one - Introduction

Summary

The focus and aims of the book

This book engages with debates about parental rights and responsibilities. From a legal perspective, the Children Act 1989, Section 3(1) defined parental rights and responsibilities as ‘all the rights, duties, powers, responsibilities and authority which by law a parent of a child has in relation to the child and their property’. The Children Act 1989 and Children (Scotland) Act 1995 clarified that parents and families have primary responsibility for children and that parental responsibilities are lifelong (persisting if married or cohabiting parents separate and divorce). This legislation made child welfare ‘the paramount consideration’ in family–state–child relations. Parental rights (the rights and freedoms granted to those with parental status and responsibilities) were revised as ‘rights that enable parents to fulfil their responsibilities for children and promote child welfare’ (Children Act 1989). This principle attempted to balance parental and children's rights to public support with more traditional ‘liberal’ notions of parental rights to non-interference from the state (Eekelaar, 2006; Bridgeman et al, 2008).

This book examines notions of parental rights and responsibilities informing recent social policy developments. The focus is primarily on policy developments in England (where policies are devolved) and the UK. The book analyses what Daly (2004) referred to as ‘welfare state support for families’:

policies covering cash support to families, provisions for working parents, services for families with children, and benefits and services for higher need families. (Daly, 2004, p 136)

These entitlements and provisions entail social, economic and employment rights; provide support and services for ‘in need’ families; and encompass state intervention to promote child welfare, ‘family functioning’ and wider societal objectives. Social policies are informed by assumptions and ideological perspectives about the role of families and children in society, and divisions of responsibility for children, young people and social welfare within the state, and between the state, parents, families, young people and communities. The book focuses on five policy areas: welfare-to-work measures, financial support for families with children, childcare policies, statutory family-friendly employment rights, and family and parenting support services. The book does not include an in-depth assessment of mainstream education, health or family law policies (although it does review children's and family services reforms under the responsibility of the former Department for Children, Schools and Families [DCSF] and the Department of Health).