Descripciones mejoradas de Syndetics:

Combining historical and legal scholarship, this is an analysis of the history of child custody in the USA from colonial times to the present day. It draws on history to illuminate contemporary issues, offering a rich perspective on the historical relationship of children to their parents. The author draws on three periods of pivotal change in social attitudes and the law, connecting these transformations to the changing status of women and the increasing power of mothers. He describes how the present move away from maternal preference toward equal custodial rights has been promoted by feminists' struggle for equal political rights and a new theory of equal parenting adopted by social scientists.

Tabla de contenidos provista por Syndetics

• Introduction
• 1 Fathers/Masters: Children/Servants: Child Custody in the Colonial Era
• 2 From Fathers' Rights to Mothers' Love: The Transformation of Child Custody Law in the First Century of the New Republic, 1790-1890
• 3 The State as Superparent: The Progressive Era, 1890-1920
• 4 In the Best Interest of the Child? 1960-1990
• 5 The Ascendancy of the Social Sciences

Reseñas proporcionadas por Syndetics

CHOICE Review

Mason's thoughtful book reminds readers that the history of child custody in the US reflects social conditions and values. Her work combines legal scholarship, social history, and social policy analysis. Mason traces child custody through five historical periods: Colonial English common-law tradition giving fathers rights over children; the first century of the Republic emphasizing "mothers' love"; the Progressive Era reforms (1890-1920); attention to "best interest of the child" (1960-1990); and the current ascendancy of social science in custody decisions. Mason links the changing status of women with child custody issues and points out the persistence of a two-tiered system that provides differently for poor children than for children with supporting parents. Child advocates will note that this carefully researched, readable history documents the failure to place the concerns of children at the center of custody law and policy. Essential for historians of the American family, social policy analysts, child welfare scholars, or anyone interested in family law and the rights of children. Upper-division undergraduates and above. M. E. Elwell; Salisbury State University

Notas de autor provistas por Syndetics

Mary Ann Mason is Associate Professor of Law and Social Welfare at the School of Social Welfare, University of California, Berkeley. She is the author of The Equality Trap , coauthor of Why Kids Lie , and coeditor of Debating Children's Lives: Current Controversies on Children and Adolescents .