1. Chapter 10 Looking Back to Move Forward:
© Routledge/Taylor & Francis 2014
Looking Back to Move Forward:
Lessons from the History of Family Policy

2. Chapter 10 Outline The State of Contemporary U.S. Family Policy
© Routledge/Taylor & Francis 2014
Chapter 10 Outline
The State of Contemporary U.S. Family Policy
The Origins of Family Policy in Women’s Advocacy,
The Origins of U.S. Family Policy as “Child and Family Saving,”
The Origins of U.S. Family Policy in the 1939 Social Security Amendments
Implications of Building Enduring Family Policies
Six Precepts of Family Policy
Summary

3. The State of Contemporary U.S. Family Policy
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The State of Contemporary U.S. Family Policy
One unexpressed premise of policymaking is that families are the basic building block of society.
Appreciating families is different than consciously placing families at the center of the policy process.
The field of family policy is young, dating back to the s.
Historical periods of interest and investment in families have ebbed and flowed.
The conundrum that remains is whether the current emphasis on families is permanent or merely a passing fad.

4. The Origins of U.S. Family Policy in Women’s Advocacy, 1890-1920
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The Origins of U.S. Family Policy in Women’s Advocacy,
Industrialization, immigration, and urbanization in the U.S. brought unemployment, low wages, homelessness, poverty.
Mothers who lost a breadwinning husband were typically thrust into dire economic need.
To an extent unparalleled anywhere else in the world, the government response was shaped by women reformers.
Middle-class women’s organizations worked in collaboration with male professionals to pass an array of social policies to protect current and future mothers and their children.
Quite remarkably, this political activism occurred at a time before women had the right to vote.

5. © Routledge/Taylor & Francis 2014
The Origins of U.S. Family Policy as Child and Family Saving, 1900−1930
To President Theodore Roosevelt, turn-of-the-century Census data signaled family decline.
Divorce and immigration increased, birthrate dropped.
The establishment of the Children’s Bureau was the first policy in a series of family- and child-saving policies.
The Children’s Bureau pushed legislation forward around family allowance, maternity care, and child care.
Children’s Bureau efforts reached half of U.S. babies by
Despite its popularity, there was no secure funding source and the program was eliminated in 1929.

6. © Routledge/Taylor & Francis 2014
The Origins of U.S. Family Policy in the 1939 Social Security Amendments
Between 1928 and 1932, birth rates and marriage declined.
Different interpretations by Hoover technocrats who blamed the family and Maternalists who blamed industrialization.
The Social Security Act of 1935 was amended in 1939 to add survivor and dependent benefits.
Old Age pensions were transformed from a program for the individual worker to a social insurance program for the entire family unit.
New Deal domestic policies of Roosevelt illustrate how an individualistic society justifies social programs by rewarding mothers for bearing and rearing children.

7. Implications for Building Enduring Family Policies
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Implications for Building Enduring Family Policies
Over time, the impetus for family policy has been demographics (concerns about family decline), economics (the Great Depression), intellectual fads (Social Darwinism), and advocacy (by women’s groups).
Sustaining a family policy agenda has been challenged by the cycling between individual and structural explanations for social problems.
By reflecting on the history of family policy, six precepts can be drawn that can guide the work of family professionals in building an enduring set of family policies for this century.

8. Six Precepts for Building Family Policy
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Six Precepts for Building Family Policy
Family policies move forward when legitimized by relevant research and theory.
The family perspective is influential when relevant research and theory are communicated to policymakers.
Family policies move forward when policymakers and the public support structural rather than individual explanations for social problems.
Family policy moves forward when there is a broad interdisciplinary focus on families.
Family policy moves forward when there are formal structures in place.
Family policy moves forward when there is broad-based citizen activism.

9. © Routledge/Taylor & Francis 2014
Summary
Looking back at the history of family policy can be informative for moving family policy forward.
Over the years, family-centered policymaking has enjoyed periods of robust support followed by years of benign neglect.
Professionals can build more enduring family policies in the 21st century by conducting research and developing theories that are more policy- and family-minded, and communicating these to policymakers in ways that will entice them to be more research- and theory-minded.
Professionals can encourage a holistic focus through top-down approaches such as a formal family policy entity and through bottom-up approaches such as citizen activism.