LATCHKEY CHILDREN AND AFTER-SCHOOL CARE: A FEMINIST DILEMMA? |
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| Authors: | Clifton P Flynn Hyman Rodman |
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| Institution: | doctoral candidate in Child Development and Family Relations at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. His areas of specialization include divorce and custody arrangements, research design and analysis, and family violence.;Director of the Family Research Center, Excellence Foundation Professor of Child Development and Family Relations, and Adjunct Professor of Sociology of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He received his Ph.D. from Harvard University. |
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| Abstract: | Many children of working parents regularly care for themselves after school. Questionable findings about the danger of children's self-care (latchkey) arrangements are being used in an effort to obtain public funding for after-school care. The use of this evidence poses a dilemma for feminists and others. Arguing that latchkey children are at risk may improve the chances of receiving funds for child care. But it could also lead to unintended negative consequences for women. Emphasizing the risks of self-care could result in greater social opposition to working mothers. From a feminist perspective, the best argument for after-school care would be one that focuses on the special needs and circumstances of working parents, and does not rely on suspect data that suggest negative consequences of self-care for children's development. |
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