This volume is in part intended to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. We are now a generation on from its formulation, and, as this varied collection of articles by leading thinkers in the field reflects, children's rights have come a long way. Yet the aim of this volume is not to look back, but to take stock and look forward. It explores subjects as diverse as socio-economic rights, corporal punishment, language and scientific progress as they relate to children and their rights, and offers new insights and new ideas. Edited by one of the most respected and leading scholars in the field, The Future of Children's Rights constitutes a stimulating and useful resource for academics and practitioners alike.
The Present and Future of European Family Law explores the essence of European family law – and what its future may be. It compares and analyses existing laws and court decisions, identifies trends in legislation and jurisprudence, and also forecasts (and in some cases proposes) future developments. It establishes that while there is, at present, no comprehensive European family law, elements of an ‘institutional European family law’ have been created through decisions by the European Court on Human Rights and by the Court of Justice of the European Union as well as other EU instruments. At the same time an ‘organic European family law’ is beginning to emerge. The laws in many European jurisdictions have developed similarly and have ‘grown together’, not only as a result of the aforementioned institutional pressures, but also as a result of societal developments, and comparable reactions to medical and societal advances and changes. Hence there already is a body of institutional and organic European family law, and it will continue to grow. This book, and the others in the set, will serve as an invaluable resource for anyone interested in family law. It will be of particular use to students and scholars of comparative and international family law, as well as family law practitioners.
Written in honour of the internationally renowned Professor Nigel Lowe, this book explores current issues in international family and child law and considers how the field might develop in the future.
Preserving Family Ties was not written to give you a formula for action. Rather, this is a guidebook for understanding. It was written to give a clearer understanding of the complexity in child custody when parents separate. This book provides you the historical context for the changes you experience, and what you may fear. I have written this book to offer parents and professionals that context in which the new reality unfolds. It was written to help you understand that one can move forward best when they a) acknowledge your feelings as you endure so many life changes, often abrupt and unexpected; b) recognize the obstacles and options in the child custody and divorce process; and c) seek support from family, friends, community resources to affect the best transition for you and your children. There is no magic wand to solve problems that parents may encounter, real or imaginary. However, our imagination can play havoc with this journey of family transition. The future we prefer for our children, for each parent, for grandparents and other extended family members, can be far better than imagined.
Custody and Support: Get the Answers You Need When you’re getting divorced, you can make a tough time easier for yourself and your children if you work with the other parent to agree on a custody plan and child support. If you can’t resolve these issues, you’ll have to head to court and ask a judge to decide for you. Either way, Nolo’s Essential Guide to Child Custody & Support can help. You’ll learn: how negotiation and mediation can keep costs down and improve future dealings with your ex where to find your state’s child support guidelines how judges make custody decisions how to enforce and change custody and support orders how court trials work how Covid-19 is affecting custody arrangements and family court hearings, and when you need a lawyer and how to work with one. You’ll also find specifics about each state’s laws, including what factors courts consider when they rule on custody arrangements and what happens when one parent wants to move away with the children.
In an era in which our conception of what constitutes a “normal” family has undergone remarkable changes, questions have arisen regarding the role of the state in “normalizing” families through public policy. In what ways should the law seek to facilitate, or oppose, parenting and child-rearing practices that depart from the “nuclear family” with two heterosexual parents? What should the state's stance be on single parent families, unwed motherhood, or the adoption of children by gay and lesbian parents? How should authority over child rearing and education be divided between parents and the state? And how should the state deal with the inequalities that arise from birthright citizenship? Through critical essays divided into four parts-Adoption, Race, and Public Policy; Education and Parental Authority; Same Sex Families; and Birthright Citizenship-Child, Family, and State considers the philosophical, political, and legal dilemmas that surround these difficult and divisive questions. An invaluable resource in these contentious debates, Child, Family, and State illuminates the moral questions that lie before policymakers and citizens when contemplating the future of children and families.
From Fathers' Property to Children's Rights seeks to clarify fundamental questions about the rights of children and parents in our society through a unique and provocative analysis of child custody in the United States from colonial times to the present. The book gracefully combines historical and legal scholarship in an unusually rich perspective on the history of children and their parents. Mason consistently draws on this history to illuminate contemporary issues - the current emphasis on biological parenthood, the proliferation of reproductive technologies, and the growing use and misuse of the social sciences.
Family Law in a Changing America is a new casebook that highlights law and family patterns as they are now, not as they were decades ago. By focusing on key changes in family life, the casebook attends to rising equality and inequality within and among families. The law, formally at least, accords more equality and autonomy than ever before, having repudiated hierarchies based on race, gender, and sexuality. Yet, as our society has grown more economically unequal, so too have family patterns diverged—with marriage and marital child-rearing becoming a mark of privilege. A number of developments—mass incarceration, the privatization of care, and reproductive technologies—have also contributed to disparities based on race, class, and gender. The casebook reflects the law’s continuing emphasis on marriage, but also treats nonmarital families as central. Rather than privilege the marital heterosexual family, the casebook organizes the presentation of the law around 1) adult relationships and 2) parent-child relationships. Professors and students will benefit from: Text that includes dramatic changes in family patterns in contemporary society, including: declining marriage rates, with differential rates based on race and class; increasing rates of nonmarital cohabitation and nonmarital parenting; the use of assisted reproduction and its challenge to biological understandings of parentage; tensions between women’s increasing education and employment and the perseverance of the gendered division of labor in families; the inclusion of same-sex couples in marriage and parenthood An approach that decenters the marital heterosexual family and instead is structured around the general topics of adult relationships and parent-child relationships Focus on the scope of family law, including extensive coverage of crucial sites of family regulation, such as the child welfare system, that are traditionally neglected Emphasis on multiple modes of legal interpretation (common law, constitutional, statutory) and multiple actors in the legal system (judges, legislators, lawyers, experts, social workers) Practical problems and exercises, often based on actual cases or events, that illuminate the gaps, tensions, and implications of existing doctrine; some of the problems include postscripts explaining how the issue was resolved by a court or legislature An approach that draws on more recent cases and cutting-edge issues and that includes extensive coverage of assisted reproduction (including IVF, surrogacy, and gamete donation), parentage (including intentional parenthood, functional parenthood, and multi-parent arrangements), adoption, child welfare, and family support