In recent decades, there have been many changes to adoption law and practice, such as a sharp decline in the voluntary relinquishment of children, an increase in the number consigned to public care, and an abrupt decrease in those made available on an intercountry basis. Additionally, human rights are becoming more prominent, particularly in relation to issues such as: non-consensual adoption; the ethics of intercountry adoption; the eligibility of LGBT adopters; the impact of commercial surrogacy; and the sometimes conflicting rights of birth parents and adoptees when accessing agency birth records. In this book, O'Halloran presents a comparative analysis of the interaction between adoption law and human rights in common law (England and the US), civil law (France and Germany), and Asiatic traditions (Japan and China), while also developing a matrix of legal functions to assist in identifying and analysing areas of tension between human rights and adoption. This book is intended for a lawyer readership, whether professional, student or academic: researchers and postgraduate students in subjects such as social work, social policy and politics may also find it helpful.

The essays in this collection consider the fundamental concepts of property and obligations in law. Ideas of property and of obligations are central, organising concepts within law but are nevertheless liable to fragmentation and esoteric development when applied in particular contexts. The contributors examine this phenomenon in three ways. First, in the interaction of land law, housing law and family law to the acquisition of rights in the home. Secondly, by considering how human rights norms will impact on the development of property and obligations law in the future. Thirdly, by reconsidering the historical development of many of these notions in English law. What emerges is an understanding that when the concepts of property and obligations are uprooted from their conceptual soil, they take on very different characteristics.

As the only area of law that is still commonly termed 'Islamic law', family law is one of the most sensitive and controversial legal areas in all Muslim-majority countries. Morocco and Jordan both issued new family codes in the 2000s, but there are a number of differences in the ways these two states engaged in reform. These include how the reform was carried out, the content of the new family codes, and the way the new laws are applied. Based on extensive fieldwork and rich in sources, this book examines why these two ostensibly similar semi-authoritarian regimes varied so significantly in their engagement with family law. Doerthe Engelcke demonstrates that the structure of the legal systems, shaped by colonial policies, had an effect on how reform processes were carried out as well as the content and the application of family law.

Legal Issues in Special Education provides teachers and school administrators with a clearly written, well-organized, and understandable guide from the perspective of the practitioner without formal legal training. Even though over 50 percent of students with disabilities are now educated in general education classes, most teachers are not required to complete coursework in special education law and can unwittingly expose themselves and their schools to liability for violating the rights of students with disabilities. This practitioner's guide explicitly addresses the major issues and legal complexities educators inevitably face when dealing with special education legal and policy issues. Using case-based learning to synthesize important legal concepts and principles from leading special education legal cases, this text guides educators, administrators, and parents alike toward a thorough understanding of, and the ability to navigate, many of the current and pressing legal concerns in special education.

The numbers of women undergoing Assisted Reproduction Technology (ART) treatments have risen steadily, yet they remain largely outside the scope of equality and employment law protection while undergoing treatment. Assisted Reproduction, Discrimination, and the Law examines this gap in UK law, with reference to EU law as appropriate, and argues that new conceptions of equality are necessary. Drawing from the literature on multidimensional and intersectional discrimination, it is argued that an intersectionality approach offers a more useful analytical framework to extend protection to those engaged in ART treatments. Drawing from Schiek's intersectional nodes model, the book critically examines two alternative interpretations of existing protected characteristics, namely infertility as a disability, with reference to the social model of disability and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2006, and redefining the boundaries of pregnancy and/or sex discrimination, with reference to attempts to extend associative discrimination to pregnancy. Comparisons are drawn with the US, where infertility has been recognised as a disability under the American's with Disabilities Act 1990 and as a pregnancy-related condition under the Pregnancy Discrimination Act 1978. A specific right to paid time off work to undergo treatment is also proposed, drawing comparisons with the US Family and Medical Leave Act 1993 and the existing UK work-family rights framework. It is argued that the reinterpretations of equality law and the rights proposed here are not only conceptually possible, but could practically be achieved with minor, but significant, amendments to existing legislation.

