Cancian, Francesca M., Kurz, Demie, London, Andrew S., Reviere, Rebecca, & Tuominen, Mary C. . Child Care and Inequality: Rethinking Carework for Children and Youth - Eds - Brief Article - Book Review

Adolescence, Winter, 2003

CANCIAN, Francesca M., KURZ, Demie, LONDON, Andrew S., REVIERE, Rebecca, & TUOMINEN, Mary C. (Eds.). Child Care and Inequality: Rethinking Carework for Children and Youth. New York: Routledge, 2002. 266pp. $85.00 (h), $24.95 (p).

Child Care and Inequality provides an in-depth investigation of carework for children and youth of all ages. This collection of original essays encourages us to rethink carework and to explore policies that address the needs of both care recipients and careworkers. Chapters include--American women tending sick and disabled children, 1850-1940; poor mothers and the care of teenage children; las madres in el barrio: godmothers, other-mothers, and women's power in a community of caregiving; nurturing babies, protecting men: the unequal dynamics of women's postpartum caregiving practices; defining "good" child care: hegemonic and democratic standards; making poor mothers fungible: the privatization of foster care; children and chronic health conditions: welfare reform and health-related carework; caregiving, welfare states, and mothers' poverty; care, inequality, and policy; child care across sectors: a comparison of the work of child care in three settings; empowering forces: professional careworkers in the support networks of gay, lesbian, and bisexual youth; support organizations for parents of children with cancer: local, national, and international problems; "where teachers can make a livable wage": organizing to address gender and racial inequalities in paid child care work; and activist mothering and community work: fighting oppression in low-income neighborhoods.