Explaining Child Placement Policies in Switzerland 1970-2018

Child placement policies have undergone considerable change in manyWestern European states in the last decades. From taking away children without due process and abuse in foster homes and families to the inclusion of experts in decision making and oversight of the process, many countries made significant changes. This process is even more complex in federal states with strong autonomy of the subnational units. The Swiss cantons enjoy a relatively large autonomy in welfare legislation, which results in great heterogeneity in policy regimes across cantons. This variety has so far not been analyzed comprehensively, yet it holds important insights for federal welfare politics. My study aims to fill this gap by explaining cantonal child placement policy regimes from 1970 to 2018. For this reason I am collecting data on cantonal legislation to create a comprehensive data set. This novel data set allows us for the first time to analyze child placements policies for all cantons. The analysis focuses on two types of mechanisms: a) internal determinants such as the socio-demographic and the institutional set up and b) diffusion mechanisms. Results highlight the role of diffusion mechanisms and thus stress the importance of interdependent policy-making. Furthermore, the findings have broader implications for federal welfare politics and policy-making in federal states in general.