Constructions of Families in the Legal Regulation of Care

Abstract

This article considers the extent to which constructions of care within law and policy continue to privilege the heterosexual family model of care giving i.e., two parents cohabiting in a monogamous, long-standing relationship acting as one economic unit with joint children with one primary wage earner and one primary carer. Taking its focal point in the legal frameworks that surround parental leave, it explores the manner in which ‘non-traditional’ family forms are conceived in legal frameworks surrounding care, using recent changes to Danish parental leave policies as a case study..