This paper examines policy and maternal accounts of parenting in light of New Labour's reforms aimed at reducing social exclusion among lone parent families in the UK. Drawing on documentary policy sources and in‐depth interviews with welfare reliant and employed lone mothers, the paper highlights convergence and divergence between policy and maternal accounts. While policy and maternal perspectives demonstrate a shared concern with good mothering, differences emerge in how responsibilities and needs are defined, prioritised and resourced. New Labour's welfare reforms stress parental responsibilities for labour market participation, children's educational development and children's social behaviour; with parents who do not prioritise these activities deemed problematic. However, mothers’ accounts demonstrate a much more complex understanding of the risks as well as opportunities associated with paid work, education and behavioural control. Mothers negotiated concerns about mothering practices, maternal authority, children's agency, family well‐being and access to resources which are downplayed in national policy debates. The conclusion argues that New Labour policy discourses neglect issues of well‐being, diversity and inequality which, if more fully recognised, could enhance anti‐poverty and family support measures aimed at mothers.
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Harriet Churchill (2007) studied this question.