Description: Unmarried heterosexual cohabitation is rapidly increasing in Britain and over a quarter of children are now born to unmarried cohabiting parents. This is not just an important change in the way people live in modern Britain; it is also a political and theoretical marker. Some commentators see cohabitation as evidence of selfish individualism and the breakdown of the family, while others see it as just a less institutionalized way in which people express commitment and build their families. Politically, 'stable' families are seen as crucialbut does stability simply mean marriage? At present the law in Britain retains important distinctions in the way it treats cohabiting and married families and this can have deleterious effects on the welfare of children and partners on cohabitation breakdown or the death of a partner. Should the law be changed to reflect this changing social reality? Or should itcan itbe used to direct these changes? Using findings which combine nationally represe
Brief description: Anne Barlow FAcSS is Professor of Family Law and Policy at the University of Exeter. She specialises in family law and policy research, and has published widely in the field. Between 2011 and 2014, she led the three-year interdisciplinary study Mapping Paths to Family Justice, looking at out-of-court dispute resolution of private family law issues, which was funded by the Economic Social and Research Council (ESRC). She also led a follow-on impact study, Creating Paths to Family Justice (2015-19), where she and the Mapping Paths research team worked with a number of agencies - including OnePlusOne, Relate, the Ministry of Justice, the Family Mediation Council (FMC), Resolution and the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (CAFCASS) - to draw on research findings to develop online and offline mediation services for separating couples and children. Anne was appointed as the Academic Member of the Family Justice Council from 2011-15 and in 2014 she served as a member of the government's Task Force on Family Mediation. Her book, Mapping Paths to Family Justice: Resolving Family Disputes in Neoliberal Times (Palgrave, 2017), co-authored with the Mapping Paths research team (Rosemary Hunter, Janet Smithson and Jan Ewing), also won the Hart-Socio-Legal Studies Association (SLSA) book prize in 2018.