The necessity of care services is the inevitable problem of human as living being. Until now, Taiwan has taken the gender division of labor within families as the main solution to such problem. However, as the social tendency of married women's increasing labor market participation contributes the change of family formation and the transformation of gender labor division within families, more and more families have to look for the resources 'outside' families to meet their members' needs for care. Based on the conception of 'care regime', our article tries to understand how the whole Taiwan society responds to its citizens' needs for care 'beyond' the family institution. Thus, our focus is not limited on the public care service system established by governmental taxation. Beside the provider of care services, the government may play the role of financial supporter through transfer payment, to share the financial burden which individual families bear when they consume the care commodities. And it may also exercise its exclusive state power to monitor the quality of care service as commodities. All the possible roles that government may play should be examined in detail. Finally, our examination on 'care regime' in Taiwan embraces two dimensions: one is the 'Is' question; the other is 'Ought to be' question. In 'Is' dimension, we explore the implications of the current relevant policies, legislations and programs, and understand the roles that family, government, and market respectively perform in the 'care regime'. In 'Ought to be' dimension, we attempt to analyze whether the distribution of care responsibilities is just under such 'care regime'.
