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There is no doubt that, overall, there has been a great deal of activity in relation to children's rights under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) since it was ratified by the UK government in 1991. Of particular significance in the context of family law, however, are the provisions of Article 12, which have in many ways proved to be more problematic than other provisions, not least because, in the context of family law, children's participation rights are necessarily juxtaposed with the long‐standing and hitherto unchallenged rights of parents to make important decisions about family life. The reorganisation in 2001 of the family court welfare services in England and Wales with the creation of the Children and Family Courts Advisory and Support Service (CAFCASS), generated a new impetus for the consideration of children's participation rights and, at an organizational level, considerable progress has been made in embracing the provisions of the UNCRC. More problematic, however, is the acceptance of children's participation in making decisions about their futures by adults using and working in the family justice system. At the level of the courts, judicial attitudes are slow to change and in England, as court judgments often demonstrate, these are firmly rooted in a view of children as being incompetent in such issues; at the level of parents using the system, it is arguable that new discourses about the best interests of the child serve as a proxy for continuing discourses about parents' rights that have become evident, most recently, in the context of an increasingly influential fathers' rights lobby; and at the level of welfare practitioners, recent research also demonstrates that, although the rhetoric of children's rights is widely accepted, the willingness and ability to make these real in the context of family proceedings is, for a variety of reasons, less in evidence.

Abstract: In a recent article, Nellis (1995) undertook a detailed analysis of factors which have served to undermine the 'traditional' value‐base of the probation service and outlined a new set of values for the 1990s which, he argued, were more appropriate to the changed role of the service within the criminal justice system and better suited to its changed organisational context. In this reply, the author argues that Nellis has not gone far enough, either in terms of analysing and responding to the changed political context in which criminal justice policy exists or in terms of building on recent developments in criminological theory and that the values he proposes contain and conceal a number of problematic and unresolved tensions and ambiguities. An alternative approach, building on the notion of relational justice, is therefore proposed.

AbstractIn his recent article in the Howard Journal, McWilliams examined the proposition that the relationship between probation officers and courts has deteriorated as a result of a growing gulf between a virtually unchanging bench and a much changed justices' clerk and probation service. There have however been substantial and significant changes in the nature of the bench and its work which, it is suggested, have had a fundamental effect upon the growing belief in this proposition. When these changes are considered with alternative interpretations of the changes in the probation service, the possibility of alternatives to McWilliams's tentative solutions emerges.

European childhoods : an overview / Adrian James and Allison James -- Children as new citizens : in the best interests of the child? / Anne Trine Kjørholt -- Children in nature : cultural ideas and social practices in Norway / Randi Dyblie Nilsen -- Children's cultures and new technologies : a gap between generations? Some reflections from the Spanish context / Ferran Casas -- Children at the margins? Changing constructions of childhood in contemporary Ireland / Dympna Devine -- Changing childhood in the UK : reconstructing discourses of 'risk' and 'protection' / Adrian James and Allison James -- Institutional upbringing : a discussion of the politics of childhood in contemporary Denmark / Eva Gulløw -- Education and the cultural politics of childhood in Cyprus / Spyros Spyrou -- Children's culture, cultural education and policy approaches to children's culture : the case of Germany / Heinz Hengst -- Work and care : reconstructing childhood through childcare policy in Germany / Michael-Sebastian Honig -- Childhood in the welfare state / Jens Qvortrup.

This text provides a critical analysis of the social construction of childhood and children's agency. Through an interdisciplinary synthesis combining social theory, social policy and the empirical findings of social science research, it bridges the current gap between theory and practice, offering an incisive theoretical account of childhood that is grounded in substantive areas of children's lives such as health, education, crime and the family. This furthers understanding of the impact of policy on children's everyday lives and social experiences

The socially constructed character of childhood is, by now, recognized as an important factor in shaping children's everyday experiences. It is no longer possible to see childhood simply as a common & universal biological phase in the life course. However, at the same time, it is being increasingly recognized that although acknowledgment of the social & cultural diversity of children's lives is important, there remain many things that children do share as occupants of the conceptual space of childhood. Although contemporary sociological theorizing about childhood has highlighted this tension, it has, as yet, offered few solutions. In this article, it is proposed that by examining the role of law & social policy over time from an interdisciplinary perspective, it is possible to account for both change & continuity in childhood as a structural space &, in turn, to see this as being the source of the diversities & commonalties that pattern children's everyday lives. 29 References. Adapted from the source document.