In search of the self to improve welfare decisions

This is an interdisciplinary book, framed by Article 8 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, exploring a child’s right to identity and the concept of selfhood in both domestic and cross-border contexts. The editors have said that they initiated the work to draw attention to the need for a change in approach to welfare-based decision-making to improve the outcomes for children and young people who have had life-altering experiences. The book is unashamedly about change – in thinking, practice and also, possibly legal policy. 

Initially, there is a discussion about the psychological and sociocultural factors that contribute to the identity formation of children and young people. The meaning of identity and selfhood is explored. 

In the following chapters, these life events and transformations, which have the potential to profoundly affect the evolution and integration of the identities of children and young people, are considered. These include adoption and cross-border placement; relocation and international child abduction; care and protection of children; family violence; and forced marriage. There are other compelling chapters on unaccompanied migrant children and the identity of the child soldier.

In ‘Identity as Historical’, reference is made to Vladimir Putin, who is alleged to have committed the war crimes of unlawful deportation and transfer of a population of children from Ukraine to Russia. Reports suggest that 19,000 children were transferred to Russia, and that Putin passed a decree to allow for their adoption by Russian families. The subsequent ‘Russification’ of these children was designed to sever all ties with their family and deprive them of all elements of their Ukrainian identity. 

Designed for students, academics and practitioners in family and human rights law, this is a highly specialist – but worthwhile – read. 

Tony Roe is a family law partner at Dexter Montague LLP, Reading