This book provides a stimulating, carefully planned introduction to the key issues and debates within family law from some of the leading authorities within their field. It is designed both as a self standing book focusing on the key issues in the subject, and as a supplement to more detailed textbooks on the subject. It is essential reading for anybody studying or practising in the field of family law. Each chapter is concerned with one of the main areas of family law (such as adoption, domestic violence, marrriage and divorce), and covers a range of themes, including the public/private divide, balancing the interests of family members, moral values and family law, cost and the legal system, and the enforcement of family law. The book reflects the interdisciplinary nature of the debates on family law, and the difficult social and political issues which these have raised.

This book offers an in-depth and critical analysis of the Istanbul Convention, along with discussions on its impact and implications. The work highlights the place of the Convention in the landscape of international law and policies on violence against women and equality. The authors argue that the Convention with its emphasis on integrated and comprehensive policies has an important role in promoting equality, but they also note the debates on "genderism" that the Convention has triggered in some member states. The book analyses central concepts of the Convention, including violence, gender and due diligence. It takes up major commitments of the parties to the Convention, including support and services to victims, criminal law provisions and protection of migrant women against violence. The book thus makes a major contribution to the development of national laws, policies and practice. It provides a valuable guide for policy-makers, students and academics in international human rights law, criminal and social law, social policy, social work and gender studies.

This book explores, through a children's rights-based perspective, the emergence of a safeguarding dystopia in child online protection that has emerged from a tension between an over-reliance in technical solutions and a lack of understanding around code and algorithm capabilities. The text argues that a safeguarding dystopia results in docile children, rather than safe ones, and that we should stop seeing technology as the sole solution to online safeguarding. The reader will, through reading this book, gain a deeper understanding of the current policy arena in online safeguarding, what causes children to beocme upset online, and the doomed nature of safeguarding solutions. The book also features a detailed analysis of issues surrounding content filtering, access monitoring, surveillance, image recognition, and tracking. This book is aimed at legal practitioners, law students, and those interested in child safeguarding and technology.

Feminist Perspectives on Child Law is a collection of interdisciplinary socio-legal essays which explore the complex relationship between childhood,gender and the law. Drawing on a wide range of feminist and critical theories and empirical research, these original essays challenge the gender neutrality of law; they explore the shifting constructions of childhood by law, legal practice and popular culture; and they provide critical and timely insights into the complex relationship between adults and children. The essays go beyond the traditional boundaries of child law within the law school curriculum and within legal practice by addressing a wide range of issues, such as health, criminal justice, education, sexuality and domestic violence. By approaching these issues in innovative ways, the essays question the impact of gender on social and cultural understandings of childhood and on contemporary interpretations of child welfare and give voice to the different choices and experiences of male and female children.

Pre-modern Muslim jurists drew a clear distinction between the nurturing and upkeep of children, or 'custody', and caring for the child's education, discipline, and property, known as 'guardianship'. Here, Ahmed Fekry Ibrahim analyzes how these two concepts relate to the welfare of the child, and traces the development of an Islamic child welfare jurisprudence akin to the Euro-American concept of the best interests of the child, enshrined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). Challenging Euro-American exceptionalism, he argues that child welfare played an essential role in agreements designed by early modern Egyptian judges and families, and that Egyptian child custody laws underwent radical transformations in the modern period. Focusing on a variety of themes, including matters of age and gender, the mother's marital status, and the custodian's lifestyle and religious affiliation, Ibrahim shows that there is an exaggerated gap between the modern concept of the best interests of the child and pre-modern Egyptian approaches to child welfare.

This book of essays by legal scholars from the United Kingdom, Eire, Israel and Palestine explores the extent to which the recognition of the concept of children's rights is affected by adherence to religious, cultural and ethnic traditions. The aim is twofold: first, to illuminate the interface between internationally-agreed norms of conduct regarding children and national and cultural determination to preserve traditional approaches; and secondly, to reflect upon the conflicts within societies between different cultural and religious groups in their attempts to determine whether 'liberal/secular' or 'conservative/religious' norms predominate in attitudes to children's upbringing. This is the first collection of papers covering and comparing the UK and Israeli/Palestinian jurisdictions. The particular blends of social, religious and cultural diversity in both regions, mingled with the political factors operating as well, render these jurisdictions of special interest as case-studies in the reception of 'western/liberal' norms and values. Moreover, Israel and Palestine, despite their manifestly different cultures as compared with Britain, have been influenced by the colonial legacy of the common law, rendering this particular east-west comparison of special interest.

