Description
Book SynopsisUnderstanding what ‘family’ means – and how best to support families – depends on challenging politicized assumptions that frame ‘ordinary’ families in comparison to an imagined problematic ‘other’. Learning from the perspectives of people who were in care in childhood, this innovative book helps redefine the concept of family. Linking two longitudinal studies involving young adults in England, it reveals important new insights into the diverse and dynamic complexity of family lives, identities and practices in time – through childhood and beyond. Paving the way for future policy and practice, this book makes an important contribution to the theorization of family in the 21st century.
Table of Contents1, Why Think Through ‘Family’? 2. Learning From Care Experienced Perspectives 3. Doing Family: The Significance of the ‘Ordinary' 4. Re/Configuring Boundaries: Who Counts as ‘Family’? 5. ‘How Can we Not Talk About Family When Family’s All That We’ve Got?’: Care and Connectedness 6. Understandings and Experiences of Parenthood 7. Thinking Through Family: Implications for Theory and Practice
