Overview

Adam Ferner's short, engaging book explores the ethical dimensions of childcare in a world riven by conflict, inequality and the climate emergency. He argues that widespread attitudes towards biological parenthood contribute to these worsening crises and he examines the liberatory potential of foster-care and adoption. Written in a clear and jargon-free style, the book is also informed by Ferner's extensive experience as a youth worker, child-minder and child support worker. He foregrounds the concerns of young people largely marginalised by society, and argues against the prevailing orthodoxy that hope is a necessary element of childcare. The book challenges us to look afresh at our everyday notions of parenthood, childcare and reproduction and to question the dominant ethos of the family.

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9781788217422

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Reviews

In this searing book on fostering, futurity, and despair, Adam Ferner meditates on the unromantic work involved in looking after one another with a voice full of clarity and integrity. Unhappy Families takes children seriously, and wrestles unflinchingly with the impossible task of caring for them as they deserve in a burning world. -- Sophie Lewis, author of Abolish the Family: A Manifesto for Care and Liberation

Author Information

Adam Ferner is a freelance writer and child support worker living in North London. He has a PhD in philosophy from Birkbeck and has written several books on the practical benefits of thinking philosophically as well as a collection of philosophical horror stories.

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