Law and Family Formation Among LGBQ‐Parent Families

This article addresses how the law affects family formation among families with lesbian, gay, bisexual, and queer (LGBQ) parents in the United States. Our discussion draws on a socio‐legal approach to law that focuses not only on the law on the books (what we refer to as “legal barriers”) but also on issues like how the law is practiced, how people experience the law in everyday life, and how the law serves as an interpretive framework through which people understand themselves and their families (what we refer to as “social barriers”). In our review, we highlight how attorneys can play a role in valuing and advancing rights for LGBQ‐parent families and LGBTQ prospective parents.     

‘Two children to make ends meet’: the ideal family size,parental responsibilities and costs of children on two sides of the Iron Curtain during the post-war fertility decline

One of the major corollaries of the post-war fertility boom and decline is that two-child families became common across Europe after the 1970s. Despite the general agreement on the convergence of fertility trends, there is still little understanding of how this change took place in a comparative perspective of Western and Eastern Europe, which at that time were characterised by Cold War tensions of different ideological regimes. This study addresses this aspect by focusing on individual decisions around childbearing, child-rearing and family size. Based on 104 oral histories from Switzerland and Ukraine, this study illuminates that the urban setting provided parents with a similar set of constraints and opportunities, which eventually resulted in strikingly similar perceptions of the costs of childrearing on two sides of the Iron Curtain. Individuals’ motives to postpone first birth in Switzerland and second birth in Ukraine rested on a similar aspiration to invest in the well-being of children by ensuring material security for the family. This aim was increasingly achieved through female labour-force participation and adoption of modern contraception – the pill in Switzerland and abortion in Ukraine. While the timing of returning to the labour market and the share of women working after entering parenthood might have varied across the two contexts, a good mother became increasingly defined in both contexts in terms of providing emotionally and financially for her children. Although the introduction of modern birth control methods allowed couples to plan family size more carefully, it also made Swiss and Ukrainian women increasingly carry the major costs and actual burden of birth control. Altogether, this study challenges the common assumption around the persistence of strikingly different demographic realities in post-war Western and Eastern Europe by uncovering the mechanisms behind the stabilisation of family size around the two-child family ideal.     

比较文学视阈下的中国俄罗斯文学研究（1978-2017）

自俄罗斯文学进入我国学者的视野起,比较文学即被应用于其研究当中。特别是20世纪90年代以来,比较文学更是以其跨文化性和开放性的特点为我国的俄罗斯文学研究带来了较为丰硕的成果。但是,相较于比较文学在其他国别文学研究中的应用,我国学者在中俄文学关系、俄罗斯文学的中国形象建构研究等问题的研究中,存在着研究思路与话语陈旧、方法运用生硬刻板、中国学者的主体性意识与民族立场弱化、具有国际影响力的高质量成果欠缺等一系列问题。此外,我国学者编撰的俄罗斯文学史著作也折射出其在世界文学眼光与比较文学意识方面存在的欠缺。     

Resident and Nonresident Fingernail Isotopes Reveal Diet and Travel Patterns,,

Global travel has increased, and having a diagnostic tool to distinguish residents from visitors would be valuable. This study examined stable isotope biomarkers of fingernail tissues of resident (n = 26) and nonresident (n = 22) participants in Salt Lake City (SLC), UT, from 2015 to 2016. The purpose of this research was to determine whether fingernail isotopes could be used for reconstructing geolocation movements and to examine the convergence in nonresident fingernail isotopes to that of the resident signal following their arrival to SLC. Resident isotope values defined a baseline to make comparisons to. Initial nonresident hydrogen and oxygen isotope values were correlated with precipitation isotopes of their prior location. Fingernail isotope turnover rates were rapid and nonresident isotopes were indistinguishable from residents after ~71–90 days. The results of our study highlight the utility of stable isotope measurements of fingernail clippings to examine travel history reconstruction that could aid in identification of human remains.     

Willingness to innovate in family law solicitor practice in England and Wales: a qualitative study

This paper analyses interview data from 24 long-qualified family law solicitors working in private practice traditional settings in the Midlands and North of England. Experiences and perceptions of change are explored in order to contribute to contemporary understandings of practitioner willingness to innovate in the new legal services landscape, particularly as family law solicitors have been called upon to adopt new practices such as unbundling to survive. Three ‘types’ of emergent identities are identified amongst the sample respondents. These are linked to attachment to traditional role orientations, values and boundaries, as well as practice settings and perception of opportunities and threats.     

AFCC Think Tanks: Promoting Dialogue on Difficult Issues in Family Law*

This article examines three think tanks sponsored by the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts, which convened representatives of different disciplines, often with differing perspectives, to address policy and practice dilemmas in family law and dispute resolution. This essay was initially commissioned by the Nuffield Foundation, London, UK, as an Insight Article for its Family Justice Observatory, which aims to improve the use of data and research evidence in the family justice system in England and Wales. The think tank process is described and analyzed, identifying factors that created challenges and those that led to success.     

Keeping the Family Together: Why New York Must Amend Evidence Rules to Protect a Parent's Right to be a Parent

In New York, hearsay statements made by children may be admissible in a child protective proceeding. Under Article 10 of the Family Court Act, an out‐of‐court statement only requires corroboration to support the statement's reliability. The Family Court has the choice to determine what evidence will be sufficient for corroboration. In comparison to other statutes from different states, New York's statute is very broad. This Note proposes amending the current evidence statute under Article 10 of the Family Court Act to strengthen the standard for admitting hearsay statements in child protective proceedings.     

Family Court Enhancement Project: Improving Access to Justice

In 2013, Minnesota's Fourth Judicial District was one of four courts in the country selected by the U.S. Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women to receive a Family Court Enhancement Project (FCEP) grant, a multiyear demonstration initiative designed to build the capacity of court systems and partner stakeholders to improve child custody decision making in cases involving domestic violence. The FCEP enabled the project sites to explore, implement, and assess new and innovative court and noncourt procedures and practices. This article is an exploration of the outcomes of this project.     

Using Rule 11 Sanctions to Punish Accusers Who Make False Allegations of Child Sexual Abuse in Custody and Divorce Cases

False claims of child sexual abuse negatively affect the accused parent and the child. Such false claims can be used to sway custody determinations and cause frivolous applications to the court. This Note proposes that courts impose sanctions, comparable to those set forth in Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, on litigants who make false claims of child sexual abuse.     

Filial Piety in Israel: Between the Law in the Books and the Law in Action

This paper explores the main legal aspects of filial piety in Israel. Based on a socio-legal study, it traces a significant gap between the law in the books, which mandates that children support their parents financially if the latter cannot support themselves, and the law in action, which narrows this obligation to cases in which the parents must be cared for in a State nursing home. The study also highlights the relevance of religious and cultural norms in shaping filial piety in multicultural countries and thus points to the urgent need to tailor filial piety legal policies according to socially constructed, actual, and diverse filial piety perceptions and practices.