state theoretical literature, drawing in particular, on the work of Esping-Andersen. Second, I will summarize the child and family policy literature, drawing on my own research (and that of my colleague, Alfred J. Kahn), to define family policy and describe the early childhood education, care, and family support policy regimes of the West. Third, I will briefly describe the family policy patterns of the Central and Eastern European countries just before the transition and the overall trends since then. Finally, fourth, I will make a few concluding comments about the issues facing these countries now, with regard to early childhood education, care, and family support."