Baby Cooperatives: Rethinking the Nature of Family

Abstract:     
The foster care funding system is rooted in historic ideology rather than pragmatic reasoning suited to children’s needs today. It creates perverse economic incentives and promotes rent-seeking behavior; as a result, it bears poor outcomes. Baby Cooperatives provides a new way of thinking of family that develops a contact-based, civil union model and expands it to permit 2-5 persons to join in a legalized parenting “family.” The article explains the policy framework, and sets forth and applies an eight-point test that such cooperatives must meet.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 59

Keywords: adoption, foster care, family, child abuse, economics, civil unions, cooperatives, kibbutz

JEL Classification: H11, H31, H53, H54, I12, I18, I30, I31, I32, I38, I39, J12, J13, J15, J16, J18, J54, K12, P46

working papers series