What kinds of obligations do parents have towards their children as family life becomes more complex? Many children pass through a number of different households,living with one or both parents and later step parents and step brothers and sisters. How are the new forms of family life accommodated in the legal system? The answer is that parenthood, rather than marriage, is now emerging as the central mechanism through which moral principles are converted into legal and social obligations. This study of 250 children who do not live with both of their parents shows, however, that despite the comparative legal emptiness of marriage, the experience of living longer with both parents than is usually the case of children of cohabiting or single parents endows the child with social capital in the form of enduring involvement with the outside parent, even after divorce, and that this happens to a greater extent than for children whose parents were not married.

This book analyzes Nancy Chodorow's canonical book The Reproduction of Mothering, bringing together an original essay from Nancy Chodorow and a host of outstanding international scholars-including Rosemary Balsam, Adrienne Harris, Elizabeth Abel, Madelon Sprengnether, Ilene Philipson, Meg Jay, Daphne de Marneffe, Alison Stone and Petra Bueskens-in a mix of memoir, festschrift, reflection, critical analysis and new directions in Chodorowian scholarship. In the 40 years since its publication, The Reproduction of Mothering has had a profound impact on scholarship across many disciplines including sociology, psychoanalysis, psychology, ethics, literary criticism and women's and gender studies. Organized as a "reproduction of mothering scholarship", this volume adopts a generationally differentiated structure weaving personal, political and scholarly essays. This book will be of interest to scholars across the social sciences and humanities. It will bring Nancy Chodorow and her canonical work to a new generation showcasing classic and contemporary Chodorowian scholarship.

This book breaks new theoretical ground by constructing a framework of 'relational vulnerability' through which it analyses the disadvantaged position of those who undertake unpaid caregiving, or 'dependency-work', in the context of the private family. Expanding on existing socio-legal scholarship on vulnerability and resilience, it charts how the state seeks to conceal the embodied and temporal reality of vulnerability and dependency within the private family, while promoting an artificial concept of autonomous personhood that exposes dependency-workers work to a range of harms. The book argues that the legal framework governing the married and unmarried family reinforces principles of individualism and rationality, while labelling dependency-work as a private, gendered, and sentimental endeavor, lacking value beyond the family. It also considers how the state can respond to relational vulnerability and foster resilience. It seeks to provide a more comprehensive understanding of resilience, theorising its normative goals and applying these to different hypothetical state responses.

No federal law in the United States requires that egg or sperm donors or recipients exchange any information with the offspring that result from the donation. Donors typically enter into contracts with fertility clinics or sperm banks which promise them anonymity. The parents may know the donor's hair color, height, IQ, college, and profession; they may even have heard the donor's voice. But they don't know the donor's name, medical history, or other information that might play a key role in a child's development. And, until recently, donor-conceived offspring typically didn't know that one of their biological parents was a donor. But the secrecy surrounding the use of donor eggs and sperm is changing. And as it does, increasing numbers of parents and donor-conceived offspring are searching for others who share the same biological heritage. When donors, recipients, and "donor kids" find each other, they create new forms of families that exist outside of the law. The New Kinship details how families are made and how bonds are created between families in the brave new world of reproductive technology. Naomi Cahn, a nationally-recognized expert on reproductive technology and the law, shows how these new kinship bonds dramatically exemplify the ongoing cultural change in how we think about family. The issues Cahn explores in this book will resonate with anyone-and everyone-who has struggled with questions of how to define themselves in connection with their own biological, legal, or social families.

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.

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.

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.

This book considers whether coercive control (particularly non-physical forms of family violence) should be prohibited by the criminal law. Based on the premise that traditional understandings of family violence are severely limited, it considers whether the core of family violence is power-based controlling or coercive behavior: attempts by men to psychologically dominate their partners. Such behavior can cause significant psychological, physical and economic harms to victims and is increasingly recognized as a form of human rights abuse. The book considers the new offences that have been introduced in England and Wales (controlling or coercive behavior), Ireland (controlling behavior) and Scotland (domestic abuse). It invites consideration of three key questions: Do conventional criminal laws adequately regulate non-physical abuse? Is the criminal law an appropriate mechanism for responding to the coercive control of family members? And if a new and distinctive offence is warranted, what is the optimal form of that offence? This ground-breaking work is essential reading for researchers and practitioners interested in coercive control and the proper role of the criminal law as a mechanism for regulating family violence.

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.

