Living Diaper to Diaper

"Strikingly original and eminently readable, Living Diaper to Diaper beautifully considers how diapers are a prism for social inequalities shaping families' lives in the US. By placing the challenges of obtaining diapers within political and economic contexts, and by examining community-based organizations and movements trying to address diaper gaps, Randles contributes unique understandings of poverty and reveals everything families do to care for their children in a system that simply doesn't give them a chance."--Joya Misra, Distinguished Professor of Sociology and Public Policy, University of Massachusetts, Amherst "There are few things more consequential and also overlooked than diapers. Increasingly expensive, necessary every day for years, and hard to ration, diapers--and the inability to access them--shape the contours of the daily lives of families of young children. In this important book, Jennifer Randles finds that diapers are a window through which we can see the complex and sometimes contradictory meanings and expectations of motherhood, cleanliness, neglect, environment, poverty, politics, and inequality. With a crisp analysis of policy and a deeply empathetic exploration of the challenges faced by families, Randles offers insight into the daily struggles and strategies necessary to care for children."--Jennifer Reich, author of Calling the Shots: Why Parents Reject Vaccines and Fixing Families: Parents, Power, and the Child Welfare System "Jennifer Randles has been at the forefront of research that brings attention to the issue of diaper need in the United States. While diapers are a fundamental necessity for raising children in today's society, families with limited incomes can find themselves without enough. Randles details the implications of this hardship for parents and children alike while also shining light on what this tells us more broadly about the nature of parenting in poverty in the US today."--Sarah Halpern-Meekin, Professor of Public Affairs and Human Development and Family Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison