makes it work or not work? What is the role of law and other forms of external intervention in promoting, regulating or facilitating contact and to what extent should 'familial' relationships be subject to state regulation? More broadly, what can we infer about current conceptualisations of family, parenting (and the relative importance of social and biological parenthood) and childhood from policy and practice towards contact?

These and other questions were explored in a series of seminars organised by the Cambridge Socio-Legal Group in 2002. The book is the product of these seminars.

Andrew Bainham, Belinda Brooks-Gordon, Ann Buchanan, Shelley Day Sclater, Judy Dunn, John Eekelaar, Bob Geldof, Jonathan Herring, Claire Hughes, Joan Hunt, Adrian James, Julie Jessop, Felicity Kaganas, Bridget Lindley, Mavis Maclean, Joanna Miles, Katrin Mueller-Johnson, Elsbeth Neil, Jan Pryor, Martin Richards, Bob Simpson, Donna Smith, Liz Trinder  less