Right to Childhood

Warring factions in the United States like to use children as weaponsfor their political agendas as Americans try to determine the role--ifany--of the federal government in the lives of children. But what is thehistory of child welfare policy in the United States? What can we learnfrom the efforts to found the U.S. Children's bureau in 1903 and its eventualdismemberment in 1946?This is the first history of the Children's Bureau and the first in-depthexamination of federal child welfare policy from the perspective of thatagency. Its goal was to promote "a right to childhood," andKriste Lindenmeyer unflinchingly examines the successes--and the failures--ofthe Bureau. She analyzes infant and maternal mortality, the promotionof child health care, child labor reform, and the protection of childrenwith "special needs" from the Bureau's inception through theDepression, and through all the legislation that impacted on its workfor children. The meaningful accomplishments and the demise of the Children'sBureau have much to tell parents, politicians, and policy-makers everywhere.