From Status to Care: family relationships between law and society

From Status to Care: family relationships between law and society This article stems from an interdisciplinary dialogue between sociologists and legal scholars examining how legal systems respond to evolving family structures, with a particular focus on stepfamilies and non-normative caregiving arrangements. Drawing on discussions held during the 2nd Law and Society Conference, the article explores the gaps between sociological observations and legal interpretations of family relations, particularly regarding children raised in blended families and the position of stepparents. Sociological research highlights that current legal frameworks fail to adequately recognise and protect caregiving roles outside biological or legal parentage. Stepparents, despite often acting as primary caregivers, lack the legal authority to represent or protect the children in their care, leaving these children in potentially precarious situations. Legal scholars are thus challenged to develop concepts that reflect the lived realities of caregiving within diverse family models. Through comparative legal analysis, the article critiques the historically status-based construction of parenthood – rooted in marriage, filiation, and proprietary notions – and argues for a shift towards a care-based framework. Concepts such as possession d’état are revisited as possible tools for formalising social parenthood, particularly in stepfamilies and queer family formations. The article emphasises the need to distinguish between different layers such as biological filiation, status and care, advocating for ad hoc legal recognition of stepparents based on their actual role in a child’s life. Ultimately, the article calls for a child-centred approach, grounded in the Convention on the Rights of the Child, that prioritises the continuity and quality of care over legal status. It concludes by encouraging future research into the normative foundations of care in family law, as well as the potential development of legal mechanisms that uphold children’s rights through recognition of caregiving relationships beyond traditional parental roles.