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Mainstream literature on paid care for children, frail elderly people and people with chronic illness or disability, and unpaid care provided usually by family members within households and kin networks tends to'establish dichotomies: formal/informal, commodified/non-commodified. Recent feminist literature rejects these dichotomies, developing models of social care in which the interconnections of paid and unpaid care are mapped within policy frameworks. This paper uses theoretical frameworks of ‘social care’: care as labour; care as a relationship embedded in obligation; care incurring a range of costs; to explore two case-studies: young carers aged up to 24 years who are most often caring for a co-resident parent; and grandparents who are the primary carers of their grandchildren. The latter may occur under the aegis of child protection authorities, or Family Court orders, or in informal arrangements, not licensed by state authorities. This analysis of the international literature and Australian research data affirms the power of the social care framework, and also shows the influence of social policy settings on informal care provision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the role of the basic community in the welfare reform in Australia. The final report of the Reference Group on Welfare Reform titled "Participation Support for a More Equitable Society" talks about the ideals of the community, but it failed to examine the community itself. Sheila Shaver, an Australian sociology researcher noted that the report presents a communitarian vision of welfare and society which assumes that welfare dependents belong to a close and abiding community. However, it failed to support the evidence that the community is experiencing a welfare problem such as unemployment and joblessness in the family.

The article discusses various reports published within the issue, including one by Alison McClelland on the welfare responsibilities of the Australian government and another by Tim Rowse on the interactions of current welfare arrangements in the Aboriginal communities.