Identifies the main trends in family policy across European countries over the last decade or so and analyses how these developments are to be interpreted, especially in the context of what they reveal about how the Third Way approaches the family. Family policy, and more generally the relationship between the state and the family, is changing. Among the most notable changes are: a heightened interest on the part of the state in family solidarity (especially as it relates to the behaviour of men); a move to treat children independently of their families and to grant them individual rights; a tendency to treat both parents as workers; a move towards a greater welfare mix; and a move towards gender neutrality for the purposes of social policy. In terms of an explanation, while many of these developments have some common currency with Third Way thinking, they are not fully comprehensible in terms of the advance of a Third Way project as such. Rather, they draw their origins from different sources, and, by and large, are very influenced by historical and contemporary processes at national level.
Keywords: family and gender relations, family and Third Way, family and welfare state reform, family change, family policy, Third Way philosophy,