Welfare State (WS) refers to those states that promote the social protection and welfare of its members by providing material benefits, fringes and services, rights and entitlements of social citizenship, and that actively regulate the consequences of such provisions (called social regulations).The relationship between state, family and children has been central in the development of WS. In its origins, around the last quarter of the XIX century, the child was assumed to be as a welfare subject, because of the potential role she/he would play as an adult citizen in economic growth, and the reproduction of moral values, including social harmony. In the Western world, anxieties and moral panics over the wellbeing of the ?children of the nation? dominated that period. Policymakers and social reformers have been preoccupied with establishing the circumstances in which the state should intervene to protect children, or restricting irresponsible and amoral behavior. The responsibilities and functions of the family and the state with respect to child care and protection have been a contested. As Hendrick (2003) points out, these issues define the very meaning of modern childhood. Consequently, WS is one of the key scenarios that constitutes modern childhood, both as a social institution and social experience. Furthermore, children?s living conditions depend on the relationship between state provisions and family arrangements.After the sanction of the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child (CRC) in 1989, competing perspectives on children as welfare subjects emerged. The images of children as dependent and vulnerable, being eligible for direct protection only when considered ?in need? or ?at risk? was challenged as too narrow. Nevertheless, in regions such as Latin America, the convergence of the CRC framework with neoliberal reforms brought up a heated debate on children?s rights and their ability to challenge structural inequality affecting children?s lives.This entry will present the main theoretical approaches to WS. Following this, it will being about some of the main tenants of feminist theories on WS, and finally, it presents some main characteristics of the WS reforms during the 1990s and 2000s, focusing on Latin America middle-income countries.