Thinking through family : narratives of care experienced lives /

Drawing from longitudinal research, this book shows how the perspectives of people who have been in care can help us redefine the concept of family. Through a narrative analysis of the complexity of family lives, the author challenges the idea that some families are 'ordinary', while other...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Boddy, Janet (Author)
Corporate Author: Oxford University Press
Format: eBook
Language:English
Published: Bristol, UK : Bristol University Press, 2023.
Series:Book collections on Project MUSE.
Subjects:
Online Access:Connect to the full text of this electronic book
Table of Contents:
  • Front Cover
  • Series page
  • Thinking Through Family: Narratives of Care Experienced Lives
  • Copyright information
  • Dedication
  • Epigraph
  • Table of Contents
  • List of Figures and Table
  • Acknowledgements
  • 1 Why Think Through 'Family'?
  • Introduction
  • The studies
  • Conceptualizing 'family'
  • 'Doing' family: practices and display
  • Thinking beyond childhood
  • Austerity and 'the other'
  • Thinking beyond the 'troubled' family?
  • Thinking through 'family' in care experienced lives
  • The structure of this book
  • Summing up
  • 2 Learning From Care Experienced Perspectives
  • Hearing a different story?
  • Care experienced lives in context
  • Childhood and placement experiences
  • Early adulthoods
  • Becoming a parent
  • Summing up
  • Politics and ethics: researching 'family' in care experienced lives
  • A narrative perspective on care experienced family lives
  • The studies
  • Against All Odds?
  • Evaluation of Pause
  • Bringing the studies together
  • 3 Doing Family: The Significance of the 'Ordinary'
  • Introduction
  • What do we mean by 'ordinary'?
  • The significance of the mundane
  • (Un)remarkable practices?
  • The role of the everyday in understanding complex family connections
  • What is (extra)ordinary?
  • Rituals and celebrations
  • Informal celebrations
  • Weddings and funerals
  • Conclusion
  • 4 Re/Configuring Boundaries: Who Counts as 'Family'?
  • Introduction
  • Defining 'family'
  • Family structures
  • Enduring kinship?
  • Ineffable connections and boundary moves
  • Family and 'not-family'
  • Shifting boundaries and 'chosen' kin
  • Conclusion
  • 5 'How Can We Not Talk about Family When Family's All That We've Got?': Care and Connectedness
  • Introduction
  • Sibling connections
  • Complex and dynamic connections
  • Parenting responsibilities?
  • Austerity and interdependence
  • The possibilities and limits of family support
  • Conclusion
  • 6 Understandings and Experiences of Parenthood
  • Introduction
  • The state as 'corporate grandparent'?
  • Stigma and intersectionality
  • Becoming a parent
  • Stigma and instability
  • Misrecognition of motherhood?
  • And fatherhood?
  • Support and recognition
  • Practicing family-at-a-distance
  • Family display
  • Enabling the practice of motherhood when children are in care
  • Future imaginaries
  • Children growing up
  • Uncertain possibilities?
  • Conclusion
  • 7 Thinking Through Family: Implications for Theory and Practice
  • Why 'thinking through family'?
  • Conceptualizing family: thinking beyond the 'single story'
  • Family practices and family display
  • Practicing family with a lifeworld orientation
  • The value of the concept of family
  • Reflections on family-minded policy and practice
  • Family-minded approaches in precarious times?
  • Supporting relational interdependency
  • Supportive siblings?
  • Chosen family
  • The limits of loving networks
  • and the need for continuing professional support