Parenting in Public: Family Shelter and Public Assistance / Edition 1

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:	2900231111057
Publisher:	Columbia University Press
Publication date:	09/08/2000
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	286
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 1.25(h) x 9.00(d)

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

	Acknowledgments	vii
	Prologue	1
1.	Parenting and Public Assistance	7
	Reflections on Chapter 1	28
2.	Family Shelter Environments	41
	Reflections on Chapter 2	73
3.	Parental Rights and the Protection of Children	85
	Reflections on Chapter 3	112
4.	Shelter Rules	121
	Reflections on Chapter 4	149
5.	Individualized and Standardized Service	157
	Reflections on Chapter 5	179
6.	The Paradox of Self-Sufficiency: Building Community and Interdependence	189
	Reflections on Chapter 6	212
7.	Final Group Reflection	225
8.	We Need a Revolution	233
	Notes: Text	249
	Notes: Reflections	258
	Bibliography	259
	About the Authors	269
	Index	273

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