Ireland is the first country in the world to extend civil marriage to same sex couples through a public vote. The marriage equality referendum saw record numbers turn out to register their votes including Irish emigrants who returned from around the world to ensure an impressive majority in favour of this constitutional amendment. The overwhelming positive result marked a clear separation of church and State for possibly the first time in Ireland. The Yes Equality campaign ignited a social revolution across Ireland, witnessed more recently with further referenda decriminalising abortion and introducing a less punitive regime for obtaining a divorce. Utilising published reports, newspaper articles, marriage equality papers and extracts from Dail debates, this book traces the key legislative and social changes surrounding Irish marriage equality, from the establishment of the advocacy group in 2008 to the referendum on the extension of civil marriage rights to same-sex couples in Ireland in 2015. With a foreword by Ivana Bacik, a Senator and Reid Professor of Criminal Law, Criminology and Penology at Trinity College Dublin, best known for her tireless work defending human rights, this book offers a concise historical record of the momentous referendum on marriage equality. -- .

Child Abuse and Neglect examines the latest research on this important topic, discussing what it entails, how to recognize it, and how to report it. The book begins with an overview of child maltreatment including its history, a summary of the research, and the risk factors, before exploring issues of mandated reporting. It then considers different forms of maltreatment - physical abuse, neglect, psychological maltreatment, sexual abuse, fetal abuse, and Munchausen by Proxy Syndrome. The authors discuss incidence estimates and consequences, as well as resiliency, for each type of maltreatment, and then review legal issues including forensic interviewing. The book concludes by providing an overview of what happens to a child after a report is filed along with suggestions for preventing child maltreatment. This edition has been thoroughly updated throughout to cover the latest theory and research. Referencing the DSM-V, the book also features updated coverage of state and federal laws to reflect new legislation, and additional case studies covering real-world events such as the sexual abuse scandals within USA Gymnastics, the Boy Scouts of America, and the Southern Baptist Convention. Written with students in mind, the book features a wealth of engaging learning tools throughout, including: Theory Highlight boxes, Focus on Research boxes, Case Examples, Legal Examples, Focus on Law boxes, Discussion Questions, and Key Terms. It will be essential reading for all students taking courses on child abuse, child maltreatment, family violence, or sexual and intimate violence taught in psychology, human development, education, criminal justice, social work, sociology, women's studies, and nursing. This book will also be an invaluable resource to workers who are mandated reporters of child maltreatment and/or anyone interested in the problem. This book is based on the legal system and the Child Protection System in the United States of America. It is accompanied by a set of online instructor resources.

When a child is conceived from sexual intercourse between a married, heterosexual couple, the child has a legal father and mother. Whatever may happen thereafter, the child's parents are legally bound to provide for their child, and if they don't, they're held accountable by law. But what about children created by artificial insemination? When it comes to paternity, the law is full of gray areas, resulting in many cases where children have no legal fathers. In Papa's Baby, Browne C. Lewis argues that the courts should take steps to insure that all children have at least two legal parents. Additionally, state legislatures should recognize that more than one class of fathers may exist and allocate paternal responsibility based, again, upon the best interest of the child. Lewis supplements her argument with concrete methods for dealing with different types of cases, including anonymous and non-anonymous sperm donors, married and unmarried women, and lesbian couples. In so doing, she first establishes different types of paternity, and then draws on these to create an expanded definition of paternity.

This book deals with a subject that has recently been the focus of debate and law reform in many jurisdictions: how much scope should spouses have to conclude agreements concerning their financial affairs - and under what circumstances should such agreements be binding and enforceable? These marital agreements include pre-nuptial, post-nuptial and separation agreements. The book is the result of a British Academy-funded research project which investigated and compared the relevant law of England and Wales, Australia, Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Scotland, Singapore, Spain, Sweden and the jurisdictions of the United States. In addition to chapters on these jurisdictions, the book includes a chapter on the 'English practitioner's view'. It also provides a comparative analysis of the different matrimonial property regimes and the rules on marital agreements that explores underlying themes and principlesand makes recommendations for regulating marital agreements. A key theme is the function and effect of marital agreements in the different jurisdictions. Thus, each chapter first explains the underlying 'default' rules for ancillary relief/matrimonial property and maintenance. It then analyses the current rules for marital agreements, and gives a brief account of the private international law rules. The book provides a comprehensive source of reference on ancillary relief/matrimonial property and maintenance and the rules on pre-nuptial, post-nuptial and separation agreements in 14 jurisdictions. It offers guidance for academics and practitioners dealing with international matters, and a basis for discussions on law reform. 'I applaud the vision and perseverance of Jens Scherpe in having conceived this book and, with so much distinguished help, in now bringing it to birth. I will be using it for many years and I warmly invite my fellow family lawyers across the world to do likewise.' Foreword by The Rt Hon Lord Wilson of Culworth, Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom

Many adopted people today try to find information about their origins and search for birth family members.

