Children's Rights and the Developing Law (Law in Context)
Cambridge University Press
Edition: 3, 8/13/2009
EAN 9780521698016, ISBN10: 0521698014
Paperback, 880 pages, 24.4 x 17 x 4.4 cm
Language: English
Following the implementation of the Human Rights Act 1998, awareness has increased that we live in a rights-based culture and that children constitute an important group of rights holders. Now in its third edition, Children's Rights and the Developing Law explores the way developing law and policies in England and Wales are simultaneously promoting and undermining the rights of children. It reflects on how far these developments take account of children's interests, using current research on children's needs as a template against which to assess their effectiveness and considering a broad range of topics, including medical law, education and youth justice. A critical approach is maintained throughout, particularly when assessing the extent to which the concept of children's rights is being acknowledged by the courts and policy makers and the degree to which the UK fulfils its obligations under, for example, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Part I. Theoretical Perspectives and International Sources
1. Theoretical perspectives
2. International children's rights
Part II. Promoting Consultation and Decision-Making
3. Adolescent autonomy and parents
4. Leaving home, rights to support and emancipation
5. Adolescent decision-making and health care
6. Promoting consultation and decision-making in schools
7. Children's involvement in family proceedings - rights to representation
8. Children in court - their welfare, wishes and feelings
Part III. Children's Rights and Parents' Powers
9. Children's rights versus family privacy - physical punishment and financial support
10. Parents' decisions and children's health rights
11. Educational rights for children in minority groups
12. Educational rights for children with disabilities
13. Children's right to know their parents - the significance of the blood tie
14. Children's right to know and be brought up by their parents
15. An abused child's right to state protection
16. Right to protection in state care and to state accountability
17. The right of abused children to protection by the criminal law
18. Protecting the rights of young offenders
19. Conclusion - themes and the way ahead
Appendix I
UN Convention on the Rights of the Child
Appendix II
Human Rights Act 1998.
'At page 459 Fortin states that 'this work seeks to show the sceptic how a rights based approach can be translated into workable policies and legal principles and also that a conscientious attempt to apply these is better than guesswork and intuition.' This indeed is a very laudable aim and in summary, this work of detailed academic and practical fortitude does exactly that ... in plenty.' Family Law