Parenting in Public: Family Shelter and Public Assistance

by Donna Haig Friedman

Overview

When parents must rely on public assistance and family shelters to provide for their children's most basic needs, they lose autonomy. Within a system of public assistance that already stigmatizes and isolates its beneficiaries, their family lives become subject to public scrutiny and criticism. They are parenting in public.

This book is an in-depth examination of the realities of life for parents and their children in family shelters. The author uses the Massachusetts family shelter system to explore the impact of asset and deficit-oriented help-giving approaches as they are experienced by mothers and service providers.

The format of the book is unique. Following each chapter are the "reflections" of a mother who has parented in a shelter, a front-line worker, and a shelter director. The author and contributors propose a "Power With" policy and practice framework that runs counter to the prevailing "Power Over" cultural policy trends.

Contributors include Rosa Clark, Brenda Farrell, Deborah Gray, Michele Kahan, Margaret A. Leonard, Mary T. Lewis, Nancy Schwoyer, and Elizabeth Ward.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780231528672
Publisher:	Columbia University Press
Publication date:	09/08/2000
Series:	NONE
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	286
Lexile:	1250L (what's this?)
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Donna Haig Friedman is a senior fellow and the director of the Center for Social Policy within the McCormack Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Massachusetts, Boston.

Table of Contents

Prologue
1. Parenting and Public Assistance
2. Family Shelter Environments
3. Parental Rights and the Protection of Children
4. Shelter Rules
5. Individualized and Standardized Service
6. The Paradox of Self-Sufficiency: Building Community and Interdependence
7. Final Group Reflection
8. We Need a Revolution

What People are Saying About This

Robert Coles

This is a landmark book -- it will help us to understand how children grow up (and parents do their family work) under the most difficult of circumstances. Here is human understanding rendered forthrightly, lucidly, compellingly.

— Robert Coles, Harvard University

Editorial Reviews

Friedman (Center for Social Policy, McCormack Institute, U. of Massachusetts-Boston) presents the results of detailed case studies carried out in five shelter programs in Massachusetts, along with interviews with dozens of shelter directors. Arguing for a revolution in the way shelters are funded, conceptualized, and run, she explores such themes as parenting and public assistance, family shelter environments, parental rights and the protection of children, shelter rules, individualized and standardized service, and the paradox of self-sufficiency. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews

Parents that rely upon public assistance are forced to subject the inner workings of their families to the scrutiny and criticism of the public. This book examines the Massacusetts family shelter system to provide a better understanding of this delicate situation and the additional strain it places upon already-stressed families.

Journal of Social Work Education

Refreshing... detailed... clear.

Infant & Child Development