New Family Values

How many different kinds of families are there? New Family Values provides a critical analysis of scholars and authors who argue that law and policy should be used to foster one model of the family--the intact, two-parent, heterosexual family. Karen Struening argues that this position does not adequately address the problem it supposedly solves--family dissolution--and unnecessarily constrains personal liberty. Healthy families may be necessary for civic unity and individual stability, but there can be many different kinds of families.