When Family Fails (PDF; 317 KB)
Source: Yale Law School Student Prize Paper Series

Family is a vital institution in U.S. society, families are often the first and frequently the last source of care and support for individuals. But what does the thorough significance of family mean for the increasing number of individuals who live disconnected from family? And what does it mean for those without family yet are in need of significant care? Who does our comprehensive reliance on families unavoidably sanction and disadvantage? Visited, exacted, amplified, and accelerated how? Who is harmed by that which is missed in our family regime? Those have been the central questions of this Article. The quandary posed by those without family, and especially those without family and in need of care, to a society that thoroughly relies on families, even as it discriminates between them, reveals not only flawed assumptions by which, and upon which, society and many of its policies proceed, but also inherent incapacities of any family regime.

While family may indeed be our best approach for providing care and requisite resources to dependent individuals, the ability to access and receive quality care simply ought not to be contingent on familial status, family form, or wealth. The presumption that individuals are situated within functioning families must be recognized and interrogated in light of changing behaviors and social conditions which render the presumption incorrect for many and perilous to some.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 13th, 2007 at 12:06 pm and is filed under Age and Aging, Children and families, Social and cultural issues. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.