Manufacturing 'Bad Mothers': A Critical Perspective on Child Neglect

Karen Swift

Published by University of Toronto Press 1995

Manufacturing 'Bad Mothers'

A Critical Perspective on Child Neglect

Karen Swift

In the series Heritage

https://doi.org/10.3138/9781442676978

Overview
Contents

About this book

A complex and punitive child welfare system has emerged, based on a view that the children of mothers providing deficient childcare require legally sanctioned rescue by those better suited to care for them. Karen Swift challenges both the accepted view of child neglect and the present official response to it.

Author / Editor information

Swift Karen :

Karen J. Swift is a professor in the School of Social Work at York University.

Reviews

Martha Raske:

'Offers an explanation of why solutions to the problem of child neglect remain beyond the grasp of child-welfare services. The explanation is insightful and alarming - insightful because the author uncovers contradictions in the ways child-welfare services are constructed and delivered to families accused of neglecting their children and alarming because child-welfare organizations and workers are implicated as part of the problem.'

Maureen Stone:

'Offers an explanation of why solutions to the problem of child neglect remain beyond the grasp of child-welfare services. The explanation is insightful and alarming - insightful because the author uncovers contradictions in the ways child-welfare services are constructed and delivered to families accused of neglecting their children and alarming because child-welfare organizations and workers are implicated as part of the problem.'

Jane Heath:

'Offers an explanation of why solutions to the problem of child neglect remain beyond the grasp of child-welfare services. The explanation is insightful and alarming - insightful because the author uncovers contradictions in the ways child-welfare services are constructed and delivered to families accused of neglecting their children and alarming because child-welfare organizations and workers are implicated as part of the problem.'

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
PART 1. CONSTRUCTING KNOWLEDGE
1. Home Alone Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	3
2. A Critical Approach to Child Neglect Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	14
3. The Social Context of Neglect Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	37
PART 2. CHILD WELFARE WORK PROCESSES
4. Chronic Dirt and Disorder: Producing a Case of Child Neglect Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	67
5. Personality or Poverty? - Contradictory Views of Neglect Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	88
6. Neglect as Failed Motherhood Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	101
7. The Colour of Neglect Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	126
PART 3. THE RESPONSE SYSTEM
8. 'Good Parents': The Current Approach to Neglect Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	151
9. Transformations Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	172
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	195
References Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	199
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	211

Language: English
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
Audience: College/higher education;Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 218

eBook

Published: May 16, 2002
ISBN: 9781442676978