Network to focus on family law

The new Network on Family, Regulation and Society aims to produce high quality research and pool expertise in areas such as child protection, family justice issues, cohabitation and the effects of separation and divorce on children. They aim to make an impact on policy and practice of family law, by bringing robust research evidence to bear on proposals for reform of policy or practice. The Network is being led by the University of Exeter in collaboration with the Universities of Bath, Bristol and Cardiff. This cross university partnership will provide the opportunity to concentrate previously dispersed expertise, harness a range of national and international research links and deepen existing links between its members.

Given the nature of the research, the Network will also include contributions from three leading third sector organisations that specialise in this area: One Plus One, Resolution and the Family Law Bar Association. These will contribute ideas to the setting of future research agendas.

An agenda setting workshop on Family, Regulation and Society on 15 – 16 March will be hosted by the Nuffield Foundation and is jointly funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), the Nuffield Foundation and the Family Bar Association.

Anne Barlow, Professor of Family Law and Policy at the University of Exeter said, ‘We now have an increasingly rich understanding of change and growing diversity in family structures, process and practices over the last decade. These will include parenting after parting, new reproductive technologies, children’s rights, changed living patterns, cross-border families and relationship breakdown. Our workshop will address the legal and policy implications of the profound recent changes in family life, locating these within a national, international and comparative context.’

She added, ‘Family policy is hotly debated in politics and problems can arise when debates are reduced to highly emotive commentary without the research to back it up.  This area of law and policy affects so many people in very personal, sensitive and intimate ways and it is critically important that high quality research informs the debate.’

The Network seeks to be a highly visible unit that can provide a rapid response to announcements made in parliament as well as having the capacity to respond to media enquires and current media issues.

There are a limited number of family law experts across universities in the UK and the formation of this new Network will enable a greater concentration of expertise to address important issues within the area of family, regulation and society. A recent Nuffield Foundation report found that there is a shortage of socio-legal researchers and that more needs to be done to encourage professionals into this area of law and social sciences. This will also be a focus for the new Network.