No Exit What Parents Owe Their Children and What Society Owes Parents

by Alstott, Anne L.

• ISBN13: 9780195306415
• ISBN10: 0195306414
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-12-15
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

In order to create a more secure world for children and their parents, Anne Alstott argues, we must fundamentally change the way we think about parents' obligations to children--and about society's obligations to parents. Drawing on the same innovative thinking that propelled her and Bruce Ackerman's influential work The Stakeholder Society , Alstott proposes a solution both pragmatic and controversial. She outlines two unsentimental proposals intended to improve parents' economic options while respecting every individual's own choices about how best to combine paid work and child-rearing. Rejecting both state paternalism and easy libertarianism, Alstott's proposals are bold and unapologetic in their implications.

Author Biography

Anne L. Alstott is a Professor of Law at Yale University. Prior to her work at Yale, she worked as a lawyer for the U.S. Treasury Department and for a Wall Street law firm. She has written numerous articles on social welfare policy and tax policy, and is co-author with Bruce Ackerman of The Stakeholder Society.

Table of Contents

Introduction	3	(12)
Part 1 Why Continuity of Care Is Important for Children and Costly for Parents
What Is Continuity of Care?	15	(6)
The Cost of Continuity for Parents' Lives	21	(12)
Part 2 Why Society Imposes the No Exit Obligation and What Society Owes Parents as a Result
Should Society Expect Parents to Provide Continuity of Care?	33	(16)
No Exit and Parental Autonomy	49	(26)
Part 3 New Programs to Assist Parents
Caretaker Resource Accounts	75	(26)
A Closer Look at Caretaker Resource Accounts	101	(16)
Life-Planning Insurance: Extra Help for Parents of III or Disabled Children	117	(24)
Part 4 Why Workplace Programs Aren't Enough
Parents and Paid Work	141	(12)
Practical Limitations of the Family-Friendly Workplace	153	(18)
Part 5 Implementation
Implementing Caretaker Resource Accounts	171	(26)
Implementing Life-Planning Insurance for Parents	197	(8)
Conclusion: What Kind of Society?	205	(8)
Notes	213	(24)
References	237	(14)
Index	251