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Have Families Been Rethought? Ethic of Care, Family and ‘Whole Family’ Approaches

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 September 2010

Lesley Murray  and
Marian Barnes
Lesley Murray
Affiliation:
Social Science Policy and Research Centre, School of Applied Social Science, University of Brighton E-mail: L.Murray@brighton.ac.uk
Marian Barnes
Affiliation:
Social Science Policy and Research Centre, School of Applied Social Science, University of Brighton E-mail: Marian.Barnes@brighton.ac.uk
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Abstract

‘Whole family’ approaches to intervention and prevention have raised the profile of ‘family’ within social policy, where the family is constructed as a site of child care and protection, neglect and disadvantage. However, ‘family’ is a taken-for-granted and narrowly defined concept within policy documentation, and often used interchangeably with ‘parents’. This paper uses Sevenhuijsen's (2003) ‘Trace’ approach to explore the use of the concept of ‘family’ across a number of interrelated social policy streams. The efficacy of familial approaches is considered through a feminist ethic of care approach that questions both gendered and generational assumptions about families in practice.

Type
Themed Section on Family Minded Policy and Whole Family Practice
Information
Social Policy and Society , Volume 9 , Issue 4 , October 2010 , pp. 533 - 544
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

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