Everyday Law For Children

Everyday Law for Children provides an accessible introduction to laws that affect children and families and the dominant public debates that surround and drive these laws. Using real-world examples, the book exposes the tension between reliance on the private, autonomous family and the public's desire to secure child well-being. A look at some public systems, such as child welfare and juvenile delinquency, shows that an initial public aspiration to assist children and families is often frustrated by a lack of resolve and resources. In other areas, such as education and healthcare, the public shrinks from a commitment to comprehensive child well-being. Everyday Law for Children makes a case for the improvement of public systems by focusing on pragmatic goals related to child well-being. More immediately, it makes a case for zealous advocates for children who can have a dramatic impact on children's everyday lives. Accordingly, the book provides an annotated list of resources and contact information for parents and for service providers who need help addressing specific problems within complex public systems.

Everyday Law for Children provides an accessible introduction to laws that affect children and families and the dominant public debates that surround and drive these laws. Using real-world examples, the book exposes the tension between reliance on the private, autonomous family and the public's desire to secure child well-being. A look at some public systems, such as child welfare and juvenile delinquency, shows that an initial public aspiration to assist children and families is often frustrated by a lack of resolve and resources. In other areas, such as education and healthcare, the public shrinks from a commitment to comprehensive child well-being. Everyday Law for Children makes a case for the improvement of public systems by focusing on pragmatic goals related to child well-being. More immediately, it makes a case for zealous advocates for children who can have a dramatic impact on children's everyday lives. Accordingly, the book provides an annotated list of resources and contact information for parents and for service providers who need help addressing specific problems within complex public systems.

"Sarat and Kearns . . . have edited a truly marvelous work on the impact of the law on daily life and vice versa. . . . the essays are all exemplary, thought- provoking works worthy of a long, contemplative read by scholars, lawyers, and judges alike." --Choice "The subject of law in everyday life is timely in theory and in practice. The essays collected here are stimulating for the very different ways in which they reconfigure the meanings of 'the law' as cultural practice, and 'the everyday' as a cultural domain in which the state expresses a range of interests and engagements. Readers looking for an introduction to this topic will come away from the book with a clear sense of the varied voices and modes of inquiry now involved in sociolegal studies, and what distinguishes them. More experienced readers will appreciate the book's meticulous reconsideration of the instrumentalities, agencies, and constructedness of law." --Carol Greenhouse, Indiana University Contributors include David Engel, Hendrik Hartog, Thomas R. Kearns, David Kennedy, Catharine MacKinnon, George Marcus, Austin Sarat, and Patricia Williams. Austin Sarat is William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Jurisprudence and Political Science, and Chair of the Department of Law, Jurisprudence, and Social Thought, Amherst College. Thomas R. Kearns is William H. Hastie Professor of Philosophy and Professor of Law, Jurisprudence, and Social Thought, Amherst College.

Everyday Law for Children provides an accessible introduction to laws that affect children and families and the dominant public debates that surround and drive these laws. Using real-world examples, the book exposes the tension between reliance on the private, autonomous family and the public's desire to secure child well-being. A look at some public systems, such as child welfare and juvenile delinquency, shows that an initial public aspiration to assist children and families is often frustrated by a lack of resolve and resources. In other areas, such as education and healthcare, the public shrinks from a commitment to comprehensive child well-being. Everyday Law for Children makes a case for the improvement of public systems by focusing on pragmatic goals related to child well-being. More immediately, it makes a case for zealous advocates for children who can have a dramatic impact on children's everyday lives. Accordingly, the book provides an annotated list of resources and contact information for parents and for service providers who need help addressing specific problems within complex public systems.

This collection, written by legal scholars from around the world, offers insights into a variety of topics from children’s rights to criminal law, jurisprudence, medical ethics and more. Its breadth reflects the fact that these are all elements of what can broadly be called ‘law and society’, that enterprise that is interested in law’s place or influence in diffferent aspects of real lives and understands law to be simultaneously symbol, philosophy and action. It also testament to the broad range of vision of Professor Michael Freeman, in whose honour the volume was conceived. The contributions are divided into categories which reflect his distinguished career and publications, over 85 books and countless articles, including pioneering work on children’s rights, domestic violence, religious law, jurisprudence, law and culture, family law and medicine, ethics and the law, as well as his enduring commitment to interdisciplinarity.

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989 is one of the most highly ratified human rights treaties in the world, with 192 states currently signed up to it. Article Twelve is fundamental to the Convention and states that all children capable of forming views have the right to express those views, and recognises that all children have the right to be heard in any judicial and administrative proceedings affecting them. This book explores the historical and theoretical background to Article Twelve, and examines the various models of participation which have been created to facilitate a better understanding of this provision. Aisling Parkes analyzes the extent to which Article Twelve has been implemented under international law, and in domestic law, as well as setting-out recommendations for the most effective ways of implementing Article Twelve in all areas of children’s lives.

The normative dilemmas facing citizens in their various roles as parents, children, neighbours, and members of small groups is explored.