Origins and rationale of centres for parents and young children together Miwako Hoshi-Watanabe*, Tullia Musatti†, Sylvie Rayna‡§ and Michel Vandenbroeck¶ *Nagoya University of Arts, Nagoya, Japan, †Institute of Cognitive Sciences & Technologies, National Research Council of Italy, Rome, Italy, ‡Centre Experice, Université Paris 13, Paris, §Ecole Normale Supérieure, Lyon, France, and ¶Department of Social Welfare Studies, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium Correspondence: Michel Vandenbroeck, Department of Social Welfare Studies, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, Belgium E-mail: Michel.Vandenbroeck@UGent.be Keywords: child care planning, child care policy and practice, child welfare, family policy, family social work, parenting/parenthood Accepted for publication: November 2012 ABSTRACT The range of centres where parents and children come together has mushroomed in different parts of the world, as new social work practices address the emerging non-material needs of parents in changing demographic contexts. In this paper, we explore the origins and modi operandi of these centres in Belgium, France, Italy and Japan. Analysis of previous studies and policy documents reveal diverse political rationales, including addressing declining birth rates, preventing psychosocial problems and social isolation of mothers and promoting social cohesion and equality of educational opportunities. Remarkably, despite the diverse cultural and socio-political contexts and rationales, these centres also share very similar ways of function- ing and provide an informal type of social support to parents with young children. As these recently emerged centres are seldom studied, further research is welcomed to explore parents’ and profes- sionals’ perspectives. INTRODUCTION The number of centres where parents and young chil- dren are expected to attend together has recently mushroomed across continents – in European coun- tries as well as in Japan and Australia. In contrast with their increasing numbers, reports on their functioning remain scarce in the international literature. The func- tions that are ascribed to these centres can vary according to the cultural and political framework in which they are created. However, they all share a main feature – the attendance of children and parents together – that contradicts the basic custodial function of all other early childhood services, which combine the care and education of children according to dif- ferent recipes (Cameron & Moss 2007) but always in the absence of their parents. Does this contradiction imply that these centres for children and parents (CCP) together would serve totally different functions and make reference to different political frameworks and objectives? If so, which ones? This paper explores the rationales that underpin the creation of these centres and the policies by which they are supported in France, Flanders, Italy and Japan. It has its origin in visits that each of us – researchers operating in the four countries – made to early childhood services in one or more other coun- tries. During these visits, we became aware that, par- allel to traditional early childhood education and care (ECEC) services, in all the countries, another type of service – that is, centres for parents and children together – was flourishing and had similar features. These centres, which can be named differently even within the same country (Ko sodate-shien senta, Jidokan and Hiroba in Japan; Lieux d’accueil parents- enfants and MaisonVerte in France, Centro per bambini e genitori, Tempo per le famiglie and Spazio Insieme in Italy, Ontmoetingsplaatsen voor kinderen en ouders in Belgium) are organized, operated and financially Manuscript proposed for the Special Edition of Child & Family Social Work. Special Edition: Rediscovering Family and Kinship: new directions for social work theory, policy and practice. doi:10.1111/cfs.12056 1 Child and Family Social Work 2012 © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd