This volume asks what legal and socio legal scholarship can contribute to understanding the role of law in the care and development of children. The editors have selected key articles ranging from theoretical analysis to empirical data based research that address the law"s approach in the United States and the United Kingdom to resolving parenting disputes after separation, protecting children from abuse and neglect, and affording children procedural protections in the juvenile justice system. Their introduction to these important and often distressing areas of the law confirms the importance of understanding how law works in practice, and reaffirms that law itself remains responsible for articulating and protecting society"s values.