ABSTRACT
In the preface, I compared family policymaking to John Earth’s floating opera (Barth, 1967/1983). Family policymaking is like the opera that is being acted out on the deck of a showboat that is floating up and down the river in view of the audience seated along both shores. Those of us in the audience catch part of the plot as the showboat floats by, but we never get the whole story. We sometimes catch sight of family issues, but they drop out of view before we have the time or knowledge to act. The goal of this book is to provide an overview of the whole floating opera-the rationale for and substance of family policy-so that you can better see how the work you already do contributes to family policymaking and what additional expertise you have waiting in the wings that could be brought to center stage.
