Care Relationships Beyond the “Natural-Sexual” Family, paper delivered at the International Conference: Critical care: advancing an ethic of care in theory and practice, University of Brighton, 13th - 14th September 2012

The aim of the present paper is to answer the following questions: is a "de­naturalization" of the family necessary to give carers the needed social recognition? Why care work needs public support? And what kind of public support? What kind of public support, in particular, favours the creation of a really inclusive citizenship, and does not penalize women? Thinking beyond the "sexual" family, and the traditional roles within the family, may not be enough to give definitive answers to all these questions. But I will show that it is an important starting point. To see how, it will be useful to begin by considering the provocative position of Katherine Franke (2001) and Mary Ann Case (2001)