This volume represents key scholarship on the issue of parental rights and responsibilities, selected from a dense forest of literature. The collection offers an overview of the subject and covers topics such as: underlying rationales of who or what is a parent; legal concepts of ?parent? and their linkage; the legal parent - accommodating complexity; the nature and scope of parental rights; shared parental responsibility; and parental rights and the state.

This timely book examines parental rights to 'welfare state support' and parental responsibilities for child welfare in relation to recent social policy agendas pursued by the Labour government in the UK in the context of child well-being research, state welfare analysis and sociological research about parental perspectives and the multiple contexts of parenting and childhood. It calls for notions of parental rights and responsibilities which are more responsive to the diversity of parental perspectives and parenting contexts. The book is valuable reading for students, researchers and practitioners in social policy and child and family services.

This book provides a comprehensive examination of the legal regulation of the provision of healthcare to young children in England and Wales. A critical analysis is given on the law governing the provision of healthcare to young and dependent children identifying an understanding of the child as vulnerable and in need of protection, including from his or her own parents. The argument is made for a conceptual framework of relational responsibilities which would ensure that consideration is given to the needs of the child as an individual, to the experiences of parents gained as they care for their child and that the wider context, such as attitudes towards disability, public health issues or the support and resources available, is examined. This book makes an important contribution to understanding the law regulating the provision of healthcare to young and dependent children and to the development of a discourse of responsibility.

This book examines the idea of 'parental responsibility' in English law and what is expected of a responsible parent. The scope of 'parental responsibility', a key concept in family law, is undefined and often ambiguous. Yet, to date, more attention has been paid to how individuals acquire parental responsibility than to the question of the rights, powers, duties and responsibilities they have once they obtain it. This book redresses the balance by providing the first sustained examination of the different elements of parental responsibility, bringing together leading scholars to comment on specific aspects of its operation. The book begins by exploring the conceptual underpinnings of parental responsibility in the context of parents' and children's rights. The analysis highlights the inherent constraints and limitations of 'parental responsibility' and how its scope has deliberately been curtailed in certain contexts. The book then considers what parental responsibility allows and requires in specific areas, for example, naming a child, education, religious upbringing, medical treatment, corporal punishment, dealing with any contracts entered into or property owned by the child, representing the child in legal proceedings, consenting to a child's marriage or civil partnership and the law's response to the death of a child. In the final section, the idea of the 'responsible parent' is considered in the contexts of child support, contact, tort, and criminal law. This title is included in Bloomsbury Professional's Family Law online service.

This timely collection brings together philosophical, legal and sociological perspectives on the crucial question of who should make decisions about the fate of a child suffering from a serious illness. In particular, the collection looks at whether the current 'best interests' threshold is the appropriate boundary for legal intervention, or whether it would be more appropriate to adopt the 'risk of significant harm' approach proposed in Gard. It explores the roles of parents, doctors and the courts in making decisions on behalf of children, actively drawing on perspectives from the clinic as well as academia and practice. In doing so, it teases out the potential risks of inappropriate state intrusion in parental decision-making, and considers how we might address them.

This volume considers the impact that changing family norms have had on the responsibilities that the law allocates to people in family relationships. Contributions are drawn from a wide variety of jurisdictions in which scholars, lawyers, judges and policy-makers have been trying to discern what the appropriate correlation should be between the responsibilities that people undertake in family settings and the law that regulates family responsibilities. Part I looks at the changes that have occurred in adult relationships and what they have done for our sense of the family responsibilities that adults take for one another. Part II reflects on the changing nature of the parental relationship in order to reconsider the way in which changing family structures affect the responsibilities we think people raising children should have. The third part brings the rights discourse that has dominated jurisprudence for much of the last fifty years into the discussion of family transformation and the responsibilities to which it gives rise. In the final section the authors reflect on the difficulties of trying to resolve the meaning of responsibility in a world of changing families. The collection brings together some of the most eminent and imaginative scholars and judges working in this area. It will be a valuable resource for all those interested in the legal regulation of the transforming family.

Focusing on moral, social and legal responsibilities as opposed to rights or obligations, this volume explores the concept of responsibility in family life, law and practice. Divided into four parts, the study considers the nature of family responsibility; constructions of children's responsibilities; shifting conceptions of family responsibilities; and family, responsibility and the law. The collection brings together leading experts from the disciplines of sociology, socio-legal studies and law to discuss responsibilities prior to birth, responsibilities for children, as well as responsibilities of children and of the state towards family members. The volume informs and challenges the developing conceptualization of responsibilities which arise in interdependent, intimate and caring relationships and their legal regulation. It will be of great interest to researchers and practitioners working in this complex field.

In this book leading international scholars provide fascinating insights into the vital but enigmatic role of Article 5 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

This volume considers the impact that changing family norms have had on the responsibilities that the law allocates to people in family relationships. Contributions are drawn from a wide variety of jurisdictions in which scholars, lawyers, judges and policy-makers have been trying to discern what the appropriate correlation should be between the responsibilities that people undertake in family settings and the law that regulates family responsibilities. Part I looks at the changes that have occurred in adult relationships and what they have done for our sense of the family responsibilities that adults take for one another. Part II reflects on the changing nature of the parental relationship in order to reconsider the way in which changing family structures affect the responsibilities we think people raising children should have. The third part brings the rights discourse that has dominated jurisprudence for much of the last fifty years into the discussion of family transformation and the responsibilities to which it gives rise. In the final section the authors reflect on the difficulties of trying to resolve the meaning of responsibility in a world of changing families. The collection brings together some of the most eminent and imaginative scholars and judges working in this area. It will be a valuable resource for all those interested in the legal regulation of the transforming family.