Families Under Construction: Parentage, Adoption, and Assisted Reproduction (Preface and Table of Contents)
Families Under Construction: Parentage, Adoption, and Assisted Reproduction (2d ed. 2021) (Wolters Kluwer, Aspen Coursebook series)
14 Pages Posted: 11 Feb 2021
Date Written: December 1, 2020
Abstract
Who is a child’s parent? Answers to this apparently simple question have become more important and more complex in this era of marriage equality, increasing departures from traditional family arrangements, modern approaches to adoption, collaborative reproduction and other infertility treatments, and reproductive tourism. Families Under Construction: Parentage, Adoption, and Assisted Reproduction (2d ed., forthcoming from Wolters Kluwer in Feb. 2021) grapples with the ways these developments have shaped new understandings of parentage and family identity.
This casebook incorporates a multidisciplinary presentation of legal authorities, policy perspectives, critical analysis, and cultural contexts, with Notes and Questions that supply background and illuminate the salient themes and Problems that test the principal concepts and invite consideration of new issues. More specifically, this casebook provides thorough coverage of significant cases (both classic and leading-edge), statutes, and regulations, including law reform efforts and recognition of law’s silence on some topics. It uses an approach that questions core concepts, such as parentage, by highlighting the role of the state in the construction of family and the influence of assumptions about gender, race, sexualities, marriage, class, and dependency. It also compiles diverse materials, such as narratives as well as summaries of popular books and films, which explore the interaction of law and life. Finally, it offers opportunities for comparative analysis of law and policy, from “then” to “now” and among various states and nations, with examination of jurisdiction, choice of law, and enforcement, as well as lawyers’ professional responsibility challenges in adoptions and reproductive collaborations.
This casebook is designed for law school seminars and courses, including first-year electives, as well as advanced undergraduate courses in legal studies or other departments.
The posted excerpt includes the preface and detailed table of contents.
Keywords: parents, children, adoption, assisted reproduction, foster care, reproductive tourism, LGBTQ families, interstate and international adoption, donor insemination, surrogacy, IVF
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