Based on a large-scale research study, the authors Liz Trinder, Julia Feast and David Howe have drawn on the real-life experience of adopted people who have searched for, and had a reunion with, birth relatives. "The Adoption Reunion Handbook" combines comprehensive and practical step-by-step guidance and advice on: how to begin what to expect emotionally the legal framework finding names and addresses how to set up a reunion making the reunion work long term rejection and reunion breakdown further help and advice.

This 'how to' guide is essential for everyone involved, particularly those considering searching for information on their birth relatives. It will also be of use to birth parents, adoptive parents, adoption charities, social workers, psychologists and counsellors.

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 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.

Families in Europe are increasingly shaped by the mobility of persons and multicultural backgrounds. This book is focusing on the protection of children in cross-border situations. What are the fundamental rights of children in transnational families, what is in their 'best interest', and how can their rights be safeguarded? There is much controversy on these rights and the accompanying uncertainty has resulted in considerable practical difficulties for those trying to implement them. In order to provide a clearer scope and insights into the nature of children's fundamental rights and their best interests, this book examines solutions provided by both EU and international law to the questions raised by the increasing incidence of transnational families as regards the protection of minors. It covers both substantive and conflict-of-laws rules. Differences in the substantive family laws of Member States still prevent an effective protection of the child or its family unit. This includes cases of migration, asylum, forced marriage, kafalah, but also rainbow families. Further, the role of human rights (mutual recognition of status and surrogacy agreements, adoption) and procedural rights (child abduction, Brussels II bis recast) in cross-border cases must be considered carefully. Fundamental Rights and the Best Interest of the Child in Transnational Families is a timely work on the implementation of the child's interests in the EU and covers the most relevant topics emerging from the rapid internationalisation of child and family law and from the increased mobility of families.

Compares today's same-sex marriage movement to the experiences of black people in the mid-nineteenth century. The staggering string of victories by the gay rights movement's campaign for marriage equality raises questions not only about how gay people have been able to successfully deploy marriage to elevate their social and legal reputation, but also what kind of freedom and equality the ability to marry can mobilize. Wedlocked turns to history to compare today's same-sex marriage movement to the experiences of newly emancipated black people in the mid-nineteenth century, when they were able to legally marry for the first time. Maintaining that the transition to greater freedom was both wondrous and perilous for newly emancipated people, Katherine Franke relates stories of former slaves' involvements with marriage and draws lessons that serve as cautionary tales for today's marriage rights movements. While "be careful what you wish for" is a prominent theme, they also teach us how the rights-bearing subject is inevitably shaped by the very rights they bear, often in ways that reinforce racialized gender norms and stereotypes. Franke further illuminates how the racialization of same-sex marriage has redounded to the benefit of the gay rights movement while contributing to the ongoing subordination of people of color and the diminishing reproductive rights of women. Like same-sex couples today, freed African-American men and women experienced a shift in status from outlaws to in-laws, from living outside the law to finding their private lives organized by law and state licensure. Their experiences teach us the potential and the perils of being subject to legal regulation: rights-and specifically the right to marriage-can both burden and set you free.

This book provides a comparative account of the abolition of concubinage in East Asia, offering a new perspective and revised analysis of the factors leading to - and the debates surrounding - the introduction of a new Marriage Reform Ordinance in Hong Kong in 1971. It uses this law as a platform to examine how the existence of concubinage - long preserved in the name of protecting Chinese traditions and customs - crucially influenced family law reforms, which were in response to a perceived need to create a 'modern' marriage system within Hong Kong's Chinese community after the Second World War. This was, by and large, the result of continued pressure from within Hong Kong and from Britain to bring Hong Kong's marriage system in line with international marriage treaties. It represented one of the last significant intrusions of colonial law into the private sphere of Hong Kong social life, eliminating Chinese customs which had been previously recognised by the colonial legal system's family law. This book contextualizes the Hong Kong situation by examining judicial cases interpreting Chinese customs and the Great Qing Code, offering a comprehensive understanding of the Hong Kong situation in relation to the status of concubines in Republican China and other East Asian jurisdictions. It will be of particular interest to teachers and students of law, as well as researchers in gender studies, post-colonialism, sociology and cultural studies.

