Children & the Law Blog

Erika Asgiersson’s article Autonomy Under 18 examines the recent publication of Hidden in Plain Sight: The Tragedy of Children’s Rights from Ben Franklin to Lionel Tate by child advocate and professor Barbara Bennett Woodhouse

A recurring subject throughout the book is foster care; Woodhouse’s main criticism is that the system too often ignores the child’s voice when determining best interests. While most have turned away from the notion that children are objects without autonomy, her examples show that the foster care system often gets stuck in old reasoning. Lost in the system, there can be a lack of concern to satisfy a child’s need for a sense of belonging and family relationships. “Abused and neglected children in state custody have fewer rights than accused criminals,” Woodhouse argues.

Woodhouse also criticizes the foster care system for relying too heavily on removing children from their homes. While she recognizes that there are cases where the best option is to remove the child from the home, the decision must be made carefully. A recent article from Ms. Magazine shares this same frustration as it cites the overrepresentation of poor, black youth in the foster care system not because their mothers are unfit, but because poverty is the bigger issue that needs to be addressed. Poor mothers predictability have a harder time providing basic needs for their children, but as the article points out, “race and poverty should not be a barrier to raising one’s children.” Addressing poverty first will prevent children from unnecessarily being placed in the foster care system.

The book also details the wider historical treatment of children in American society:

Hidden in Plain Sight tells the tragic untold story of children’s rights in America. It asks why the United States today, alone among nations, rejects the most universally embraced human-rights document in history, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. This book is a call to arms for America to again be a leader in human rights, and to join the rest of the civilized world in recognizing that the thirst for justice is not for adults alone.

Barbara Bennett Woodhouse explores the meaning of children’s rights throughout American history, interweaving the childhood stories of iconic figures such as Benjamin Franklin with those of children less known but no less courageous, like the heroic youngsters who marched for civil rights. How did America become a place where twelve-year-old Lionel Tate could be sentenced to life in prison without parole for the 1999 death of a young playmate? In answering questions like this, Woodhouse challenges those who misguidedly believe that America’s children already have more rights than they need, or that children’s rights pose a threat to parental autonomy or family values. She reveals why fundamental human rights and principles of dignity, equality, privacy, protection, and voice are essential to a child’s journey into adulthood, and why understanding rights for children leads to a better understanding of human rights for all.