New families and the welfare of children

Abstract

My theme will be that there is no shortage of concern for the welfare of children in the rules of both national and international law, but that these are applied very randomly to the ‘new’ families that form the topic of this paper; and even when they are applied, we still seem confused, both about the balance between the rights of parents and would-be parents and the welfare of the children affected, about who should be seen as a parent, and about what is indeed best for the children.

Keywords::

• new family forms
• assisted reproduction
• welfare of the child