With a very simple text accompanied by rich, vibrant illustrations a young narrator describes what it means to be a child with rights -- from the right to food, water and shelter, to the right to go to school, to the right to be free from violence, to the right to breathe clean air, and much more. The book emphasizes that these rights belong to every child on the planet, whether they are "black or white, small or big, rich or poor, born here or somewhere else." It also makes evident that knowing and talking about these rights are the first steps toward making sure that they are respected. A brief afterword explains that the rights outlined in the book come from the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1989. The treaty sets out the basic human rights that belong to children all over the world, recognizing that children need special protection since they are more vulnerable than adults. It has been ratified by 193 countries, with the exception of Somalia and the United States. Once a country has ratified the document, they are legally bound to comply with it and to report on their efforts to do so. As a result, some progress has been made, not only in awareness of children's rights, but also in their implementation. But there are still many countries, wealthy and poor, where children's basic needs are not being met. To read a summary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, go to www.unicef.org/crc/files/Rights_overview.pdf.

Children’s rights appear universal, inalienable, and indivisible, intended to advance young people’s interests. Yet, in practice, evidence suggests the contrary: the international framework of treaties, procedures, and national policies contains fundamental contradictions that weaken commitments to children’s real-world protections. Brian Gran helps us understand what is at stake when children’s rights are compromised. This insightful text grounds readers in core theories and key data about children’s legal entitlements. The chapters tackle central questions about what rights accrue to young people, whether they advance equality, and how they influence children’s identities, freedoms, and societal participation. Ultimately, this book shows how current frameworks hinder young people from possessing and benefiting from human rights, arguing that they function as cynical invitations to question whether we truly believe children are endowed with human rights. The Sociology of Children’s Rights offers a critical and accessible introduction to understanding a complex issue in the contemporary world, and is a compelling read for students and researchers concerned with human rights in sociology, political science, law, social work, and childhood studies.

The answers to these questions will be of interest not just to parents, but to anyone who laments the decline of childhood in America."--BOOK JACKET.

This book identifies the definition of a child within the law, the rights of children, and discusses the extent to which primarily English law gives adequate recognition to and protection of these rights. To what extent does English law gives adequate recognition to and protection of the rights of children? Historically the idea of and protection of rights has focused on parental rights rather than the rights of the child. The rights of children have remained far less recognised and certain until recently. Using case studies from the United Kingdom and beyond, this book takes a thematic approach to children’s rights and considers topics including: underlying concepts such as the welfare of the child and safeguarding, the right to education and to medical treatment, the right to freedom from abuse and/or sexual and commercial exploitation, including contemporary challenges from forced marriage, FGM, modern slavery and trafficking, the role of the State in relation to children in need of care and protection, children's rights in the criminal justice system, the right to contract and employment. In addition, the book provides an introduction to key aspects of domestic and international law, including the Children Act 1989, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the European Convention on Human Rights and the Human Rights Act 1998. The book will be of great interest to law and social science students in the areas of Child Development and Protection, Human Rights Law, Family Law, Child Law, and Child Studies, as well as to social workers, police officers, magistrates, probation officers and other related professions.

"Children's rights": the phrase has been a legal battle cry for twenty-five years. But as this provocative book by a nationally renowned expert on children's legal standing argues, it is neither possible nor desirable to isolate children from the interests of their parents, or those of society as a whole. From foster care to adoption to visitation rights and beyond, Martin Guggenheim offers a trenchant analysis of the most significant debates in the children's rights movement, particularly those that treat children's interests as antagonistic to those of their parents. Guggenheim argues that "children's rights" can serve as a screen for the interests of adults, who may have more to gain than the children for whom they claim to speak. More important, this book suggests that children's interests are not the only ones or the primary ones to which adults should attend, and that a "best interests of the child" standard often fails as a meaningful test for determining how best to decide disputes about children.

This book explores the meaning and implementation of international children’s rights law, as laid down in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and related international and regional human rights instruments. It considers the application of international children’s rights at the national level and addresses key procedural and institutional matters concerning children’s rights implementation, including monitoring, complaints mechanisms, effective remedies, advocacy and international agenda-setting. The book breaks new ground by analysing a wide range of international children’s rights issues from a legal perspective. It incorporates a comparative perspective on children’s rights law at the international, regional and domestic level and contains information on evidence-based strategies towards the implementation and enforcement of international children’s rights law. The book is targeted at academics, legal and other professionals, and advanced students. It analyses children’s rights law in the following areas: implementation and enforcement; advocacy and standard setting; complaints and remedies; the child and the family; adoption; alternative care; protection from violence; civil rights of the child; economic, social and cultural rights; education; health; migration and refugees; children and the justice system; children with disabilities; deprivation of liberty; children’s rights and digital technologies; war and disaster; sustainable development goals and further contemporary issues.

Combining feminist legal theory with international human rights concepts, this book examines the presence, participation and treatment of children in a variety of contexts. Specifically, through comparing legal developments in the US with legal developments in countries where the views that children are separate from their families and potentially in need of state protection are more widely accepted. The authors address the role of religion in shaping attitudes about parental rights in the US, with particular emphasis upon the fundamentalist belief in natural lines of familial authority. Such beliefs have provoked powerful resistance in the US to human rights approaches that view the child as an independent rights holder and the state as obligated to proved services and protections that are distinctly child-centred. Calling for a rebalancing of relationships within the US family, to become more consistent with emerging human rights norms, this collection contains both theoretical debates about and practical approaches to granting positive rights to children.

The articles in this volume shed light on some of the major tensions in the field of children?s rights (such as the ways in which children?s best interests and respect for their autonomy can be reconciled), challenges (such as how the CRC can be made a reality in the lives of children in the face of ignorance, apathy or outright opposition) and critiques (whether children?s rights are a Western imposition or a successful global consensus). Along the way, the writing covers a myriad of issues, encompassing the opposition to the CRC in the US; gay parenting: Dr Seuss?s take on children?s autonomy; the voice of neonates on their health care; the role of NGO in supporting child labourers in India, and young people in detention and more.

Despite the existence of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child there still exists a debate on whether children can really hold rights. This book presents a clear theory of children's rights by examining controversial case studies. The author presents a pathway to translating rights into practical social and political instruments for change.

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child was incorporated into international law in 1989. Since its adoption, it has been ratified by nearly all member nations. An outline of the basic rights of all persons under the age of 18, the Convention has various implications and its importance cannot be contested. This collection focuses on children's rights as defined by the U.N. Convention, and their relevance in both national and international contexts. The contributors discuss the Convention from different disciplinary perspectives, but are united in the belief that it is a tool to be utilized and contextualized by individuals, institutions, and communities. If there is a single conviction to be found throughout Children's Rights it is that the rights of the child are far too important to be left to states alone to provide and protect. To paint a detailed picture of the subject as a whole, the volume looks at situations in which the basic rights of children are often denied such as violent social conflict, parental abandonment, and social inequality. Consisting of thirteen essays by prominent scholars, it is an in-depth and interdisciplinary exploration of the significance of children's rights, and a tremendous resource for those working with children and youth in institutional and educational settings.