Several studies already exist of the nature and extent of Malaysia's Islamic judicial system but these have largely ignored the actual operation of the syariah courts and related institutions. This need is addressed with an in-depth analysis of the key area of intra-family conflict.

In Understanding and Managing Parental Alienation: A Guide to Assessment and Intervention, Janet Haines, Mandy Matthewson and Marcus Turnbull offer a comprehensive analysis of contemporary understanding of parental alienation. Grounded in recent scientific advances, this is the first book of its kind providing resources on how to identify parental alienation and a guide to evidence-based intervention. Parental alienation is a process in which one parent manipulates their child to negatively perceive and reject the other parent. Recognising this phenomenon and knowing when to intervene is often the biggest challenge faced by practitioners and this book provides a guide to this process. Divided into six parts, it examines what parental alienation is and how it is caused, how it affects each family member as a mental health concern and form of violence, and how to assess, identify and intervene successfully from a legal and therapy standpoint. Taking on a gender-neutral approach, the book is filled with contemporary case examples from male and female perspectives, cutting-edge research, practitioner-client dialogues, and practitioners' reflections to show the difficult realities of parental alienation. Practical and accessible, this is an essential resource for mental health professionals working with families experiencing parental alienation, as well as postgraduate students of clinical psychology, counselling, family therapy, social work, and child and family psychology. This book will also be of immense interest to family lawyers and mediators due to its multidisciplinary approach.

Conjugal Misconduct reveals the hidden history of controversial and legally contested marital arrangements in twentieth-century America. William Kuby examines the experiences of couples in unconventional unions and the legal and cultural backlash generated by a wide array of 'alternative' marriages. These include marriages established through personal advertisements and matchmaking bureaus, marriages that defied state eugenic regulations, hasty marriages between divorced persons, provisional and temporary unions referred to as 'trial marriages', racial intermarriages, and a host of other unions that challenged sexual and marital norms. In illuminating the tensions between those who set marriage policies and those who defied them, Kuby offers a fresh account of marriage's contested history, arguing that although marital nonconformists composed only a small minority of the population, their atypical arrangements nonetheless shifted popular understandings of marriage and consistently refashioned the legal parameters of the institution.

'I absolutely raced through this book - beautifully suspenseful, pacy and smart. A real talent in the psych thriller genre.' L.V. Matthews, author of The Twins She trusted a stranger with her secrets. Now she's paying the price. Emily loves her four-year-old twin daughters. Like any frazzled mum, she spends her time wiping up spills, cooking their favourite meals and putting plasters on scraped knees, trying her best to be the perfect mum as well as keep her sanity. Internet forum MumsOnline proves to be a lifeline in her darkest days, an anonymous place where she can voice the problems that she would never say in real life. She finds a connection with fellow mum-of-twins, TwoIsTrouble, and soon, the internet friends are chatting daily. But when Emily tries to pull back, realising she has shared too much about the darkness in her past, she finds herself being stalked. As Emily's history is exposed, it's clear that someone is using her secrets against her...and they will threaten everything Emily loves to destroy her perfect life. A gripping domestic suspense thriller that asks if we really know who we are talking to online, with a twist ending that will make you gasp. Fans of T.M. Logan, Lisa Jewell and Gillian McAllister will love this unputdownable read. Praise for Keep Them Close: 'A splendidly twisty psychological mystery' Daily Mail 'Expertly paced and totally compelling...a bruising exploration of motherhood and family secrets.' Anna Bailey, author of Tall Bones 'A terrifying, twisty thriller in which seemingly no one can be trusted. Very cleverly written - I raced through this. Highly recommended.' Catherine Cooper, author of The Chalet 'I sped through Keep Them Close...before being slammed by an ending I didn't see coming. Nuanced and pacey, this is a must-read.' Polly Phillips, author of The Reunion 'Chilling, creepy and frighteningly plausible with a clever twist. A real page turner.' Sarah Linley, author of The Wedding Murders The very definition of a page-turner, but also heartbreaking and relatable - a real rollercoaster of a read' Charlotte Duckworth, author of The Perfect Father 'A compulsively readable twisty thriller... I couldn't put this well plotted and immersive psychological thriller down.' Emily Freud, author of What She Left Behind 'Pacey, insightful, emotionally rich and full of twists - I loved it.' Holly Seddon, author of Try Not to Breathe 'What a chilling, thrilling ride!...The plot line gave me goosebumps. Five stars from me.' D.E White, author of Glass Dolls 'A superb thriller - fast-paced, thought-provoking, and so cleverly plotted that it's impossible to know who to trust.' Sarah Clarke, author of Every Little Secret 'Sure-footed and suspenseful' Cara Hunter, author of Hope to Die 'I absolutely loved this from start to finish!... Be warned, you might have to read it in one sitting.' Reader Review 'Kept me on my toes the entire time I read it, desperate to find out it happened. I really couldn't put it down!' Reader Review 'The ending was nothing I could have ever seen coming. This book will have you both on the edge of your seat and gasping for air' Reader Review 'This book was amazing! Everything a modern-day thriller should be. I loved the characters, I loved the story, I loved the suspense!' Reader Review

