The Oxford Handbook of Children and the Law presents cutting-edge scholarship on a broad range of topics covering the life course of humans from before birth to adulthood, by leading scholars in law, medicine, social work, sociology, education, and philosophy, and by practitioners in law and medicine.

An international collection of authors presents and analyzes the law and science pertaining to reproduction; prenatal life (including fetal exposure to toxic substances and abortion); parentage (including biology-based rights, background checks on birth parents, adoption, the status of gamete donors, and surrogacy); infant development and vulnerability; child maltreatment (including corporal punishment and religious defences to abuse and neglect); child protection policy and systems; foster care; child custody disputes between parents or between parents and other caregivers; schooling (including financing, resegregation, religious expression in public schools, at-risk students, special education, regulation of private schools, and homeschooling); delinquency; minimum-age laws; and child advocacy.

Most chapters follow a format wherein they first describe the most debated or dynamic issues in each topical area, then explain in depth the law and/or science pertaining to the author's particular focus, and finally offer arguments and recommendations as to law and policy in that area. The normative component aims to advance discussions and debates in vital areas of contemporary child welfare law and policy. The Handbook is an essential resource for scholars and professionals interested in the intersection of children and the law.

Children and the Law: An Introduction
James G. Dwyer

Part I: Creating Children

1. The Regulation of Reproduction and Best Interests Analysis
I. Glenn Cohen

2. When Does a Right to Life Arise?
Lynn D. Wardle

3. "Of Sound Mind and Body": A Call for Universal Drug Screening for All Newborns
Frank E. Vandervort and Vincent J. Palusci

Part II: Parentage

4. The Neurobiology of Childhood Psychosocial Adversity
Anne E. Berens, Sarah K. G. Jensen, and Charles A. Nelson

5. Legislation in Search of "Good-Enough" Care Arrangements for the Child: A Quest for Continuity of Care
Marinus H. van IJzendoorn, Marian J. Bakermans-Kranenburg, Robbie Duschinsky, and Guy C. M. Skinner

6. Screening Potential Parents
James G. Dwyer

7. Procreation and Parenting
Katharine K. Baker

8. The ART of Parentage
Naomi Cahn

9. Adoption Versus Alternative Forms of Care
Brian Sloan

10. Race and the Adoption of Children
Ralph Richard Banks

Part III: Children in Families

11. Children in Fragile Families
Sara McLanahan, Kate Jaeger, and Kristin Catena

12. Protection of the Health of Newborns: Whatever Happened to Baby Doe?
Robert Van Howe

13. Corporal Punishment and the Law in Global Perspective
Joan E. Durrant

14. Addressing Childhood Trauma: Phenomena as a Roadmap to Response
Steven Marans, Hilary Hahn, and Carrie Epstein

15. Disputes Over Medical Treatment for Children
Jonathan Herring

16. Children's Right to Privacy
Ayelet Blecher-Prigat

17. The Child Protection System
Richard J. Gelles

18. Contested Child Protection Policies
Elizabeth Bartholet

19. How Federal Laws Pertaining to Foster Care Financing Shape Child Welfare Services
Jill Duerr Berrick and Daniel Heimpel

20. Equal Parenting Time: The Case for a Legal Presumption
William V. Fabricius

21. Relational Parents: When Adults Receive Rights in Children Because of Their Relationship with a Parent
Robin Fretwell Wilson

Part IV: Children in School and Other Institutions

22. The Changing Landscape of Funding Public Elementary and Secondary Education in the United States
R. Craig Wood

23. School Accountability
Morgan Polikoff and Shira Korn

24. Race and Education: School Desegregation and Resegregation since Brown and Promising Avenues toward Integration
Raquel Muñiz and Erica Frankenberg

25. Children's Religious Freedom in State Schools: Exemptions, Participation and Education
Myriam Hunter-Henin

26. The Supreme Court has Spoken: The Potential Impact of Decisions Interpreting U.S. Federal Statutes on the Education of Students with Disabilities
Thomas Hehir

27. Proposed Policies to Reduce Weapons in Schools: Based on Research from an Ecological Conceptual Model
Rami Benbenishty and Ron Avi Astor

28. Children at Risk of School Dropout
Lucinda Ferguson

29. The Intersection between Schools and the Criminal Justice System
Jason P. Nance

30. Private School Regulation: Individual Rights and Educational Responsibilities
Jeffrey Shulman

31. Legislators Should Eliminate Religious Exemptions from Laws Protecting Children
Marci A. Hamilton and Leslie C. Griffin

Part V: Children in Society

32. Considerations for Policymaking Affecting Adolescents in the Liberal Democracy
Vivian E. Hamilton

33. Children and Juvenile Justice Law: The Possibilities of a Relational-Rights Approach
Kathryn Hollingsworth

34. Gender, Justice, and Youth Development
Francine T. Sherman

Part VI: Advocating for Youth

35. Children's Participation in Decisions about Parenting Arrangements
Patrick Parkinson and Judy Cashmore

36. Reforming Child Welfare
Marcia Robinson Lowry

37. The Promises and Pitfalls of Constitutionalizing Children's Rights
Conor O'Mahony

Afterword
James G. Dwyer