Children and Young People’s Identity: The Sleeping Giant in International Family Law

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue will build on the success of the critically acclaimed book Children’s Right to Identity, Selfhood and International Family Law (Edward Elgar, 2026), co-edited by the Guest Editors. The Special Issue, which will be framed by children’s right to identity set out in Article 8 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) 1989, will address different issues from those in the book but which are also being currently faced by children and young people and which impact significantly on their identity and selfhood. These include (i) Child Support and Identity, (ii) Reproductive Coercion and Identity, (iii) Sports Trafficking and Identity, (iv) Home Education and Identity, (v) Parenting Coordination and Identity, (vi) Access to Justice and Identity. Most of the invited authors to the Special Issue are also new and were not involved in the book. All of this means the Special Issue will indeed build on and broaden the knowledge base and understanding of identity and selfhood in the context of international family law and make the case for an appropriately enhanced interpretation and application of Art. 8 UNCRC to meet the identity needs of children and young people in contemporary society.

The right to identity is not a single-use entitlement. It applies in the countless circumstances that permeate a child’s life and is inherent in almost all fields of international family law, as demonstrated by the range of topics included in this Special Issue. However, at times it may seem to be a right which is hiding in plain sight, a sleeping giant, largely unrecognised by law, policy and practice. In order to fulfil the essence of the right enshrined in Article 8 and to protect children and young people from unlawful interference with this right as prohibited by the Article, there has first to be recognition by the law of when and how their identity may need to be preserved or addressed. The UNCRC is now more than 30 years old and its strength lies in the awareness and application of its provisions to contemporary life for children and young people. This Special Issue aims to highlight the applicability of the Article 8 right to identity as it relates to international family law, and to help elevate it from the sleeping giant that it is currently, to a provision which truly and properly serves the identity needs of children in present-day society.

Contemporary life needs to be reflected in our thinking and policies, and the literature which informs them. In highlighting the emerging themes relating to the physical, psychological and emotional impacts of the events which occur in some of the hitherto unlinked areas of law and practice which apply to children, this Special Issue will bring together in one volume a unique examination of child identity within international family law. The issue of identity for those who have experienced these life-events will be at the centre of this collective work in which internationally recognised subject specialists will address these concerns. The Special Issue will bring attention to the impacts for children and young people, in particular those that affect their identities, rather than the events themselves. This is important because the events will pass, but the impacts may remain for years and, in some cases, endure throughout the lives of those affected, and similarly have the potential to impact on future generations of family and society. This needs to be understood and, where possible, addressed within legal (and social) policy and practice contexts in the relevant cross-border, jurisdictional and specialist domains. This Special Issue aims to contribute towards achieving these objectives.

Prof. Dr. Marilyn Freeman
Prof. Dr. Nicola Taylor
Guest Editors

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• children and young people
• identity
• selfhood
• article 8 UNCRC
• transformations
• contemporary society