Marriage law in England and Wales is a historical relic which reflects a bygone age. Successive governments have made a series of progressive but ad hoc reforms, most notably the introduction of civil partnerships and same-sex marriage. However, this has resulted in a legal framework which is complex and controversial, especially in relation to religion. This book provides the first accessible guide to how contemporary marriage law interacts with religion and identifies pressure points in relation to non-religious organisations and unregistered religious marriages. It reveals the need for the consolidation, modernisation and reform of marriage law and sets out proposals for how the transformation of these laws can be achieved.

The Marriage Act 1836 established the foundations of modern marriage law, allowing couples to marry in register offices and non-Anglican places of worship for the first time. Rebecca Probert draws on an exceptionally wide range of primary sources to provide the first detailed examination of marriage legislation, social practice, and their mutual interplay, from 1836 through to the unanticipated demands of the 2020 coronavirus pandemic. She analyses how and why the law has evolved, closely interrogating the parliamentary and societal debates behind legislation. She demonstrates how people have chosen to marry and how those choices have changed, and evaluates how far the law has been help or hindrance in enabling couples to marry in ways that reflect their beliefs, be they religious or secular. In an era of individual choice and multiculturalism, Tying the Knot sign posts possible ways in which future legislators might avoid the pitfalls of the past.

Catholic Greg Bourke's profoundly moving memoir about growing up gay and overcoming discrimination in the battle for same-sex marriage in the US. In this compelling and deeply affecting memoir, Greg Bourke recounts growing up in Louisville, Kentucky, and living as a gay Catholic. The book describes Bourke's early struggles for acceptance as an out gay man living in the South during the 1980s and '90s, his unplanned transformation into an outspoken gay rights activist after being dismissed as a troop leader from the Boy Scouts of America in 2012, and his historic role as one of the named plaintiffs in the landmark United States Supreme Court decision Obergefell vs. Hodges, which legalized same-sex marriage nationwide in 2015. After being ousted by the Boy Scouts of America (BSA), former Scoutmaster Bourke became a leader in the movement to amend antigay BSA membership policies. The Archdiocese of Louisville, because of its vigorous opposition to marriage equality, blocked Bourke's return to leadership despite his impeccable long-term record as a distinguished boy scout leader. But while making their home in Louisville, Bourke and his husband, Michael De Leon, have been active members at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church for more than three decades, and their family includes two adopted children who attended Lourdes school and were brought up in the faith. Over many years and challenges, this couple has managed to navigate the choppy waters of being openly gay while integrating into the fabric of their parish life community. Bourke is unapologetically Catholic, and his faith provides the framework for this inspiring story of how the Bourke De Leon family struggled to overcome antigay discrimination by both the BSA and the Catholic Church and fought to legalize same-sex marriage across the country. Gay, Catholic, and American is an illuminating account that anyone, no matter their ideological orientation, can read for insight. It will appeal to those interested in civil rights, Catholic social justice, and LGBTQ inclusion.

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.

Children often fare the worst when communities face social and environmental changes. The quality of food, water, affection and education that children receive can have major impacts on their subsequent lives and their potential to become engaged and productive citizens. At the same time, children often lack both a private and public voice, and are powerless against government and private decision-making. In taking a child rights-based approach to sustainable development, this volume defines and identifies children as the subjects of development, and explores how their rights can be respected, protected and promoted while also ensuring the economic, social and environmental sustainability of our planet.

A call for better child care policies, exploring the reasons why there has been so little headway on a problem that touches so many families. Working mothers are common in the United States. In over half of all two-parent families, both parents work, and women's paychecks on average make up 35 percent of their families' incomes. Most of these families yearn for available and affordable child care-but although most developed countries offer state-funded child care, it remains scarce in the United States. And even in prosperous times, child care is rarely a priority for U.S. policy makers. In In Our Hands: The Struggle for U.S. Child Care Policy, Elizabeth Palley and Corey S. Shdaimah explore the reasons behind the relative paucity of U.S. child care and child care support. They examine the history of child care advocacy and legislation in the United States, from the Child Care Development Act of the 1970s that was vetoed by Nixon through the Obama administration's Child Care Development Block Grant. The book includes data from interviews with 23 prominent child care and early education advocates and researchers who have spent their careers seeking expansion of child care policy and funding and an examination of the legislative debates around key child care bills of the last half-century. Palley and Shdaimah analyze the special interest and niche groups that have formed around existing policy, arguing that such groups limit the possibility for debate around U.S. child care policy.