ABSTRACT
The spread of liberal individualism to the family is often portrayed as deeply inimical to the welfare of children and young people. In this view, the family is the bastion of the private and the antithesis of the contractual, rights-oriented model which underpins public life.1 When the values of personal choice and individual rights ‘infiltrate’ families, Michael Hammond argues in Chapter 5 of this volume, care within families is threatened. Examples might include proposals for freely negotiated marriage contracts,2 or provisions allowing children to determine where they will live—even to ‘divorce’ their parents.3 Although all family members suffer, in this view, the greatest impact will presumably be on children. They are more vulnerable, more dependent on care, and less able to do anything about its erosion. Thus children and young people are a touchstone for the decline in community standards and family life, on this account.
