As ever more women work outside the home, ever more families employ childcare workers. In the absence of government regulations or social models that clearly define the childcare provider's role, mothers worry about the quality of care their children are getting. By connecting the personal level of mothers' daily experiences to the larger political, economic, and ideological context of childcare, Lynet Uttal describes and explains how mothers rely on their relationship with the providers to monitor and influence the quality of care their children receive. Whereas other studies have emphasized how mothers undervalue and exploit providers, this book paints a more nuanced picture, arguing that the ties between adults who share in the care of children creates neither heroes nor victims. This ethnography reveals that mothers are often reluctant to discuss their concerns with their childcare providers. Uttal shows how mothers walk a fine line between wanting to believe in the quality of care they have chosen, and the fact that they might have made a mistake. Catalyzed by their worries about the quality of care, mothers develop complex relationships with the women--and most are women--who look after their children.

This book was originally published in 1998, when over 6,000 children lived in residential homes in England and Wales. The fact that some children's homes are better than others is well established, but why should this be so? Past answers have tended to be tautologous - rather on the lines of 'a good home is one where children do well; children do well because they are in a good home.' This study examines various aspects of children's homes and explores the connections between them in an attempt to break down the old circular argument. Structures are discernible in the relationship between different types of goals - societal, formal and belief; the variable balance between these goals determines staff cultures, which, in turn, shape the child cultures that develop. Such relationships are important because of their close association with outcomes - whether the children do well, whether the homes prosper. The model described in the book provides a conceptual framework and a set of causal relationships that should help professionals to plan and manage residential care better and so meet the needs of vulnerable children more effectively.

This book explores the concept of relational care, what it feels like for older people and for carers, why it makes life happier and how those involved in residential or community care can make it work. Relational care is gaining traction as its benefits to individuals and society become recognised. This accessible book, based on real-life models and in-depth interviews, explores fresh ways that relational care can be facilitated in a variety of settings. It looks at practice in terms of team management, support for care workers, technology, design and architecture, intergenerational and multidisciplinary models, and their implications for resilience, wellbeing, policy and future funding. Chapters are arranged by theme and provide descriptions, learning points and resources for each model, as well as incorporating a wealth of interviews giving insights into the lived experience of relational care. This is a lively book full of realistic ideas and information for everyone who wants to find out more about, access or implement the best in care – the best for older people, their families, care workers, management and society.

This groundbreaking comparative study provides a cross-national and cross-sectoral study of care work in Europe today, covering policy, provision and practice. It provokes much-needed new thinking about the current situation and future direction of care work.

Care Work is a collection of original essays on the complexities of providing care. These essays emphasize how social policies intersect with gender, race, and class to alternately compel women to perform care work and to constrain their ability to do so. Leading international scholars from a range of disciplines provide a groundbreaking analysis of the work of caring in the context of the family, the market, and the welfare state.

This insightful volume argues that care workers--those looking after children, the elderly, and people with disabilities--require security similar to any other group of workers. It provides a valuable overview and analysis of care work as a relevant social policy phenomenon in industrialized and developing countries around the world, while exploring pivotal questions such as how provisions for care are made, who is to benefit, and who is to pay.

The Routledge Handbook of Social Care Work Around the World provides both a comprehensive and authoritative state-of-the-art review of the current research in this subject. It is the first handbook to cover social care work research from around the world, including both low- and middle-income countries as well as high income countries. Each of the 22 chapters are written by experts on long-term care services, particularly for older people and cover key issues and debates, based on research evidence, on social care work in a specific country. They look at perspectives of social care work from the macro level: the structural conditions for long-term care, including demographic challenges and the long-term care policy, the meso level: the level of provider organizations and intermediaries, and the micro level: views of care workers, care users, and unpaid informal carers. Furthermore, they discuss a number of topics central to discussions of care work including marketization, personalization policies, policy implementation under austerity, the provision of social care work whether through public services, or private arrangements, or mixed types, funding, the feminization of social care and the new role that technology, and robots can play in care work. By drawing together leading scholars from around the world, this book provides an up to the minute snapshot of current scholarship as well as signposting several fruitful avenues for future research. This book is both an invaluable resource for scholars and an indispensable teaching tool for use in the classroom and will be of interest to students, academics, social workers, social policy-makers and human service professionals.

This edited volume explores the interconnection between care work, travel, and healthcare, emphasizing the emotional dimensions of seeking care away from home. It brings together contributions from disciplines such as anthropology, nursing, primary care, sociology and geography and covers experiences of medical travel and other forms of remote care in the United States, Laos, India, Italy, France, Finland, Switzerland, and Russia.

This book explores how around the world, women’s increased presence in the labor force has reorganized the division of labor in households, affecting different regions depending on their cultures, economies, and politics; as well as the nature and size of their welfare states and the gendering of employment opportunities. As one result, the authors find, women are increasingly migrating from the global south to become care workers in the global north. This volume focuses on changing patterns of family and gender relations, migration, and care work in the countries surrounding the Pacific Rim—a global epicenter of transnational care migration. Using a multi-scalar approach that addresses micro, meso, and macro levels, chapters examine three domains: care provisioning, the supply of and demand for care work, and the shaping and framing of care. The analysis reveals that multiple forms of global inequalities are now playing out in the most intimate of spaces.