Peer-reviewed article
Do Parents Know Best?
John M. Eekelaar ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This is a legal and policy analysis article examining the tension between parental rights and the 'best interests of the child' standard in UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. It discusses the challenges of defining and enforcing 'best interests' in family court proceedings, particularly when parents separate. The article argues against leaving all child arrangement decisions entirely to parents without legal oversight, but does not evaluate any specific intervention or program for children's well-being.
Key points
- Article 5 of the UN Convention requires respect for parental direction while Article 18 requires best interests of the child to be paramount
- The 'best interests' standard is considered too indeterminate for courts to safely substitute their judgment for parental assessment
- Public expenditure concerns have led to potential withdrawal of legal involvement in child arrangement decisions
- There are inherent risks in leaving arrangements for children of separating parents entirely to parental discretion
Limitations
This is a legal and policy analysis document that does not present empirical research, outcome data, or evaluation of any intervention. It cannot tell us what actually works to improve child well-being in custody or separation cases.
Abstract
Abstract While Article 5 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child requires states to respect parents’ responsibilities to provide ‘appropriate’ direction and guidance to their children, Article 18 also proclaims that ‘the best interests of the child will be [the parents’] basic concern’. But how can this be done if, as is widely accepted, the “best interests” standard is too indeterminate safely to allow courts to substitute their assessment of children’s interests for those of a child’s parents? This reason for privatising such decisions has been reinforced by concerns over the extent of public expenditure on court involvement in and legal aid for such issues, with the possible result of withdrawal of the law from this process. This article argues that there are inherent risks in leaving the arrangements for children of separating parents entirely in the hands of the parents, and considers various ways in which such risks might be reduced.