Reception of young children, both in France and in many European countries, is at the centre of social and economic concerns, such as the reconciliation of family and working life, the articulation between formal and informal support or gender equality. Childcare services have had to cope with the increase and diversification of demand as a result of demographic changes, changes in family structures and increasing demands for flexibility on the labour market. Without denying the specific features of France, we can say that these services, like support services for the elderly, are familiar, in most European countries, with ‘defamilialisation’ in most European countries, i.e. outsourcing of childcare outside the family with professionalisation of the associated activities, and ‘merchandising’ of these services (Laville, Nyssens, 2001). that a ‘market’ for services is structured in several countries, in particular through the proliferation of calls for tenders, and that the development of such services is encouraged by measures to support demand, leaving the choice of service provider to users and potentially encouraging competition between service providers. [...]