Full Description
Adam Ferner's engaging and personal book explores the ethical dimensions of childcare in a world riven by conflict and inequality. He argues that widespread attitudes towards biological parenthood contribute to these worsening crises and examines the liberatory potential of foster-care and adoption.
Written in a clear and jargon-free style, the book is informed by both Ferner's training as a philosopher and his extensive experience as a child support worker. His analysis foregrounds the concerns of young people largely marginalized by society, and he argues against the prevailing orthodoxy that hope is a necessary element of childcare. The book challenges us to look afresh at our everyday notions of parenthood, childcare and having children, and to question the dominant ethos of the family.
Contents
Introduction: the day unit
1. Why make babies?
2. Healthy development
3. State intervention
4. A duty to foster
5. "Children are the future"
6. What makes families racist?
7. Ethnic matching
8. Wages for childcare
9. Hope for the future
Epilogue: happily ever after
