In Our Hands : The Struggle for U.S. Child Care Policy / Elizabeth Palley, Corey S. Shdaimah.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Palley, Elizabeth, Author.

Shdaimah, Corey S., Author.

Series:

Families, Law, and Society

Families, Law, and Society ; 8

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Child care--Law and legislation--United States.

Child care.

Child care--United States.

United States--Social policy.

United States.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (289 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : New York University Press, [2014]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

A call for better child care policies, exploring the reasons why there has been so little headway on a problem that touches so many families. Working mothers are common in the United States. In over half of all two-parent families, both parents work, and women’s paychecks on average make up 35 percent of their families’ incomes. Most of these families yearn for available and affordable child care—but although most developed countries offer state-funded child care, it remains scarce in the United States. And even in prosperous times, child care is rarely a priority for U.S. policy makers. In In Our Hands: The Struggle for U.S. Child Care Policy, Elizabeth Palley and Corey S. Shdaimah explore the reasons behind the relative paucity of U.S. child care and child care support. They examine the history of child care advocacy and legislation in the United States, from the Child Care Development Act of the 1970s that was vetoed by Nixon through the Obama administration’s Child Care Development Block Grant. The book includes data from interviews with 23 prominent child care and early education advocates and researchers who have spent their careers seeking expansion of child care policy and funding and an examination of the legislative debates around key child care bills of the last half-century. Palley and Shdaimah analyze the special interest and niche groups that have formed around existing policy, arguing that such groups limit the possibility for debate around U.S. child care policy. A call for better child care policies, exploring the reasons why there has been so little headway on a problem that touches so many families. Working mothers are common in the United States. In over half of all two-parent families, both parents work, and women’s paychecks on average make up 35 percent of their families’ incomes. Most of these families yearn for available and affordable child care—but although most developed countries offer state-funded child care, it remains scarce in the United States. And even in prosperous times, child care is rarely a priority for U.S. policy makers. In In Our Hands: The Struggle for U.S. Child Care Policy, Elizabeth Palley and Corey S. Shdaimah explore the reasons behind the relative paucity of U.S. child care and child care support. They examine the history of child care advocacy and legislation in the United States, from the Child Care Development Act of the 1970s that was' vetoed by Nixon through the Obama administration’s Child Care Development Block Grant. The book includes data from interviews with 23 prominent child care and early education advocates and researchers who have spent their careers seeking expansion of child care policy and funding and an examination of the legislative debates around key child care bills of the last half-century. Palley and Shdaimah analyze the special interest and niche groups that have formed around existing policy, arguing that such groups limit the possibility for debate around U.S. child care policy.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Acknowledgments

1. Introduction

2. Framing

3. History

4. The Role of Interest Groups

5. Current U.S. Child Care Policies

6. Women and Child Care

7. Strategic Framing of Child Care

8. Child Care as a Social Movement

9. If We Have a Major Social Problem, Why Is There No Movement for Change?

Afterword

Appendix 1. A Brief Note on Research Methods

Appendix 2. Interview Guide for Interest Groups and Organizations Including Unions

Appendix 3. Study Respondents by Organization and Role

Appendix 4. Conservative Organization Websites Reviewed

Notes

References

Index

About the Authors

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 23. Jul 2020)

ISBN:

1-4798-6491-9

OCLC:

876592098