CHILDREN’S RIGHTS

(Compiled by: Elizabeth Brawley & Laurie Ann Smith on behalf of Dreamcatchers)

What rights do children have?

Do they vary from state to state?

What rights do children have in other countries?

Where to locate an attorney who specializes in children’s rights

Children everywhere have the right to expect their most basic needs will be met. They have the right to shelter, a warm bed, nutritious meals, healthcare, to an education, the right to play and most importantly of all children have the right to feel safe, to be loved unconditionally and be protected from harm.

There is a tremendous amount of information out there on these subjects so we will condense what we have space for here and provide you with a number of vital links for further reading and resources.

The issue of children’s rights is poorly defined in legislation and by the courts, partly because U.S. society as a whole has not decided how much autonomy to grant children. Although the United States is built on protecting the interests of individuals and the twentieth century saw the rights of people with special needs recognized, the nation has yet to extend to children legal standing (the right to bring a court case) and legal protection similar to that of adults (1).

The Child Welfare Information Gateway has an online searchable database. With three categories and 30+ titles you have the option of searching by title or database. Click on a title, OR search the database. Select a state, or multiple states then choose your Topic.(2)

The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) is the most widely ratified human rights treaty in history. It sets forth a wide range of provisions that encompass civil rights and freedoms, family environment, basic health and welfare, education, leisure and cultural activities and special protection measures.The Convention has several “foundation principles” that underpin all other children’s rights. These include: non-discrimination; best interests of the child; right to survival and development; and views of the child. (3)

UNICEF is the leading advocate for children’s rights in over 190 countries through programs and National Committees. Within their website is a link to Information by country and program. There are countries listed by region and alphabetically even listing those countries they are not currently active with.(4)

In 1978 the American Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Division created the ABA Center on Children and the Law. From modest origins as a small legal resource center focusing exclusively on child abuse and neglect issues, the Center has grown into a full-service technical assistance, training, and research program addressing a broad spectrum of law and court-related topics affecting children. These include child abuse and neglect, adoption, adolescent and infant/toddler health, foster and kinship care, juvenile status offenders, custody and support, guardianship, missing and exploited children, and children’s exposure to domestic violence.(5)

The ABA resource page can link you to other pages within the ABA site for further information addressing “Child Issues’” and so much more. (6)

DIRECTORY OF PRO BONO CHILDREN’S LAW PROGRAMS is a PDF that contains information for each state that has an advocacy program for children. Although this was last updated in January of 2007 the links we searched through are still up to date.(7)

RESOURCES:

1) http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Children’s+Rights

2) http://www.childwelfare.gov/systemwide/laws_policies/state/

3) http://www.unicef.org/why/why_rights.html

4) http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/index.html

5) http://new.abanet.org/child/Pages/default.aspx

6) http://new.abanet.org/child/Pages/Resources.aspx

7) http://www.abanet.org/litigation/committees/childrights/docs/publications_directory.pdf