Raising Government Children: A History of Foster Care and the American Welfare State
Catherine E. Rymph
(Author)
Description
In the 1930s, buoyed by the potential of the New Deal, child welfare reformers hoped to formalize and modernize their methods, partly through professional casework but more importantly through the loving care of temporary, substitute families. Today, however, the foster care system is widely criticized for failing the children and families it is intended to help. How did a vision of dignified services become virtually synonymous with the breakup of poor families and a disparaged form of "welfare" that stigmatizes the women who provide it, the children who receive it, and their families? Tracing the evolution of the modern American foster care system from its inception in the 1930s through the 1970s, Catherine Rymph argues that deeply gendered, domestic ideals, implicit assumptions about the relative value of poor children, and the complex public/private nature of American welfare provision fueled the cultural resistance to funding maternal and parental care. What emerged was a system of public social provision that was actually subsidized by foster families themselves, most of whom were concentrated toward the socioeconomic lower half, much like the children they served. Analyzing the ideas, debates, and policies surrounding foster care and foster parents' relationship to public welfare, Rymph reveals the framework for the building of the foster care system and draws out its implications for today's child support networks.
Product Details
Price
$37.38
Publisher
University of North Carolina Press
Publish Date
October 23, 2017
Pages
270
Dimensions
6.26 X 9.05 X 0.65 inches | 0.88 pounds
Language
English
Type
Paperback
EAN/UPC
9781469635644
BISAC Categories:
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About the Author
Catherine E. Rymph is assistant professor of history at the University of Missouri.
Reviews
A well-written, impressively researched book, marked by Rymph's determination to inject the rarely archived viewpoints of foster parents and children into the narrative.--The Journal of Southern History
Given her deep knowledge of the foster care system and her thoughtful engagement with the topic, one wishes that Rymph might take on the project of uncovering children's experiences next. In the meantime, she has furnished us with an insightful, first-rate study of the history of foster care as a welfare program.--H-Net Reviews
Rymph's book, supplemented by studies on the black tradition of self-help and child caring, provides a first step in understanding potential ways to serve families and their children in better ways.--Stacey Patton, Women's Review of Books
Rymph's deeply researched, clearly written work is mandatory reading for both professional social workers and scholars of the modern welfare state.--Choice
[Rymph] does an especially notable job of incorporating individual examples from archives, records, and letters to the Children's Bureau. . . and heads of other children's organizations to illustrate the central themes of the book, particularly those related to historical notions and intersections of race, class, and gender.--Journal of Children and Poverty
Rymph has crafted a noteworthy study that is more than a history of foster care. She is particularly skilled at explaining how public policy intersects with gender, class, and race, which will make her book especially useful for teaching both undergraduate and graduate students how to engage in this type of analysis.--Journal of Social History
A valuable addition to the canon on American child welfare in the long twentieth century.--American Historical Review
Rymph's major contribution is putting these foster parents and their labor at the center of her story. She also provides an important gender analysis of the roles of both foster mothers and fathers.--Journal of American History
Given her deep knowledge of the foster care system and her thoughtful engagement with the topic, one wishes that Rymph might take on the project of uncovering children's experiences next. In the meantime, she has furnished us with an insightful, first-rate study of the history of foster care as a welfare program.--H-Net Reviews
Rymph's book, supplemented by studies on the black tradition of self-help and child caring, provides a first step in understanding potential ways to serve families and their children in better ways.--Stacey Patton, Women's Review of Books
Rymph's deeply researched, clearly written work is mandatory reading for both professional social workers and scholars of the modern welfare state.--Choice
[Rymph] does an especially notable job of incorporating individual examples from archives, records, and letters to the Children's Bureau. . . and heads of other children's organizations to illustrate the central themes of the book, particularly those related to historical notions and intersections of race, class, and gender.--Journal of Children and Poverty
Rymph has crafted a noteworthy study that is more than a history of foster care. She is particularly skilled at explaining how public policy intersects with gender, class, and race, which will make her book especially useful for teaching both undergraduate and graduate students how to engage in this type of analysis.--Journal of Social History
A valuable addition to the canon on American child welfare in the long twentieth century.--American Historical Review
Rymph's major contribution is putting these foster parents and their labor at the center of her story. She also provides an important gender analysis of the roles of both foster mothers and fathers.--Journal of American History
