Examining the efforts of leaders in American child support, this book explores the topic of policy innovation over a 100-year period. It tracks the evolution of multiple sets of political entrepreneurs as they grapple with the child support problem: charity workers with local law enforcement in the 19th century; social workers through the 1960s; conservatives during the 1970s; women's groups and women legislators in the 1980s; and fathers' rights groups in the 1990s and beyond. Jocelyn Elise Crowley employs methodological tools from both political science and economics to highlight key stages in the innovation process.

After twenty, thirty, or even forty years of marriage, countless vacations together, raising well-adjusted children, and sharing property and finances-what could go wrong? Gray Divorce offers a provocative look at the growing rate of marital splits after the age of 50, showcasing the voices of men and women who are considering, going through, or have undergone one. With empathy and insight, Jocelyn Crowley, who has written widely on family issues, uncovers the reasons for why men and women divorce-and the penalties and benefits that each pay for their choice. From the outside, many may ask why couples in mid-life and readying for retirement choose to make a drastic change in their marital status. Yet nearly 1 out of every 4 divorces is "gray." Crowley sheds light on why divorce occurs-seeing marriage in a different lens, understanding the seismic shift in individual priorities, and the impact of the increase in life expectancy. With a deft eye, she analyzes the experiences of women and men as they go through this life transition-specifically how women are affected economically while men are affected socially. With a realistic yet passionate voice, Crowley shares the personal positive outlooks and the necessary supportive public policies that must take place to best help new divorcees. Engaging and instructive, Gray Divorce is a must-read for anyone interested in contemporary American culture.

After twenty, thirty, or even forty years of marriage, countless vacations together, raising well-adjusted children, and sharing property and finances-what could go wrong? Gray Divorce offers a provocative look at the growing rate of marital splits after the age of 50, showcasing the voices of men and women who are considering, going through, or have undergone one. With empathy and insight, Jocelyn Crowley, who has written widely on family issues, uncovers the reasons for why men and women divorce-and the penalties and benefits that each pay for their choice. From the outside, many may ask why couples in mid-life and readying for retirement choose to make a drastic change in their marital status. Yet nearly 1 out of every 4 divorces is "gray." Crowley sheds light on why divorce occurs-seeing marriage in a different lens, understanding the seismic shift in individual priorities, and the impact of the increase in life expectancy. With a deft eye, she analyzes the experiences of women and men as they go through this life transition-specifically how women are affected economically while men are affected socially. With a realistic yet passionate voice, Crowley shares the personal positive outlooks and the necessary supportive public policies that must take place to best help new divorcees. Engaging and instructive, Gray Divorce is a must-read for anyone interested in contemporary American culture.

All across America, angry fathers are demanding rights. These men claim that since the breakdown of their own families, they have been deprived of access to their children. Joining together to form fathers' rights groups, the mostly white, middle-class men meet in small venues to speak their minds about the state of the American family and, more specifically, to talk about the problems they personally face, for which they blame current child support and child custody policies. Dissatisfied with these systems, fathers' rights groups advocate on behalf of legal reforms that will lower their child support payments and help them obtain automatic joint custody of their children.

In Defiant Dads, Jocelyn Elise Crowley offers a balanced examination of these groups in order to understand why they object to the current child support and child custody systems; what their political agenda, if enacted, would mean for their members' children or children's mothers; and how well they deal with their members' interpersonal issues concerning their ex-partners and their role as parents. Based on interviews with more than 150 fathers' rights group leaders and members, as well as close observation of group meetings and analysis of their rhetoric and advocacy literature, this important book is the first extensive, in-depth account of the emergence of fathers' rights groups in the United States. A nuanced and timely look at an emerging social movement, Defiant Dads is a revealing investigation into the changing dynamics of both the American family and gender relations in American society.

In Mothers Unite , a bold and hopeful new rallying cry for changing the relationship between home and the workplace, Jocelyn Elise Crowley envisions a genuine, universal world of workplace flexibility that helps mothers who stay at home, those who work part time, and those who work full time balance their commitments to their jobs and their families. Achieving this goal, she argues, will require a broad-based movement that harnesses the energy of existing organizations of mothers that already support workplace flexibility in their own ways.

Crowley examines the efforts of five diverse national mothers' organizations: Mocha Moms, which aims to assist mothers of color; Mothers of Preschoolers (MOPS), which stresses the promotion of Christian values; Mothers & More, which emphasizes support for those moving in and out of the paid workforce; MomsRising, which focuses on online political advocacy; and the National Association of Mothers' Centers (NAMC), which highlights community-based networking. After providing an engaging and detailed account of the history, membership profiles, strategies, and successes of each of these organizations, Crowley suggests actions that will allow greater workplace flexibility to become a viable reality and points to many opportunities to promote intergroup mobilization and unite mothers once and for all.