Caring for mom and dad : parent dependency and American social policy / Susan Stein-Roggenbuck, Michigan State University.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Stein-Roggenbuck, Susan, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Adult children of aging parents--United States--Social conditions.

Adult children of aging parents.

Adult children of aging parents--United States--Economic conditions.

Dependency (Sociology)--United States.

Dependency (Sociology).

Older people--United States--Economic conditions.

Older people.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xii, 224 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, United Kingdom ; New York, NY, USA : Cambridge University Press, 2024.

Summary:

Throughout the twentieth-century, the United States implemented social policies targeting the needs of dependent parents - parents who were no longer able to work but lacked sufficient financial resources to support themselves. These parent dependency policies either encouraged or required family members, particularly adult children, to provide support as an alternative to government benefits. Debates over how best to support aging parents centered on conceptualizations of dependency and the moral obligations family owed their parents. Measures of dependency often inhibited aging Americans' access to benefits they needed, focusing instead on ensuring that they were, in fact, dependent and that other family resources were not available. Susan Stein-Roggenbuck highlights this understudied aspect of the modern US welfare state, highlighting the limited support provided to aging parents and the hardship they and their adult children endured in the efforts to minimize public expenditures.

Contents:

Resisting a right to relief: states, responsible relative laws and old age assistance

"This responsible relative racket": contesting family support obligations

Aging parents and survivor benefits: the challenge of proving dependency

Taxing rewards: parent dependency and American tax policy.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 09 Oct 2023).

Other Format:

Print version:

ISBN:

9781009203272 (ebook)

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.