Children’s Right to Identity, Selfhood and International Family Law

Edited by Marilyn Freeman, Principal Research Fellow, Westminster Law School, University of Westminster, UK and Nicola Taylor, Faculty of Law, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
Publication Date: 2025 ISBN: 978 1 03531 392 1 Extent: 350 pp
This pioneering book explores the child’s right to identity, and the concept of selfhood, in both domestic and cross-border contexts. It highlights life events and transformations that children and young people often experience in the field of international family law and related areas which may impact on their identity, and considers the legal protections available to them. The book analyses the psychological and sociocultural factors that contribute to identity formation and discusses how this can sometimes be damaged or disrupted by significant life experiences and adversities. How the law can be used to best protect children at risk of interrupted or maladjusted identity development is also addressed.