Care and Family Policy

Childcare, elder care, foster care, and health care comprise important components of state budgets and require increasing attention from policymakers.  However, policymakers often lack vital information to develop and implement effective care and family policy.  CPPA faculty provide needed research in this critical policy area, and CPPA graduates have become leaders in research, advocacy, and governmental efforts to improve care for individuals and families across the United States.

Courses
CPPA students interested in care and family policy have a wide range of courses from which to choose.  Most CPPA core courses address issues that are crucial for advancing the formulation and analysis of care and family policy, and CPPA electives such as Gender, Care and Public Policy and Gender and Social Policy offer an in-depth examination of key concepts.  In addition, students can choose from relevant electives in a wide range of UMass departments.  Examples of possible electives include:

• State and Local Health Politics (Public Health)
• Social Policy and Disability (Education)
• Women and Work (Labor Studies, Sociology)
• The Family (Sociology)
• Research and Theory in Early Childhood and Family Studies (Human Development)
• Social Gerontology (Sociology)
• Nutritional Problems in the United States (Nutrition)

Research
Examples of CPPA faculty research in the area of care and family policy include:

• Michael Ash—Professor Ash’s work in the area of care policy has focused on the role of nursing conditions and unionization in health care outcomes.  His research has also addressed the crucial issue of nursing shortages, as well as disparities in care for children battling chronic disease.
• M.V. Lee Badgett—Professor Badgett’s scholarship has focused on care issues within families headed by same-sex couples, particularly the effects of wage gaps and unequal access to employment-based health insurance.
• Brenda Bushouse—Professor Bushouse has recently focused her research on policies to improve the care and education of infants and toddlers.  She is an expert on the universal preschool movement in the U.S.
• Nancy Folbre—Professor Folbre has written several books that consider care policy (e.g., Valuing Children and Who Pays for the Kids?) and is currently working on a book about the care sector of the U.S. economy.
• Joya Misra—Professor Misra’s research examines how family and care policies in different countries affect employment levels, wages, and poverty rates for mothers.     
• Maureen Perry-Jenkins—Professor Perry-Jenkins conducts research on the factors shaping the mental health and family relationships of parents and their children.

 Additional Care and Family Policy Initiatives

• The Massachusetts Care Policy Network was founded by several UMass faculty, including Nancy Folbre,to reach out to state policymakers concerning gender equity issues related to child, elder, foster, and health care.
• The Center for Research on Families is based at UMass Amherst and is nationally recognized for its support of scholarship related to family development and processes, including research on social and economic policies affecting family life.
• The Work and Families Transition Project, directed by Maureen Perry-Jenkins and funded by the National Institutes of Health, is a longitudinal study that follows outcomes for working-class households as they make the transition to parenthood while balancing paid employment.