Family Law and the Indissolubility of Parenthood

Patrick Parkinson is a Professor of Law at the University of Sydney and an internationally renowned expert on family law. He has played a major role in shaping family law in Australia. His proposal for the establishment of a national network of family relationship centers, made to the prime minister in 2004, became the centerpiece of the Australian government's family law reforms. He was also instrumental in reforming the child support system and has had extensive involvement in law reform issues concerning child protection. He was made a Member of the Order of Australia for his services to law, legal education, policy reform, and the community. Parkinson has published widely on family law and child protection, as well as other areas of law. His most recent books include Tradition and Change in Australian Law, 4th edition (2010) and Australian Family Law in Context, 4th edition (2009), among many others.

Part I. Family Law and the Meaning of Divorce: 1. Family law and the issue of gender conflict; 2. The divorce revolution and the process of allocation; Part II. Parenthood in the Enduring Family: 3. Redefining parenthood after separation; 4. Reasons for the demise of sole custody; 5. Shared parenting: the new frontier; Part III. Parents Forever? Issues about Post-Separation Parenting: 6. Violence, abuse and post-separation parenting; 7. Relocation; Part IV. The Family Law System and the Indissolubility of Parenthood: 8. Dispute resolution for the enduring family; 9. Adjudication for the enduring family; Part V. Financial Transfers in the Enduring Family: 10. Child support and the obligations of parenthood; 11. Spousal support and the feminization of poverty; Part VI. The Future of Family Law: 12. Between two conflicting views of divorce.