Child Placement Policies – Subnational Policy Diversity and Development over Time

Child placement policies have undergone considerable change in many Western 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. Swiss cantons enjoy a relatively large autonomy in welfare legislation, resulting in great heterogeneity in policy regimes across cantons that - so far - has not been analyzed. My dissertation aims to fill this gap by collecting the first data set on cantonal placement policies and contributing to identifying explanatory factors for the period of 1970 to 2018. Cantonal policymaking is interdependent, that is, it is influenced by experiences in other polities. I therefore argue that policies diffuse through emulation and learning effects. Furthermore, I argue that through the (de-)politicization of the issue in two phases, the policy field underwent two major changes in the investigated period: First, public pressure stemming from scandals and the changing societal norms in the 1970s. Second, calls for professionalization from an increasing group of university-trained social workers. This paper, therefore, contributes to the understanding of politicization in federal interdependent policymaking, the spread of successful policies and the explanation of cantonal policies.