Families - beyond the nuclear ideal / / edited by Daniela Cutas and Sarah Chan.

• Superior document: Science, ethics & society
• TeilnehmendeR: Cutas, Daniela,; Chan, Sarah,
• Place / Publishing House: London, England ;, New York, New York : : Bloomsbury Academic,, [2012]; ©2012
• Year of Publication: 2012
• Language: English
• Series: Science, ethics & society.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (238 p.)
• Notes: Description based upon print version of record.

This book examines, through a multi-disciplinary lens, the possibilities offered by relationships and family forms that challenge the nuclear family ideal, and some of the arguments that recommend or disqualify these as legitimate units in our societies. That children should be conceived naturally, born to and raised by their two young, heterosexual, married to each other, genetic parents; that this relationship between parents is also the ideal relationship between romantic or sexual partners; and that romance and sexual intimacy ought to be at the core of our closest personal relationships -

Table of Contents

Cover; Contents; Notes on Contributors; Preface and Acknowledgments; Abbreviations; 1 Introduction: Perspectives on Private and Family Life; The nuclear family: A sexual family; Mater semper certa est; Policing private life; Towards the post-nuclear family?; The chapters: An overview; Note; References; 2 The Role of Sexual Partnership in UK Family Law: the Case of Legal Parenthood; Introduction; The 2008 Act; The Sexual Family; Understanding the changes in the 2008 Act; Framing the parenthood provisions; The 2008 Act and the Sexual Family

The ongoing significance of the formally recognized adult coupleThe two parent model; Parental dimorphism: One mother plus one father/female parent; The potentially sexual couple; Concluding discussion; Notes; References; Case list; Legislation list; 3 The Two-Parent Limitation in ART Parentage Law: Old-Fashioned Law for New-Fashioned Families; Introduction; ART parentage law: Key aspects in international legislation; Moral considerations favouring legal inclusivity; Interests of the child; Interests of parents; Moral imperatives of social transformation; Conclusion; Notes; References

4 The Best Interest of Children and the Basis of Family Policy: The Issue of Reproductive Caring UnitsIntroduction; The best interest of children as a moral notion; Are some types of RCUs better for children?; Concluding discussion; Notes; References; 5 Donor-conceived Children Raised by Lesbian Couples: Socialization and Development in a New Form of Planned Family; What happens to children who are raised in DI lesbian-couple families?; Differences in child outcomes across family types; Differences in parenting and family processes across family types

Relations between parenting, family processes and child outcomesSummary: Planned lesbian-couple family processes and outcomes; What is the outcome of children who are raised in openness about their family's donor origins?; Openness in DI families; Conclusion; Notes; References; 6 Donor-conception as a 'Dangerous Supplement' to the Nuclear Family: What Can We Learn from Parents' Stories?; Introduction; 'Real' parents and 'dangerous supplements'; The place of the genetic in the 'reality' of parenthood; Deciding whether to tell or not to tell

'Scripts' for telling: Problems and solutions in parents' narrativesThe ambiguity of the 'real'; Overcoming the ambiguity: Narrating the externality of the donor; Interpreting the parental narratives; A positive, practical and prosaic reading of the parental narratives; Anxiety and confidence together: Deconstructing the narratives; Conclusion; Notes; References; Legal and Regulatory Sources; 7 Choosing Single Motherhood? Single Women Negotiating the Nuclear Family Ideal; Single mothers by choice: Rejecting the nuclear family ideal; Mother and father as best; The importance of fathers

Single mothers by choice: Reworking the nuclear family ideal