Children's Interests/Mothers' Rights: The Shaping of America's Child Care Policy

How did we arrive at the current child care system in the United States, erratic, inadequate, and stigmatized? In this comprehensive history of American child care policy and practices from the colonial period to the present, Sonya Michel explains why child care has evolved as it has and compares U. S. policy to that of other democratic market societies.

In this historical view of U.S. child care policy from the 1850s to the late 1990s, Michel (Univ. of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign) shows how government, philanthropists, educational reformers, and social welfare professionals interacted to shape evolving policies. Among the many quoted key figures and documents in the history of child welfare and women's rights, particularly interesting are the efforts of social welfare professionals to prevent the establishment of universal day care. Michel states that "the presence of mothers in the workforce is presented not as a normal feature of advanced market economies, but as a `social problem' " and, since children are viewed as deprived, "children's interests are implicitly positioned in opposition to women's rights." Two other interesting recent books on child care history are Geraldine Youcha's Minding the Children (LJ 3/15/95) and Elizabeth Rose's A Mother's Job (Oxford Univ., 1998). Michel emphasizes policy and offers the most complete history of government and voluntary agency efforts. An excellent purchase for social welfare, social history, and women's studies collections at academic and public libraries.AMary Jane Brustman, SUNY at Albany Libs.
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