Child Welfare and Rights: Differences in Common Law and Civil Law Perspectives

This book examines jurisdictional differences in the role of the principle of the welfare interests of the child in common and civil law and focuses on differences within these two legal traditions.

By identifying and analysing the functions of the principle both in the public and private sector of family law, the book compares and contrasts different jurisdictions and assesses their capacity to implement children’s welfare interests and rights. Covering a variety of topics including child abuse and neglect, state care, adoption and reproductive rights and family breakdown, the book demonstrates how welfare interests and rights can be balanced to create a coherent framework for family law.

In addition to providing an up-to-date digest of cases and legislation, the book will be of interest to researchers in the field of child welfare and family law.

Kerry O’Halloran, a professionally qualified lawyer, social worker and academic, has recently retired from 13 years as Adjunct Professor to the Australian Centre for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Studies at QUT, Brisbane. In Northern Ireland, he served on the Social Care Tribunal and on a HSS Trust Adoption Panel, advised the Irish government on law reform matters and served in a consultancy capacity to government bodies such as Courts Services (Northern Ireland) and to the Open University in England. Previously employed as Assistant Director (Research) at the Centre for Voluntary Action, University of Ulster in Northern Ireland, his 30 books and many other publications include Conscientious Objection (Springer, 2022), The Politics of Adoption, 4th ed (Springer, 2021), Adoption Law and Human Rights: International Perspectives (Routledge, 2018), Religion, Charity and Human Rights (CUP, 2014) and Child Care and Protection: the Law & Practice in Northern Ireland (Thompson Reuters, 2003).