What's the point of parenthood? The agreed parenthood provisions under the HFE Act 2008 and inconsistency with intention

This article illustrates the inconsistencies of the current law relating to intention as the basis for agreed parenthood. I argue that the courts are not always faithful to the underlying policy of recognising intention to attribute legal parenthood, in particular where the putative parents’ relationship has broken down. I claim that it is problematic to prioritise certainty of the existing inadequate procedural conditions at the expense of certainty for the child’s identity. A much clearer articulation of how intention is enshrined as the basis of parenthood is needed

Children and Their Parents: A Comparative Study of the Legal Position of Children with Regard to Their Intentional and Biological Parents in English and Dutch Law

This is a book about children and their parents. There are many different kinds of children and at least about as many different kinds of parents. In addition to the many different disciplines that study children and their parents, such as sociology, psychology, child studies and gender studies, to name but a few, this study concerns a legal question with regard to the parent-child relationship, namely how the law assigns parents to children. This subject is approached in a comparative legal perspective and covers England and The Netherlands. The book contains a detailed comparison and analysis of the manner in which the law in the two jurisdictions assigns the status of legal parent and/or attributes parental responsibility to the child’s biological and intentional parents. The concept ‘procreational responsibility’, which is introduced in the concluding chapter of the book, may be used as a tool to assess and reform existing regulations on legal parent-child relationships. The structure of the book, which is based on a categorisation of different family types in a ‘family tree’, enables the reader to have easy access to family-specific information.FdR – Publicaties zonder aanstelling Universiteit Leide

Reforming the law on sexual offences

Book synopsis: Despite the advent of new sexual knowledges,new perspectives, new experiences even, we do not routinely or habitually reflect on the interface of social and legal dimensions of sexuality. Rather, the law is periodically reviewed in response to some crisis or campaign. The idea for the book thus came from awareness that it is important to explore some of the social and moral censures, contours and controversies that shape and mark the boundaries of sexuality. The production of the book has coincided with a major review and new legislation concerning sexual offences, fuelling the authors' concerns and making their explorations timely. Interdisciplinary in scope, drawing in biological, psychological, sociological and historical perspectives to set out the new battlegrounds of sexuality, for instance, but with particular emphasis on socio-legal issues, the book examines the following areas: the development of sexuality and the right to define one's sexuality; genetic maps and sexual politics; sexuality and same sex relationships in law; the law in relation to intersecting oppressions concerning lesbians, gay men and trans people; the sexual abuse of children and the limitations of the law; the contours of regulation concerning young people, 'sexual health', and prostitution; sexual freedoms versus protectionist debates; sexuality, desire and embodied performances in the workplace; sexuality, film and the law, and the law on sexuality in the everyday practice of the Care Standards Tribunal. The book also reviews the recent reform of sexual offences and examines the current vogue for psychological treatment interventions for sexual offenders. This book offers a highly original and exciting new exploration of contemporary socio-legal issues in relation to different sexual positions

Prisoners' families and the regulation of contact

This article explores HM Prison Service policy and the impact of case law on the rights of prisoners to family contact. First, state provision and policy for prisoner-family contact is reviewed and the constraints imposed on contact over the past decade are explored. A number of legal challenges to these constraints have been made recently and, drawing on domestic case law and challenges in the European Court of Human Rights we explore the nature of prisoners' rights of contact in prison. This analysis shows that while fathers' rights for indirect contact are upheld, their rights are not respected as much as those of mothers in cases of direct contact and also that men unable to establish family life have their rights further eroded. Drawing upon empirical research findings as well as case law, the relationship between the Prison Act 1952 and the Children Act 1989 is considered and policy recommendations are put forward