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. Adopting an interdisciplinary approach, the book begins with contributions examining the formation of childhood identity, analysing psychological and cultural perspectives on development. These provide insight into how the child’s right to preservation of their identity is currently interpreted and applied under Article 8 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, and how this is interpreted and applied in international and domestic legal settings. The book highlights the likely consequences of conflict, discrimination and oppression on children and young people, revealing how the associated events and transitions, as well as those emanating from more positive foundations, often influence the evolution and integration of their identities over time. To conclude, the book suggests a range of improvements to help ensure that children’s right to identity is more frequently taken into account in the international family justice field, ultimately improving the decisions being made about vulnerable children and young people. Children’s Right to Identity, Selfhood and International Family Law is designed for students, academics, and all professionals and practitioners in family and human rights law. Its focus on practical methodologies makes it an essential read for lawyers, judges, mediators, social workers, counsellors, NGOs and child/family support organisations. It will also be of keen interest to families where children and young people have experienced, or are experiencing, identity-impacting changes to their lives.

Table of Contents:
Contents Foreword xv Mia Dambach PART I INTRODUCTION 1 Unveiling the connection between child identity and family law 2 Marilyn Freeman and Nicola Taylor PART II IDENTITY: WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT MATTERS 2 Article 8 UNCRC: to protect or neglect? Consideration of its (potential) meaning and effect 24 Soraya Bou-Sfia 3 Identity: a psychological perspective 44 Astrid Martalas 4 Cultural identity: ‘Ko au te awa, ko te awa ko au – I am the river and the river is me’ 62 Trudy Ake and Sarah Calvert 5 Discovering our donor conception as adults: a sisters’ selfhood dialogue 75 Fiona Darroch and Kathleen Pithouse-Morgan PART III IDENTITY: INTERNATIONAL FAMILY LAW CONTEXTS 6 International adoption and cross-border placement of children 86 Laura Carpaneto and Ester di Napoli 7 Surrogacy and identity: moving beyond genetics? 110 Michael Wells-Greco Relocation and international child abduction: the impact on children’s identity 128 Nicola Taylor and Marilyn Freeman 9 Care and protection of children: identity formation for children in out-of-home care 150 Amy Conley Wright and Judy Cashmore 10 Violence and the child’s sense of identity 169 Mariëlle Bruning 11 Forced marriages, child brides and forced religious conversions of women and girls 191 Sulema Jahangir and Carolina Marín Pedreño 12 The child’s right to gender identity 211 Claire Fenton-Glynn 13 Children’s rights and the justice system: exploring the meaning and application of the right to identity 229 Ursula Kilkelly 14 Unaccompanied migrant children, including trafficked children and asylum seekers 243 Ronaldah Lerato Karabo Ozah and Fortunate Seneka Mongwai 15 Children, identity and the impacts of parental deportation: a famigration perspective 266 Nazia Yaqub and Helen Stalford 16 The (self)identity of the child soldier: international law and best practices 284 Mark Drumbl PART IV CONCLUSION AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS 17 The evolving scope of international transformations of children 302 John Tobin