Adoption and Assisted Reproduction: Families Under Construction provides an in-depth exploration of the fascinating and controversial issues emerging out of biotechnology and society's expanding understanding of family identity. In this ideal supplement to any Family Law curriculum, authors Appleton and Weisberg combine solid treatment of the law and carefully crafted additional content to elicit analysis and fuel class discussion.
Using a balanced presentation of law, policy, critical perspectives, and depictions in popular culture, this finely honed text features:
- Thorough analysis of important cases, statutes, and regulations, including law reform efforts and the absence of law on some topics
- Opportunities for comparative analysis of law and policy among various states and nations, with exploration of questions of jurisdiction, choice of law, and enforcement
- Critical perspectives on core concepts, such as parentage, the role of the state in the construction of family, and examination of unspoken assumptions about gender, race, and class
- Clear and informative exposition
- Interdisciplinary materials and references to books and films from popular culture, which bring the legal materials to life
- Discussion of professional responsibility and the role of the lawyer in the face of cutting-edge social issues and nascent law and policy
- Notes and Questions that follow the principal cases and illuminate salient themes
- Thought-provoking problems that prompt consideration of new issues, preparing students not only to address the law as it exists, but as it might become