The well-being of children should be a social priority, and should consider the family circumstances into which children are born. Putting Children's Interests First in US Family Law and Policy: With Power Comes Responsibility details the rise of a federal policy of 'sexual expressionism', which prioritizes adults' interests over children's welfare. It describes the costs to children in the areas of family structure and stability, and the federal programs attempting to ameliorate the situation of non-marital children. Offering a detailed empirical and ethical critique both of 'sexual expressionism' and of the related federal programs, this study will be of interest to scholars and activists supporting children, women and the poor.

China after Mao has undergone vast transformations, including massive rural-to-urban migration, rising divorce rates, and the steady expansion of the country's legal system. Today, divorce may appear a private concern, when in fact it is a profoundly political matter-especially in a national context where marriage was and has continued to be a key vehicle for nation-state building. Marriage Unbound focuses on the politics of divorce cases in contemporary China, following a group of women seeking judicial remedies for conjugal grievances and disputes. Drawing on extensive archival and ethnographic data, paired with unprecedented access to rural Chinese courtrooms, Ke Li presents not only a stirring portrayal of how these women navigate divorce litigation, but also a uniquely in-depth account of the modern Chinese legal system. With sensitive and fluid prose, Li reveals the struggles between the powerful and the powerless at the front lines of dispute management; the complex interplay between culture and the state; and insidious statecraft that far too often sacrifices women's rights and interests. Ultimately, this book shows how women's legal mobilization and rights contention can forge new ground for our understanding of law, politics, and inequality in an authoritarian regime.

Like many beliefs, religious views matter across an individual's life and the life cycle of a family - from birth to marriage, through child-rearing, and, eventually, death. This volume examines clashes over religious liberty within the personal realm of the family. Against swirling religious beliefs, secular values, and legal regulation, this volume offers a forward-looking examination of tensions between religious freedom and the state's protective function. Contributors unpack some of the Court's recent decisions and explain how they set the stage for ongoing disputes. They evaluate religious claims around birth control, circumcision, modesty, religious education, marriage, polygamy, shared parenting, corporal punishment, faith healing, divorce, and the end of life. Authors span legislators, attorneys, academics, journalists, ministers, physicians, child advocates, and representatives of minority faiths. The Contested Place of Religion in Family Law begins an overdue conversation on questions dividing the nation.

With over half of Americans now in favor of marriage equality, it is clear that societal norms of marriage are being quickly redefined. The growing belief that the state may not discriminate against gays and lesbians calls into question whether the state may limit other types of marital unions, including plural marriage. While much has been written about same-sex marriage, as of yet there has been no book-length legal treatment of unions among three or more individuals. The first major study on plural marriage and the law, In Defense of Plural Marriage begins to fill this lacuna in the scholarly literature. Ronald C. Den Otter shows how the constitutional arguments that support the option of plural marriage are stronger than those against. Ultimately, he proposes a new semi-contractual marital model that would provide legal recognition for a wide range of intimate relationships.

