Recent Trends and Changes in Czech Social Services in the European Context: the Case of Childcare and Elderly Care.

Due to contemporary societal trends, social services are becoming more important in welfare state architecture than in the past. In the proposed article we deal with the question as to whether the development of selected Czech social services is following (dis)similar trends when compared to other EU countries. Two areas of social services (childcare and elderly care) will be analysed with a focus on the key aspects of governance in child care and elderly care: financing, regulation and service delivery, how they have developed over the past ten years in the Czech Republic in comparison with other states which represent different welfare policies (liberal United Kingdom, conservative Germany and social-democratic Denmark). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]