Recognition and Justice? Conceptualizing Support for Women Whose Children Are in Care or Adopted
This paper examines the views of mothers who have experienced (or are judged to be at risk of) recurrent removal of children into care or adoption. Drawing on their accounts of working with an intensive 18 month support program called Pause, we argue for the relevance of conceptualizing policy and p...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2020-12-01
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| Series: | Societies |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/10/4/96 |
| _version_ | 1797545892127965184 |
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| author | Janet Boddy Bella Wheeler |
| author_facet | Janet Boddy Bella Wheeler |
| author_sort | Janet Boddy |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This paper examines the views of mothers who have experienced (or are judged to be at risk of) recurrent removal of children into care or adoption. Drawing on their accounts of working with an intensive 18 month support program called Pause, we argue for the relevance of conceptualizing policy and practice with reference to Honneth’s theory of recognition and Fraser’s arguments about the need to address misrecognition through redistribution, attending to gendered political and economic injustice. The analysis draws on qualitative longitudinal interviews with 49 women, conducted as part of a national UK Department for Education (DfE)-funded evaluation of Pause. Each woman was interviewed up to four times over a period of up to 20 months, both during and after the Pause intervention. Case-based longitudinal analysis illuminates how stigma can obscure women’s rights and needs—including welfare entitlements and health, as well as rights to family life—and shows how support can act to enable both redistribution, advocating to ensure women’s rights in a context of diminishing public welfare, and recognition, challenging stigmatization through recognition of women’s motherhood, and of their rights to care, solidarity, respect and fun. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T14:22:23Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-6e5c4667b0a949f38420a7daf30b5007 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2075-4698 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T14:22:23Z |
| publishDate | 2020-12-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Societies |
| spelling | doaj.art-6e5c4667b0a949f38420a7daf30b50072023-11-20T23:17:42ZengMDPI AGSocieties2075-46982020-12-011049610.3390/soc10040096Recognition and Justice? Conceptualizing Support for Women Whose Children Are in Care or AdoptedJanet Boddy0Bella Wheeler1Centre for Innovation and Research in Childhood and Youth, University of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9QQ, UKRegent’s College London, London W1W 5BD, UKThis paper examines the views of mothers who have experienced (or are judged to be at risk of) recurrent removal of children into care or adoption. Drawing on their accounts of working with an intensive 18 month support program called Pause, we argue for the relevance of conceptualizing policy and practice with reference to Honneth’s theory of recognition and Fraser’s arguments about the need to address misrecognition through redistribution, attending to gendered political and economic injustice. The analysis draws on qualitative longitudinal interviews with 49 women, conducted as part of a national UK Department for Education (DfE)-funded evaluation of Pause. Each woman was interviewed up to four times over a period of up to 20 months, both during and after the Pause intervention. Case-based longitudinal analysis illuminates how stigma can obscure women’s rights and needs—including welfare entitlements and health, as well as rights to family life—and shows how support can act to enable both redistribution, advocating to ensure women’s rights in a context of diminishing public welfare, and recognition, challenging stigmatization through recognition of women’s motherhood, and of their rights to care, solidarity, respect and fun.https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/10/4/96children in careadoptionstigmawelfare rightsmotherhoodfamily |
| spellingShingle | Janet Boddy Bella Wheeler Recognition and Justice? Conceptualizing Support for Women Whose Children Are in Care or Adopted Societies children in care adoption stigma welfare rights motherhood family |
| title | Recognition and Justice? Conceptualizing Support for Women Whose Children Are in Care or Adopted |
| title_full | Recognition and Justice? Conceptualizing Support for Women Whose Children Are in Care or Adopted |
| title_fullStr | Recognition and Justice? Conceptualizing Support for Women Whose Children Are in Care or Adopted |
| title_full_unstemmed | Recognition and Justice? Conceptualizing Support for Women Whose Children Are in Care or Adopted |
| title_short | Recognition and Justice? Conceptualizing Support for Women Whose Children Are in Care or Adopted |
| title_sort | recognition and justice conceptualizing support for women whose children are in care or adopted |
| topic | children in care adoption stigma welfare rights motherhood family |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/10/4/96 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT janetboddy recognitionandjusticeconceptualizingsupportforwomenwhosechildrenareincareoradopted AT bellawheeler recognitionandjusticeconceptualizingsupportforwomenwhosechildrenareincareoradopted |