Preface

This is the final volume of essays arising from a series of events hosted by the Sussex Law School at the University of Sussex between 2005 and 2008. The first volume arose from a symposium organized by the Child and Family Law Research Group held in September 2005 which brought together philosophers, sociologists and lawyers to explore Responsibility, Law and the Family . The following year, a second symposium took place, focused upon state responsibility for the family which led to the publication of a special issue of the Journal of Law and Society (co-edited by Heather Keating and Craig Lind, simultaneously published as an edited collection by Blackwell, 2008).

In 2008, an international and interdisciplinary conference on Gender, Family Responsibility and Legal Change at Sussex encouraged us to approach Ashgate with a proposal for a further publication. We were absolutely delighted that they were prepared to publish two volumes of the many excellent papers that contributed to the success of that conference. The first, Taking Responsibility, Law and the Changing Family was published early in 2011; this, its companion volume, is now before you.

As this is the third volume we have written and edited for Ashgate we would like to take this opportunity to express our gratitude to them for believing in the work that we have been engaged in on family responsibilities. They have been wonderfully supportive, extremely efficient and generously patient. We could not have asked for more a more caring approach to our work.

We would also like to thank all of the contributors to the symposia and the conference and we are only sorry that we could not publish more of the papers that were presented. Finally, we would like to thank the contributors to the volumes for their enthusiasm for the project and for their patience with our editorial demands. We very much hope that they, as well as those who read these collections, will think that it was worth it and that we have made a contribution towards understanding the nature of family responsibility.

Jo Bridgeman
Heather Keating
Craig Lind

Centre for Responsibilities, Rights and the Law