This book expands our understanding of a growing, yet largely unstudied phenomenon: the flow of children across borders through intercountry adoption. What explains the spread of intercountry adoption through the international system over time? McBride investigates the interconnected networks of states, individuals, and adoption agencies that have collaborated to develop the practice of intercountry adoption we see today. This book tells the story of how adoption agencies mediate between individuals and states in two ways: first by teaching states about intercountry adoption as a policy, and second by helping states implement intercountry adoption as a practice. McBride argues that this process of states learning about intercountry adoption from adoption agencies has facilitated the global development of the practice in the past seventy years.

Based on field studies and in-depth interviews across rural and urban China, this book presents a socio-legal analysis of non-state organised care for some of China's most vulnerable children. The first full-length book to examine non-state organised care of modern China's 'lonely children' (gu'er), this book describes the context in which abandonment occurs and the care provided to children unlikely to be adopted because of their disability. It also explores the various faith groups and humanitarian workers providing this care in private orphanages and foster homes in response to perceived deficiencies in the state orphanage system, in the context of a broader societal shift from 'welfare statism' to 'welfare pluralism'. Formal law and policy has not always kept pace with this shift. This study demonstrates that, in practice, state regulation of these unauthorised care providers has mostly centred on local-level negotiations, hidden rules, and discretion, with mixed outcomes for children. However there has also been a recent shift towards tighter state control and clearer laws, policies, and standards. This timely research sheds light on the life paths and stories of today's 'lonely children' and the changing terrain of civil society, humanitarianism, policy-making, and state power in modern China. As such, this book will appeal to students and scholars of Asian and Chinese studies, law and society, NGOs, and comparative social and child welfare.

China after Mao has undergone vast transformations, including massive rural-to-urban migration, rising divorce rates, and the steady expansion of the country's legal system. Today, divorce may appear a private concern, when in fact it is a profoundly political matter-especially in a national context where marriage was and has continued to be a key vehicle for nation-state building. Marriage Unbound focuses on the politics of divorce cases in contemporary China, following a group of women seeking judicial remedies for conjugal grievances and disputes. Drawing on extensive archival and ethnographic data, paired with unprecedented access to rural Chinese courtrooms, Ke Li presents not only a stirring portrayal of how these women navigate divorce litigation, but also a uniquely in-depth account of the modern Chinese legal system. With sensitive and fluid prose, Li reveals the struggles between the powerful and the powerless at the front lines of dispute management; the complex interplay between culture and the state; and insidious statecraft that far too often sacrifices women's rights and interests. Ultimately, this book shows how women's legal mobilization and rights contention can forge new ground for our understanding of law, politics, and inequality in an authoritarian regime.

As gang violence continues to rise across the country and the world, police departments, prosecutors, and community members are seeking new methods to reduce the spread of gang-related criminal activity. Civil gang injunctions have become a growing feature of crime control programs in several states across the nation. Gang Injunctions and Abatement: Using Civil Remedies to Curb Gang-Related Crimes examines the effectiveness of this strategy and explores the accompanying constitutional controversies related to freedom of speech, assembly, and other rights. Questions raised by this thought-provoking volume include: What are the costs of gang violence to society? Do civil remedies curb violence in the communities where they are implemented? What factors make a given injunction or abatement more or less effective? What legal and policy issues stand in the way of gang injunctions and abatement? Providing step-by-step instructions on how to establish a successful injunction and abatement program, the book presents comprehensive research on the theoretical basis for the strategy. It includes a legal and chronological progression of actual cases and their outcomes, describing weaknesses and successes in various programs. Supplying succinct guidelines from lessons learned, the book enables prosecutors, police agencies, and the public to take steps toward eradicating gang activities in their communities.

This court practice guide enables you to avoid the most common pitfalls encountered across the spectrum of family proceedings, thereby speeding up litigation and avoiding unnecessary work and wasted costs orders. It covers every aspect of the court process across family proceedings, from divorce and financial remedies to private law and public law children, injunctions and committals and appeals. The guidance is set out with clear references to source materials and is supplemented by forms and other practical information. The work is a key staple widely referred to within the Family Court, Principal Registry of the Family Division, other district registries and county courts. The 7th edition includes the following: - Divorce reform - Changes to Committal proceedings - Domestic Abuse Act 2021 (inc PD 12J and Rule 3A) - Presumption of diminished evidence and vulnerability of witnesses (PD 3AA) - Jurisdiction issues - Parental alienation