In mid-sixteenth-century England, people were born into authority and responsibility based on their social status. Thus elite children could designate property or serve in Parliament, while children of the poorer sort might be forced to sign labor contracts or be hanged for arson or picking pockets. By the late eighteenth century, however, English and American law began to emphasize contractual relations based on informed consent rather than on birth status. In By Birth or Consent, Holly Brewer explores how the changing legal status of children illuminates the struggle over consent and status in England and America. As it emerged through religious, political, and legal debates, the concept of meaningful consent challenged the older order of birthright and became central to the development of democratic political theory. The struggle over meaningful consent had tremendous political and social consequences, affecting the whole order of society. It granted new powers to fathers and guardians at the same time that it challenged those of masters and kings. Brewer's analysis reshapes the debate about the origins of modern political ideology and makes connections between Reformation religious debates, Enlightenment philosophy, and democratic political theory.

This book explains, compares and evaluates the social and legal functions of adoption within a range of selected jurisdictions and on an international basis. It updates and extends the second edition published by Springer in 2009. From a standpoint of the development of adoption in England & Wales and the changes currently taking place there, it considers the process as it has evolved in other countries. It identifies themes of commonality and difference in the experience of adoption in a common law context as compared and contrasted with that of other countries. It looks at adoption in France, Sweden and other civil law countries, as well as Japan and elsewhere in Asia, including a focus on Islamic adoption. It examines the experience of indigenous people in New Zealand and Australia, contrasting the highly regulated legal process of modern western society with the traditional practice of indigenous communities such as the Maori. A new chapter studies adoption in China. The book uses the international Conventions and associated ECtHR case law to benchmark developments in national law, policy and practice and to facilitate a cross-cultural comparative analysis.

A Question of Adoption gives a richly detailed, immensely readable account of the ideology and practice of closed stranger adoption in New Zealand, from pregnancy through to the final adoption order and its aftermath. Anne Else’s scrupulous, moving narrative explores social and moral attitudes towards ‘unmarried mothers’, ‘unwanted children’ and ‘childless couples’ during the 1950s and 1960s. She shows how the resulting system took shape, how it worked (or failed to work), and its lifelong effects on everyone involved, then sets out how and why change began to occur. This new e-book edition, written with Maria Haenga-Collins, includes seven ground-breaking new chapters providing a comprehensive account of creating and transferring children through the related processes of adoption, state care, donor conception and surrogacy. It details how so many Māori children were and still are cut off from their whānau and whakapapa through adoption and state care, both stemming from racist colonial ideology, and how the Adoption Act 1955 came to be seen as glaringly at odds with contemporary concepts of children’s rights and best interests. It examines New Zealand’s complex history of using ‘third parties’ to create children through reproductive technology, and the lengthy unresolved debates over regulation. The final chapter looks at local and global risks now facing human reproduction, connection, and reproductive justice.

Contemporary politics is dominated by discussions of rights and liberties as the proper subjects about which citizens should be concerned in the political sphere. In Public Space and Political Experience: An Arendtian Interpretation, David Antonini argues that Hannah Arendt conceived of politics differently and that her thought can help us retrieve a more authentic sense of politics as the site where citizens can speak and act together about matters of shared concern. Antonini shows that citizens can experience politics together if they approach it not as a realm where privately interested individuals compete for their rights or liberties but instead as a space where plural human beings come together as distinct yet equal creatures. Antonini argues that if we read Arendt as primarily concerned with political experience, we can reimagine common political concepts such as freedom, power, revolution, and civil disobedience. The book posits that politics should be considered a fundamental form of human experience, one rooted in what Arendt refers to as the existential condition of politics—human plurality. If plurality is the existential condition out of which our political life emerges, we can enliven and reimagine the possibilities that political life can provide for contemporary citizens.

This review considers ethical challenges to research design and informed consent in biomedical and behavioral studies conducted in resource-poor settings. A review of the literature explores relevant social, cultural, and ethical issues in the conduct of biomedical and social health research in developing countries. Ten case vignettes illustrate ethical challenges that arise in international research with culturally diverse populations. Recommendations for researchers and policy-makers concerned about ethical practices in multinational studies conducted in resource-poor settings are also listed.

Bringing together scholars from a wide range of disciplines, this captivating and judicious Research Handbook provides diverse perspectives on the law and practice of adoption. It examines how adoption laws differ between countries and cultures, and the ongoing effects of adoption on the child, the birth parent(s), and the adoptive parent(s).

Consent is a basic component of the ethics of human relations, making permissible a wide range of conduct that would otherwise be wrongful. Consent marks the difference between slavery and employment, permissible sexual relations and rape, borrowing or selling and theft, medical treatment and battery, participation in research and being a human guinea pig. This book assembles the contributions of a distinguished group of scholars concerning the ethics of consent in theory and practice. Part One addresses theoretical perspectives on the nature and moral force of consent, and its relationship to key ethical concepts, such as autonomy and paternalism. Part Two examines consent in a broad range of contexts, including sexual relations, contracts, selling organs, political legitimacy, medicine, and research.

This comprehensive, accessible guide leads you with confidence through every decision you'll have to make during the adoption process -- including the ones that you'd never know to expect. So you've made the decision to adopt. What's next? For starters, how do you know whether domestic or international adoption is right for you? (And what are the real differences between the two?) Adoption insider Elizabeth Swire Falker answers these questions and many more. As an attorney who practices in the area of adoption and has worked with hundreds of families, and as an adoptive parent herself, she offers expert advice on each stage of the process. Complete with checklists, tips, sidebars, and plenty of advice, it shows you how to: Identify which adoption experts you do and don't need Find the right birth mother or choose the right country for your family-and how to spot red flags in potential situations Select an attorney or agency and prepare for your home visit Finance an adoption on a budget, manage the red tape, and get around the roadblocks Navigate all of the complex emotions that surface along the way With Elizabeth Swire Falker's warm yet been-there-done-that voice, The Insider's Guide to Adoption is sure to become a tried-and-true resource for adoptive parents everywhere.

This popular, long-established textbook provides a clear and engaging account of a fascinating and dynamic subject, while also introducing current debates about the nature, scope and functions of the law, and discussing controversies surrounding the basic doctrines by placing them in a wider context. The book takes an applied approach and provides real life examples to illustrate how the law works in practice. This book is essential reading for law students taking undergraduate modules in family law and child law. Students on social work, social policy, health care and human rights courses will also find it invaluable, as will postgraduates and those studying the subject for professional purposes. New to this Edition: - In-depth information on new reforms to the law on domestic violence, now more appropriately referred to as 'domestic abuse' - Fully updated case law, particularly in respect of Supreme Court developments in the areas of divorce and civil partnership - Overview and analysis of the government's proposed reforms to the law on divorce - Up-to-date statistics - A discussion question in each chapter, with suggested ways to approach it on the companion website