This brief paper from the International Federation for Family Development (IFFD), asks the question: “what are the tools to measure the effectiveness of government policies in promoting the totality of family well-being?” According to the paper, recent focus on promoting the wellbeing of children globally has increased interest in promoting family wellbeing overall, and in identifying ways in which family wellbeing can be measured more holistically. This paper provides a brief overview of basic family structures in EU countries and a description of family breakdown and its impact on children’s wellbeing. The paper also highlights a few risk-factors that have been identified as potential threats to family wellbeing as well as positive indicators for family wellbeing and how programs working with families can help to promote family wellbeing.
