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AbstractAs part of the special issue on the foster care system, this essay challenges the assumption that all the children who are in foster care should be in foster care. The essay first describes the familiar—and still persuasive—argument that foster care does not serve the interests of most children and families. It then brings a new lens to bear on this argument by describing the work of the American Law Institute's Restatement of the Law, Children and the Law, which provides a blueprint for shrinking the child welfare system and promoting child well‐being.

Despite the sharp increase in nonmarital childbearing, family law still places marriage at the very foundation of the legal regulation of families. Family law's doctrine draws clear distinctions between married and unmarried couples, which then carries over to the treatment of children. Family law's legal institutions created to oversee the family, particularly upon divorce, are designed for married families that have been formally recognized by the state. And traditional gender norms still inform much of family law's approach to legal regulation, particularly in the conception of legal fatherhood. After establishing that this "marital family law" undermines relationships in nonmarital families, this article proposes reforms to integrate nonmarital families into family law.
Key Points for the Family Court Community
Identifies legal distinctions between marital and nonmarital families
Demonstrates how family law harms nonmarital families
Provides a blueprint for reform

Despite considerable reform over the past several decades, family law is still failing families. Instead of strengthening relationships long before problems arise, too often family law waits for a crisis and then intervenes, typically in a heavy‐handed, adversarial fashion. This essay, an extended précis of a forthcoming book, argues that family law should be fundamentally oriented toward fostering strong, stable, positive relationships to prevent crises. Then, if a conflict does arise, family law should intervene in a manner that preserves and repairs relationships.Key Points for the Family Court Community:
Despite considerable evidence demonstrating the essential role families play in ensuring the well‐being of the next generation, family law does far too little to strengthen families.
Once conflicts do arise, family law pits one family member against the other, undermining the relationships that will almost certainly continue long after the legal action ends.
Family law should be fundamentally oriented toward fostering strong, stable, positive relationships, which will require changes to both the structural relationship between families and the state and the dispute‐resolution system.

In Farmers Branch, Texas, the city council enacted a measure to fine landlords who rent their premises to unauthorized migrants,' and in Arizona, the state legislature passed a law imposing stiff penalties on employers who intentionally or knowingly hire unauthorized migrants. In San Francisco, the board of supervisors passed a measure that bars law enforcement officers from inquiring into the immigration status of an individual in the course of a criminal investigation. In Alabama and Florida, state officials have entered into agreements with the federal government permitting state law enforcement officers to arrest and detain non-citizens on immigration charges. Other examples of non-federal involvement in immigration abound. Although these efforts vary in type and political orientation, increased state and local involvement in immigration-often referred to as "immigration federalism"--is one of the most important developments in immigration policy.