The Crisis of Caregiving: Social Welfare Policy in the United States [Paperback]

This book discusses the crisis of caregiving as it affects parents seeking to provide good care for their children and people who care for their aged or disabled relatives. Discussed are alternatives to the present welfare system, a description of the current safety net programs, and an analysis of the privatization of social services.Who Cares? The Crisis of Caregiving; B.Reid Mandell Women's Work, Mothers' Poverty; G.Mink Paid Family and Medical Leave; R.Albelda & B.Reid Mandell The Privatization of Care; B.Reid Mandell Shelters for the Homeless: A Feeble Response to Homelessness; B.Reid Mandell Foster Care; B.Reid Mandell Adoption; B.Reid Mandell The Punitive State; M.Rosenthal Alternatives to Welfare; B.Reid Mandell Appendix A: Current Safety Net Programs in the U.S.; B.Reid Mandell Appendix B: Advocacy organizations; B.Reid Mandell

Inevitably, the human condition requires that societies provide care for those who, whether through the exigencies of biology or of markets, cannot fully care for themselves. The U.S. is no different. But the care we provide is often meager, or given on terms so harsh that it actually damages those in need. Mandell has brought together a number of essays which illuminate this dark underside of American social policy, and it is a must-read for all of us seeking a better and gentler society. - Frances Fox Piven, Distinguished Professor of Political Science and Sociology at the Graduate Center, City University of New York

This book examines the current condition of the American welfare state from a unique perspective: the adequacy of its support of individual caregivers, most of whom have traditionally been women, and the adequacy of its institutionalized caregiving arrangements, such as foster care, adoption, homeless shelters, and even prisons. In effect, this book documents the moral and practical shortcomings of a society's excessive reliance on institutionalized arrangements designed to address the l£§