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Social capital bas been a key framework in conceptualizing the place of social ties in quality of life. Families have not been among groups of interest in social capital research. Yet within the context of research and public policy on aging, the contemporary discourse on families and care is congruent with social capital assumptions. In this paper, we draw on social capital literature to frame our understanding of the social capital inherent in families of frail older adults, and hypothesize their abilities to benefit family members. Data are drawn from Statistics Canada 2002 General Social Survey on Aging and Social Support. Le capital social a constitue un cadre important pour la conceptualisation de la place des liens sociaux dans la qualite de vie. La famille n'a pas fait partie des groupes d'interets dans les recherches sur le capital social. Neanmoins, dans le contexte de la recherche et de la politique publique sur le vieillissement, le discours contemporain sur les familles et sur les soins est congruent avec les hypotheses sur le capital social. Les auteurs s'inspirent de la documentation sur le capital social pour encadrer leur comprehension du capital social inherent aux familles ayant des personnes agees de sante fragile. Ils emettent l'hypothese de leur capacite de beneficier des soins des membres de la famille. Les donnees proviennent de l'Enquete sociale generale sur le vieillissement et le soutien social (ESG 2002) de Statistique Canada., SOCIAL CAPITAL HAS BEEN A KEY framework in conceptualizing the place of social ties in quality of life. The foundational work of scholars like Putnam (1995), Bourdieu (1986), and Coleman [...]

A current emphasis in Canadian public policy is on community care for frail seniors. Such care is viewed as attractive in part because public costs are lower than for traditional nursing home care. Adult Family Living (AFL) is seen as an exemplar of this community focus. Data from a multi-model evaluation of residential continuing care in western Canada are used to show that while AFL programs have lower public costs than nursing homes, AFL caregivers incur high levels of economic and non-economic costs. We address the question of the sustainability of this approach to community-based residential care in light of the apparent transfer of public costs to AFL caregivers. KEYWORDS. Public policy, residential continuing care, adult family living, costs