There is considerable public and political interest, particularly in the Western world, in older people and their families. Indeed, in line with what Means (2007) refers to as the ‘re-medicalisation’ of old age at the beginning of the 21st century, a substantial body of literature has debated the role, responsibility and social policy mandate of the family in caring for an ageing population. Increasingly, what has been portrayed in these debates is what might usefully be described as a ‘welfare model’ of older families, in which family relationships in later life are reduced to: ‘who cares for whom and in what circumstances?’. What has been missing from some of these debates, however, is a critical analysis that seeks to understand the experience and diversity of living in older families better. There is often little recognition, for example, that older families have a history of ‘being’, ‘living’ and ‘ageing’ together with scant attention paid to the multiple roles and complex relationships played out within those families. This is despite the wealth of evidence that most older people are enmeshed in a variety of often complicated inter- and intra-generational family ties.

Let us consider briefly the factual basis of this last statement. Data from the 2001 Census indicates that in England in 2001 the overall proportion of people aged 50 and over with living children was 86% for men and 88% for women (www.ons.gov.uk/census/get-data/index.html). Information on contacts with children is sparse, but recent data from the English Longitudinal Study on Ageing (www.ifs.org.uk/elsa) suggests that contact between generations is high, with the arrival of grandchildren leading to even more contact with adult children. Four-generational families are now more common, with one in four grandparents having a living parent. Furthermore, as a result of increasing rates of both divorce and remarriage or cohabitation, the number of older people on their second or third relationship is likely to grow. One consequence of this is an increase in stepchildren (and step-grandchildren). Increasing mobility, including living in different continents, means that while some families maintain contact at a distance through the use of old and new technologies others may have little or no contact. Despite these considerable variations, a recent report from the Cabinet Office (2008) has identified that the family remains an important source of fulfilment, with the majority of people making considerable efforts to spend time with family.