Mothering Against The Odds

Download or read book Mothering Against the Odds written by Cynthia Garcia-Coll and published by Guilford Press. This book was released on 1998-04-17 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We all know what a "good mother" looks like on television and in the popular imagination: typically she is white, heterosexual, and married, and devotes herself full-time to child care. But increasing numbers of women who mother today do not fit this narrow traditional image,and their different experiences of mothering are often maligned, misunderstood, or ignored.This compelling book presents the stories of diverse mothers whose life circumstances place them outside the mainstream. Filled with the voices of the women themselves, chapters explore the lives of mothers of exceptional children and biracial children; mothers who seek closeness and connection with their adolescentchildren; mothers with HIV/AIDS; immigrant, homeless, single, lesbian, adoptive, and teen mothers; African American mothers living in poverty; and mothers in prison. Their vivid, heartfelt accounts demonstrate the unique strengths of women struggling to overcome personal and societal barriers and take us beyond labeling entire groups of mothers as normal or deviant, "good" or "bad."

Download or read book Incarcerated Mothers: Oppresssion and Resistance written by Gordana Eljdupovic and published by Demeter Press. This book was released on 2013-05-01 with total page 291 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A large proportion—and in many jurisdictions the majority—of incarcerated women are mothers. Popular attention is often paid to challenges faced by children of incarcerated mothers while incarcerated women themselves often do not “count” as mothers in mainstream discourse. This is the first anthology on incarcerated mothers’ experiences that is primarily based on and reflects the Canadian context. It is also trans- national in scope as it covers related issues from other countries around the world. These essays examine connections between mothering and incarceration, from analysis of the justice system and policies, criminalization of motherhood, to understanding experiences of mothers in prisons as presented in their own voices. They highlight structures and processes which shape and ascribe incarcerated woman’s identity as a mother, juxtaposing it with scripted and imposed mainstream norms of a “good” or “real” mother. Moreover, these essays identify and track emergence of mothers’ resistance and agency within and in spite of the confines of their circumstances.

Download or read book Handbook of Adoption written by Rafael A. Javier and published by SAGE. This book was released on 2007 with total page 585 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Handbook of Adoption' addresses topics in adoption that reflect the many dimensions of theory, research, development, race adjustment and clinical practice which can affect adoption triad members.

Download or read book Mothering on the Edge written by Brooke Richardson and published by Demeter Press. This book was released on 2022-08-13 with total page 182 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book brings critical, scholarly attention to the systematic positioning and subjective experiences of mothers involved in child protection processes in “ risk” -based child protection systems (Parton, Thorpe and Wattam; Connolley; Swift and Callahan). While mothers are typically the primary focus of child protection prevention and investigations (Azzopardi et al.; Fallon et al.; Swift and Callahan), their gendered experiences, challenges and triumphs are seldom given space in the academic literature, practice and/or public spaces to be seen or heard. Chapters in this volume build on existing literature to illustrate the structural positioning and/or lived experiences of mothers who come into contact with child protection for a variety of reasons: substance (ab)use, positive HIV status, child injury, fetal alcohol syndrome, colonial assessment methodologies, young age, incarceration, childbirth, and intimate partner violence. This book offers three unique contributions to existing literature on mothering in child protection. First, it creates space for mothers involved in child protection to have their voices heard. Second, it acknowledges the centrality of mothers' subjective experience in keeping children safe. Finally, it challenges dominant, often dehumanizing narratives of mothers in involved in child protection through providing a more nuanced understanding of their lives. Ultimately this anthology calls for a fundamental rethinking of how mothers involved in child protection proceedings are conceptualized in child protection research, policy and practice. It is recommended that mothers voices must be central to humanely reforming child protection systems.

Download or read book Autonomous Motherhood? written by Susan B. Boyd and published by University of Toronto Press. This book was released on 2015-05-07 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since the end of the Second World War, increasing numbers of women have decided to become mothers without intending the biological father or a partner to participate in parenting. Many conceive via donor insemination or adopt; others become pregnant after a brief sexual relationship and decide to parent alone. Using a feminist socio-legal framework, Autonomous Motherhood? probes fundamental assumptions within the law about the nature of family and parenting. Drawing on a range of empirical evidence, including legislative history, case studies, and interviews with single mothers, the authors conclude that while women may now have the economic and social freedom to parent alone, they must still negotiate a socio-legal framework that suggests their choice goes against the interests of society, fatherhood, and children.

Download or read book Honouring Social Justice written by Margaret E. Beare and published by University of Toronto Press. This book was released on 2008-12-08 with total page 513 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Honouring Social Justice brings together a diverse group of leading legal scholars, criminologists, and sociologists to study numerous contemporary social justice issues. In doing so, the contributors to this collection present a thorough and multifaceted portrait of recent successes and challenges of the criminal justice systems in Canada and elsewhere. Examining a broad range of vital contemporary social, judicial, and political issues, the essays in this volume pursue topics such as the targeting of marginalized groups, wrongful convictions, gender-based bias in law, government accountability, and inequalities in the application of the law to ethnic and socio-economic groups. These essays provide an illuminating introduction to the background of important social causes, and describe dedicated examples of how to effectively champion calls for social justice. Written to honour the life and work of the late Dianne Martin, a renowned scholar, lawyer, and social activist, Honouring Social Justice is an engaging and inspired series of accounts on how to improve society by leading experts from across the country.

Download or read book Like Our Very Own written by Julie Berebitsky and published by . This book was released on 2000 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "A fascinating chapter in American social and cultural history, Like Our Very Own offers compelling evidence of the role that adoption has played in our evolving efforts to define the meaning and nature of both motherhood and family."--BOOK JACKET.