1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910299806803321

Autore

Musgrove Nell

Titolo

The Slow Evolution of Foster Care in Australia : Just Like a Family? / / by Nell Musgrove, Deidre Michell

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Cham : , : Springer International Publishing : , : Imprint : Palgrave Macmillan, , 2018

ISBN

3-319-93900-9

Edizione

[1st edition.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (322 pages)

Collana

Palgrave Studies in the History of Childhood, , 2634-6532

Disciplina

362.7044

Soggetti

Islands of the Pacific—History

Social history

History, Modern

World history

Social policy

Australasian History

Social History

Modern History

World History, Global and Transnational History

Children, Youth and Family Policy

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Nota di contenuto

1. Introduction: There is no typical story of foster care -- Part I: Looking for the ‘care’ in foster care -- 2. Did anybody care? The death of John Wood Pledger -- 3. Making and breaking families -- 4. Remembering and forgetting foster care -- 5. They’re just doing it for the money -- Part II: Shaping the lives of the invisible children of the state -- 6. Foster care—philosophies, rhetoric and practices -- 7. Rediscovering foster care -- 8. Writing to heal—the emergence of foster care in literature -- 9. Are we getting better at this? -- 10. Conclusion: What can history tell us about the future of foster care? -- Index.

Sommario/riassunto

This book draws on archival, oral history and public policy sources to tell a history of foster care in Australia from the nineteenth century to the present day. It is, primarily, a social history which places the voices



of people directly touched by foster care at the centre of the story, but also within the wider social and political debates which have shaped foster care across more than a century. The book confronts foster care’s difficult past—death and abuse of foster children, family separation, and a general public apathy towards these issues—but it also acknowledges the resilience of people who have survived a childhood in foster care, and the challenges faced by those who have worked hard to provide good foster homes and to make child welfare systems better. These are themes which the book examines from an Australian perspective, but which often resonate with foster care globally. .