I worked in a private day care for three years, giving tours to parents obsessed with risk and liability. Did we fingerprint and background check employees? How often? Did male staff do diapers? And if so, could their child have her diaper changed by the female teacher instead? It was sad that these questions were foremost on parents’ minds, above ones about what their child would be doing all day in our care.

In capitalist societies, each nuclear family is thought to be a private entity, operating in opposition to each other and distinct from the state. Evangelicals might insist there be a patriarch at the head of that family, while liberals envision a broader spectrum of possible arrangements. But the family form is the same: atomized, and financially self-reliant. The child is the responsibility of the parents who almost solely invested in her, and parents are expected to vigilantly monitor risks to their investment, even when they aren’t around. If your child is harmed or becomes ill, damage has been done to you, not to society, and it’s your job to fix it.