Introduction

We are inherently interdependent beings, reliant on other bodies and networks of support, as Butler (2016, p 16) reminds us: ‘Part of what a body is … is its dependency on other bodies and networks of support’. Participants in both studies gave accounts of family practices of care within and across generations. This chapter draws on these accounts to think about the sharpened significance of family connections for care experienced people, focusing in particular on caring responsibilities.

Thirty years ago, Finch and Mason (1993) observed that the responsibilities attached to adult kin relationships have not been legally defined in Britain since the Poor Law system was formally abolished in 1948. And yet, they noted, social policy continues to assume ‘that the strength of family ties, and the sense of responsibility which they incorporate, will be sufficient in most cases to ensure that people's needs are met’ (Finch and Mason, 1993, p 9). Since Finch and Mason published this study, a long period of political austerity has changed the shape of the welfare state in England.