Wade, K. and Mills, C. orcid.org/0000-0003-2209-9294 (2025) Reforming surrogacy law: what can we learn from children's artwork? Journal of Law and Society, 52 (4). pp. 677-704. ISSN: 0263-323X
Abstract
It is rare for children to be included in law reform, even regarding laws that concern them. At a time when surrogacy law is being debated both domestically and globally, this article presents data from the Children's Voices in Surrogacy Law project, offering unique insights into children's lived experiences of surrogacy through artwork. It is argued that the artwork's themes support recent recommendations made by the Law Commission of England and Wales and the Scottish Law Commission and rebut some concerns raised by their critics. Drawing on legal consciousness studies, the article argues that engaging with children through artwork is an effective way to understand how law shapes children's everyday lives. It presents an innovative participatory method for exploring children's perceptions and experiences of law, drawing on visual methodologies, and reflects on the value and limitations of such a method.
Metadata
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Authors/Creators: |
|
| Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2025 The Author(s). Journal of Law and Society published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Cardiff University (CU). This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
| Keywords: | Law In Context; Law and Legal Studies; Pediatric Research Initiative; Individual care needs |
| Dates: |
|
| Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
| Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Arts and Humanities (Sheffield) > School of Law |
| Date Deposited: | 27 Jan 2026 16:07 |
| Last Modified: | 27 Jan 2026 16:07 |
| Status: | Published |
| Publisher: | Wiley |
| Refereed: | Yes |
| Identification Number: | 10.1111/jols.70028 |
| Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:236889 |

CORE (COnnecting REpositories)
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)