Narrative and the Phases of Care

In her book Moral Boundaries political scientist and ethicist Joan Tronto suggested a new way of evaluating care, as an action rather than an emotional state. She approached care in four phases, each of which has an associated virtue guiding how a caregiver might act. This chapter evaluates the four phases of care and their virtues (attentiveness, responsibility, competence, and responsiveness), extending their use to the care of children with special needs. The applicability of Tronto’s phases and their virtues is demonstrated by applying them to a complex parent narrative: Vicky Forman’s This Lovely Life. Forman’s narrative, examined with principle ethics, offers an unsolvable dilemma of children’s rights vs. parental autonomy. Examination using Tronto’s theories offers a new way to analyze parent caregiving and raises ethical questions not previously considered. This provides the groundwork for evaluation of the moral work involved in extreme caregiving.