Professor Jane Fortin examines how developing law and policies in England and Wales simultaneously promote and undermine children's rights.

Jane Fortin is Professor of Law at Sussex University. She writes widely on issues relating to child and family law and is co-editor of the Child and Family Law Quarterly.

Part I. Theoretical Perspectives and International Sources: 1. Theoretical perspectives; 2. International children's rights; Part II. Promoting Consultation and Decision-Making: 3. Adolescent autonomy and parents; 4. Leaving home, rights to support and emancipation; 5. Adolescent decision-making and health care; 6. Promoting consultation and decision-making in schools; 7. Children's involvement in family proceedings - rights to representation; 8. Children in court - their welfare, wishes and feelings; Part III. Children's Rights and Parents' Powers: 9. Children's rights versus family privacy - physical punishment and financial support; 10. Parents' decisions and children's health rights; 11. Educational rights for children in minority groups; 12. Educational rights for children with disabilities; 13. Children's right to know their parents - the significance of the blood tie; 14. Children's right to know and be brought up by their parents; 15. An abused child's right to state protection; 16. Right to protection in state care and to state accountability; 17. The right of abused children to protection by the criminal law; 18. Protecting the rights of young offenders; 19. Conclusion - themes and the way ahead; Appendix I: UN Convention on the Rights of the Child; Appendix II: Human Rights Act 1998.