Fatherhood, Fathers’ Rights and Responsibility: Rethinking the Relationship between Men and Parenting in Law and Policy

Fatherhood, Fathers’ Rights and Responsibility: Rethinking the Relationship between Men and Parenting in Law and Policy

• 1.
  Fatherhood, Fathers’ Rightsand Law: Rethinking the Relationship Between Men and Parenting Prof. Richard Collier, University of Newcastle, UK ‘ Changing Parenting Culture’, University of Cambridge, 3 April 2009    
• 2.
  1. Setting theScene: Three Contexts Fatherhood and Law ‘ Engaging Fathers’: [ Think Fathers Nov 2008; Healthy Lives, Brighter Futures , Child Health Strategy Feb 2009, the ‘Dad Proofing’ of Policies; EHRC Working Better Report March 2009; Good Childhood Enquiry Feb 2009; CSJ Family Law Review 2008; responding to the recession ... ] Developments in Law: [Children and Adoption Act 2006; CMEC; Birth Registration; Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 ... ]
• 3.
  Fathers’ Rights andPost-separation parenting Realignment of organisations/stakeholders – promoting a ‘national debate The ‘emotional fallout’ of separation – helping parents and children move on together ...
• 4.
  The Research Base(fatherhood, separation and masculinities)
• 5.
  2. ApproachingFathers’ Rights Critiques of Fathers’ Rights Activism The ‘Ethic of Justice Strikes Back’, a reassertion of power, ‘Motherhood Descending’, ‘Demonizing Mothers’, questions of violence ... Gender neutrality, formal equality, responsibility, rights, care, autonomy ... But ... Unanswered Questions
• 6.
  3. Recasting theQuestions A Different Reading ... Law, Society and the evolution of fathers’ rights politics 1. Rights, Justice, Care: (Fragmenting) Fatherhood, Men and Masculinities 2. Policy, Emotion and Separation The Psychological /Sociological dynamics of separation in law ‘ Under the Radar’ – the ‘micro-politics’ of contact and fatherhood, the complexity and diversity of fathers’ rights politics 3. Impact and Politics
• 7.
  4. TransformingFatherhood, Gender and the Limits of Law 1. The Importance of Social and Legal Context: - a ‘transformation of the role of the father ... A new set of norms for fatherhood’? (Fineman, 2004). Dealing with contradictions ... 2. Remoralising Fatherhood?: Diversity, Inclusion/Exclusion – e.g. the ‘ moral significance’ of class (access to resources/networks, the play of masculinities in the field of fathers’ rights politics, the ‘social problem’ of men across contexts ...) 3. The ‘Bigger Picture’