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- Title
PARSING PARENTHOOD.
- Authors
Godsoe, Cynthia
- Abstract
The stcrry public family law tells about parenthood is both inaccurate and normatively misguided. Parents are deemed "bad" because of their need for state support, and the parent-child relationship is accordingly devalued. This devaluation has resulted in costly and ineffective child welfare policies, embodied in the Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA) and related state laws. Child maltreatment costs an estimated $103.8 billion annually, yet its incidence is not decreasing. Thousands of youth "age out" of foster care each year as legal orphans, with no connection to a family and very poor pro-spects. This Article explores the consequences of this flawed framework, including the failure to recognize the socioeconomic factors underlying most child mal-treatment and the disregard for the real ties between parents and children af-ter families are separated. It argues that child welfare policies will not suc-ceed until the underlying parenthood framework changes; implicit cognitive biases channel even new interventions in a way that stigmatizes marginal-ized families and over-prioritizes adoption as a panacea. This Article con-cludes by considering some promising paths to remapping public parenthood, incorporating lessons from the public health preventive approach and from the private family law system's disaggregation of parental rights and respon-sibilities.
- Subjects
UNITED States. Adoption &; Safe Families Act of 1997; PARENTHOOD; DOMESTIC relations; PUBLIC law; SOCIOECONOMIC factors; CHILD welfare; GOVERNMENT policy
- Publication
Lewis & Clark Law Review, 2013, Vol 17, Issue 1, p113
- ISSN
1557-6582
- Publication type
Article