Publisher's Synopsis
Family relations produce some of the most profound conflicts in modern life. The creation and dissolution of family ties spark off fundamental human emotions that frequently clash with alarming force and leave a tangle of legal and ethical complications. "Children and Families" has been chosen as the subject of this new series' inaugural volumes because the problems currently besetting the family, and particularly those afflicting its younger members, are equally challenging to students of psychology, law and ethics. Although these volumes may provide a few answers to questions on topics such as surrogate parenting, social policy or child abuse, its more important function will be to facilitate the interdisciplinary exchange of insight and information that appears to be necessary effectively to resolve complicated social issues.;This two-volume set contains four sections. The first section on "Child and Family Welfare" deals with aspects of social policy and the relationship between the family and the law whilst the second section, under the heading "Child Abuse and Family Violence", focuses on the abuse of family members, examining the problems posed in diagnosing and treating both victims and perpetrators, the legal response and the difficulties of defending battered women criminally accused of allowing their children to be battered. The third section "Creating a Family", focuses primarily on issues of childbearing. An introduction on the background to family rights is followed by an examination of the wide range of choices offered to prospective parents by modern reproductive technology. Under the general heading of "Family Crises", the fourth section addresses divorce, adolescent suicide, ageing and death.
