Child Law (Senior Status)

• Credit value: 15 credits at Level 7
• Convenor and tutor: Professor Daniel Monk
• Assessment: a 4000-word essay (100%)

Child law is a dynamic subject that directly or indirectly impacts on all our lives: everyone was once a child. In this module we ask three key questions:

• What is a child and how does law portray childhood?
• What is the difference between children’s rights and human rights?
• What are the meanings and limits of parental rights?

In answering these questions we will look at controversial debates about shifting definitions of parenthood/parental responsibility, contact disputes and the father’s rights movement, surrogacy and assisted reproduction, adoption, child abuse scandals and in each case take a historical perspective.

In this module you will achieve not only a sound knowledge of the legal framework relating to children but also a good grasp of the sociological context in which the legal questions arise. We will focus on what happens in practice as well as what should happen in theory.

Indicative syllabus

• Introduction: ‘best interests’ and ‘children’s rights’
• Parental responsibility
• Child protection
• Concepts of childhood
• Adoption
• Resolving private disputes: I and II
• Assisted reproduction and children’s rights
• Education law
• Essay guidance

By the end of this module, you will be able to:

• understand the key legal concepts, values and principles underlying the child-related aspects of family law
• critically appraise the key aspects of the law about the legal status of the child
• identify and critically engage with the political, social and cultural factors that inform and underlie this area of law
• critically assess the problems, tensions and contradictions underlying contemporary debates about the family and the role of law in regulating and defining it.