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Tuesday's Talk on Child Rights
The Role of Parents and Family in Children's Rights
by Katie Kronick and Wallace MlyniecCampaign's Weekly Newsletter: Issue 31
Sept. 7 - Sept. 20, 2010
www.childrightscampaign.org
The Convention on the Rights of the Child (the CRC or the Convention) complements U.S. constitutional law by protecting parental rights and providing children and families with protection against government interference.
The Convention supports U.S. law and tradition in a number of respects.
- First, the articles of the CRC are intended to be read in the context of parental rights. The CRC encourages parents to guide and direct their children.
- Second, the CRC recognizes that parents have the primary responsibility for raising their children.
- Third, the CRC protects a child's right to a family and family unity.
- Fourth, the CRC requires States Parties to provide families with adequate due process procedures when challenging parents' choices concerning the rearing of their children.
The CRC protects both the child and the family from government interference and requires States Parties to support family unity and parent-child relationships.2 The rights set forth in the Convention reflect laws and principles already codified in American constitutional law. This is not surprising since delegates appointed by Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush drafted many of the Convention's provisions. Critics of the CRC occasionally voice concerns that the Convention will create a new body of rights that children will use against their parents, but the Convention actually creates no enforceable causes of action that a child can invoke against a parent. Instead, the CRC enhances parents' ability to protect their families and children from government intrusion.
The CRC emphasizes the importance of families and parents by repeatedly referring to parental responsibility. It does so most significantly in Article 5. Article 5 serves as an "umbrella provision" of the CRC and thus, provides a context in which all other CRC provisions must be read.3 All subsequent rights in the CRC can only be understood within the context of the Convention's preference for familial and parental guidance and direction. For example, the CRC provides children with both rights against the government, such as freedom of thought, and rights to government services, such as the right to education;4 but these rights must be viewed through the lens of parental direction and guidance. The rights provided by the CRC enable parents to protect their children's rights and to advocate for them against undue intrusion by the state.
Other articles in addition to Article 5 reinforce the importance of parents and the family in a child's exercise of his or her rights. These provisions include the Preamble, asserting the family is the natural environment for children; Article 3, requiring States Parties take into account the rights of parents when providing protection for a child; Article 7, establishing a child's "right to know and be cared for by his or her parents;" Article 9, discouraging the separation of a child from his or her parents and asserting a child's right to parental relationships; Article 14, providing parents with the right to guide their children in exercising their rights; Article 15, limiting a child's freedom of association if such association could jeopardize public safety, health, or morals; Article 18, affirming the responsibility of both parents in raising their children; Article 27, encouraging parents to provide, within their financial capabilities, all their children's necessities; and Article 41, mandating that "nothing in the present Convention shall affect any provisions which are more conducive to the rights of the child and which may be contained in . . . [t]he law of a State Party."6 These articles supporting parental rights reflect many of the rights the U.S. Constitution and state laws guarantee parents and families and the values that our society has long held dear.