Wall, Karin2016-12-162017-05-012016Wall, K. (2016). Family policies in Portugal: brief overview and recent developments. In: Cunha, V., Vilar, D., Wall, K., Lavinha, J., Pereira, P. T. (Orgs), A(s) problemática(s) da natalidade em Portugal: uma questão social, económica e política, pp. 191-201 . Lisboa: ICS. Imprensa de Ciências Sociais978-972-671-377-7http://hdl.handle.net/10451/25299Since 2010 there have been major changes in family policies in Portugal. The economic crisis led to a retrenchment in benefits for families and policy objectives moved away from an explicit pro-family and proegalitarian perspective during the first decade of the 21st century toward a more implicit and residual policy perspective. The new focus of family policies has underlined support for very poor families, the strengthening of selectivity mechanisms and a move away from state responsibility for families in general, by encouraging the non-governmental sector and families themselves to act as the “front-line” of support for persons “in need” (Wall et al. 2014). At the level of the governmental framework, family policy during the last three years has therefore been in the shadow of social policy. There has also been strong delegation of state responsibility for disadvantaged families to third sector institutions (mostly private publicly-subsidized NGOs) and to regional and municipal authorities. At present there is no specific governmental body with responsibility for overseeing family policies and their impact.engFamiliesPublic policiesconference object