Children Who Divorce their Parents

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that getting a divorce from one's parents is an extension of the principle that children are legally competent to identify their own best interests in major decisions such as issues regarding education, abortion and foster care. The author points out that the child should have to show proof that he or she has tried counseling and available services for reconciliation and resolving the conflict before seeking a divorce. The paper argues that the child's basic rights take precedence over competing claims and considerations, are self-authenticating and are not based on duties: Parents do not have a fundamental right to determine the course of their child's life.

From the Paper:

"The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child was ratified by every country except the United States and Somalia. The U.S. and Somalia refused because they though it was too radical and that the Convention was hostile to the rights of parents. Canada, however, did sign in 1990 and then undertook at all levels of government to abide by its entitlements. Critics point out, and it's true, that the Convention subverts absolute parental authority over their children. Opponents cry it will lead to child anarchy, but the idea that parents own their children has eroded in recent years, and the Convention found it to be paternalistic."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Canada and the World Backgrounder, (2001). Putting kids first, 66 (3) 4-7.
• Hall, E. (2004). 14-year old Victorian boy divorces his parents. The World Today, 21 June. Accessed 2/6/06: http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2004/s1136792.htm
• Howe, R. B. (2001). Do parents have fundamental rights? Journal of Canadian Studies, 36, (3), 61-78.
• Mehta, T. (2001/2002). Termination of parental rights in the best interests of the child is justified when clear and convincing evidence demonstrates parents exercised exclusive and improper care or control over their child during a period when alleged child abuse occurred. Journal of Juvenile Law, 22, 231-235.
• Montague, P. (2005). The myth of parental rights. Social Theory and Practice, 26 (1), 47-68.

More papers on Children Who Divorce their Parents:

• Persuasive Essay # 140364 : "Children and Divorce"
• Cause and Effect Essay # 120406 : "Divorce and Children"
• Essay # 33626 : "Individual and Group Counseling"

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