Surrogacy,Identity, Parentage and Childrenʼs Rights – Through the Eyes of a Child

In this article I will focus on two important aspects of children's rights which are impacted by artificial reproductive technology (particularly surrogacy); being the rights to identity and the rights to legal parentage. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child acknowledges the importance of a child's right to identity, to be protected from discrimination on the basis of the status or beliefs of the child's parents, legal guardians or family members. For many children born through surrogacy arrangements, they may have only one or no legally recognized parent. The adults caring for them may have parental responsibility orders but this falls well short of providing children with the benefits and protections that legal parentage does. The issue of identity can be complex. Increasingly, states have recognized the importance of children knowing the circumstances of their birth and being able to access biological and genetic information including medical information. From a child's perspective the issues of identity and parenthood are intertwined. Given the importance of identity, more needs to be done to ensure that identifying information about children born as a result of artificial reproductive technology is properly stored and readily accessible for these children. Denying a child legal parentage when there are no concerns about the care being provided by their parents cannot be justified when considered from a children's rights perspective.     

Surveying support for child and youth political participation in Australia and New Zealand

Recent decades have witnessed increased empirical and policy interest in children’s citizenship, particularly since the ratification of the United Nations Declaration of Children’s Rights. However, support for children’s active citizenship is often hindered by the pervasiveness of discourses that characterise children as innocent, developing, and free from responsibility. Public and governmental decision-making largely excludes children’s consultation and contributions, often determined by age alone. To quantifiably assess the amount of public support for children’s political participation, we commissioned a Likert scale survey question on degrees of support for children and youth (across four age groups between 3 and 18 year olds) having the opportunity to influence government decisions, in the Australian and New Zealand 2016 versions of the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP). Analysis of responses to this question in relation to demographic survey data indicate variation in preferences for different age groups, and that age, gender, and political party preference of respondents were variables of significance for both nations. These variables point to potential predictors of attitudes toward political participation of children and youth which have relevance for policymakers and educators in relation to provision of programmes that will increase the engagement of children and youth in government decision-making.     

Market segmentation in child adoption

The system for the adoption of children is not working well. The dysfunction of the adoption system manifests itself in an excess demand for healthy white babies and excess supply of older children, minority children, or those with disabilities. A market solution can increase the number of adoptions for older children, minority children or children with disabilities. Recognizing the heterogeneity of children and taking account of those differences will yield price differentiation in segmented markets. Such differentiation is especially important in the market for adopted children where the lifetime consequences of a poor match can be severe; more information about child attributes can only improve child-adopter matches. Revenues from the sale of adoption rights for highly demanded children could subsidize the adoption of the less desired children. The time to adoption will decrease and more of the less desired children will be adopted; the sum of consumer (adoptive parents) plus producer (biological mothers or the adoption agencies) surplus will rise and eliminate sub rosa markets for the more desired children.     

韩国20世纪90年代成长小说特征研究——以《鸟的礼物》和《洪鱼》为中心

本文选取20世纪90年代韩国最具代表性的成长小说作品《鸟的礼物》和《洪鱼》,以成长小说中的儿童视角、成长母题、成长方式等角度进行文本分析,试推出90年代韩国成长小说的共同特征。     

城市流浪儿童受教育权的保护问题——以儿童权利保护的“非歧视原则”为视角

城市流浪儿童是社会成果分享者中处于最不利地位的群体,他们的生存权与发展权都因其流浪地位而受到严重的威胁。保障他们的受教育权既有利于流浪儿童的正常社会化,也是儿童权利保护的非歧视原则的本质要求。从非歧视原则出发,政府部门应坚持零拒绝原则,从而尽可能地使流浪儿童的受教育权得以实现。     

Introduction to special issue: contradictory interests of offspring and parents, 1500–2000

Conflicts between parents and offspring at home are not a popular issue, at least not in the field of the history of the family. Nevertheless do they occur and it might be rewarding to study these phenomena, although historical sources are scarce. They can be an expression of more general social tensions and they might provoke social changes. This Special Issue presents four contributions in which the central focus is about tensions between parents and grown-up offspring that is still at home. Three topics will be dealt with: marriage, earnings of children working elsewhere, and the threat of leaving home. Factors that seem to affect the balance of interests between parents and offspring include parental power, family needs, public authority and interests taken by children in the outside world.     

‘Unhomely moments’: Civilising domestic worlds in colonial Australia

This article explores the multiple connections between the colonisation of Australia in the nineteenth century and the formation of domestic worlds as the site for ‘civilising’ children. The affective bonds of family were often regarded as an indispensable element in the nurture and training of children, but where the bonds of ‘natural affection’ seemed to pose an obstacle to the civilising project, they were ruthlessly severed.     

Justice or Welfare? Nordic Women's Shelters and Children's Rights Organizations on Children Exposed to Violence

Efforts to promote the protection of, and support to, abused women have opened up new understandings concerning children who see, hear, or in other ways are exposed to men's violence against women and its consequences. On the basis of a redefinition of children exposed to violence into children subjected to violence, some important policy changes have recently been made in the Nordic countries as regards children's status as crime victims. To enable a better understanding of the context of such changes in policy, this article explores the extent to which Nordic women's shelter/crisis centre organizations and children's rights organizations draw upon a justice discourse in relation to the issue of children exposed to violence. The analysis is based upon a study of 10 organizations working at a national level in Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden.     

Iaals' Honoring Families Initiative: Courts and Communities Helping Families in Transition Arising from Separation or Divorce

• It is time for a national dialogue about the feasibility of creating out‐of‐court alternatives for separating and divorcing families.
• Research indicates that separating parents who provide their children with consistency, emotional support, and low conflict help children successfully adapt in the transition process.