Issues such as caring and family policy have received increased attention within the welfare state literature during the past decades (Daly and Rake, 2003; Lewis, 2001; Orloff, 1993; Saraceno, 2011). As sociocultural and economic changes have taken place, in particular the spectacular rise in women's labour market participation, welfare state expenditures in family policy and welfare state approaches to care responsibilities in particular, have become the focus of research. From a welfare regime perspective, variation in childcare policies across countries has been explained in line with the delineation of social rights and protection evident in different regime types or the extent to which welfare states take up familial care responsibilities (Esping-Andersen, 1999; Lister, 1997; Saraceno and Keck, 2010). Subsequently, more detailed comparative analyses of care policies emerged (see, for example Gornick et al, 1996; Plantenga and Remery, 2005; Yerkes, 2006). Only recently has childcare received attention as a ‘new’ social risk (Esping-Andersen, 1999, 2009; Taylor-Gooby, 2004). As family structures have become increasingly complex and women's labour market participation continues to increase, welfare states increasingly concern themselves with the question of responsibility for social risks in relation to the family. In particular these changes have ‘undermined assumptions about the best mix of public and private responsibility for care’ (Jenson, 2006: 28). From a welfare state perspective, the Dutch approach to childcare is intriguing.

With a strong male breadwinner legacy, the Dutch welfare state historically maintained low levels of childcare provision (Knijn, 1994a; Lewis, 1992). The lack of childcare was directly related to a cultural and policy preference of having the care of children take place within the home, preferably done by mothers (Knijn, 1994b; Yerkes and Visser, 2006). More recently, childcare policy has shifted dramatically in the Netherlands as perceptions of childcare as a social risk have changed, leading to the semicollectivisation1 of childcare. This chapter explores this remarkable development, examining how childcare is perceived by welfare state actors and the social partners and how these perceptions have changed across time, giving shape to a new form of welfare.

The development of childcare policy in the Dutch welfare State

Until the 1990s, Dutch childcare policy could best be described as underdeveloped (Tijdens and Lieon, 1993).