Fortin's Children's Rights and the Developing Law (4^th Ed., Revised edition) Law in Context Series

The notion that children constitute an important group of rights holders has gained increasing acceptance both domestically and internationally. Nevertheless, this rhetorical commitment to children's rights is not necessarily realised in practice. Now in its fourth edition, Fortin's Children's Rights and the Developing Law explores the extent to which law and policy in England promotes or undermines the rights of children. Fully revised and updated, this textbook uses current research on child development and welfare to reflect on the extent to which the law fulfils children's rights in a wide range of areas, including medical law, education and child poverty. These developments are measured again the domestic law and the UK's international obligations under, for example, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

1. Theoretical perspectives; 2. International children's rights; 3. Children's rights in domestic law; 4. Children's rights within the family: parental rights and responsibilities; 5. The child's right to identity; 6. The child's right to respect for family life: the right to know and be brought up by parents; 7. Parents' decisions and young children's health rights; 8. The child's right to education: parental choice and plural values; 9. Adolescent autonomy; 10. Leaving home, rights to support and emancipation; 11. Adolescent decision-making and health care; 12. The child's right to participation in family proceedings; 13. Children's rights and state responsibility: public authorities and poverty; 14. The right to education: participation in school; 15. The child's right to protection from harmful treatment; 16. The child's right to protection in state care and to state accountability; 17. Conclusion – themes and the way ahead.

Rachel E. Taylor is Fellow and Tutor in Law at Exeter College, Oxford and Associate Professor in Law at Oxford University. She writes widely on issues relating to children and family law.