A balancing act: parents in trouble, children in need and the right to family life
Frankie McCarthy, University of Glasgow
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Summary
– How do human rights have an influence on abused children?
– Child protection and human rights
– Human rights framework (protects the individual from the state)
- Human Rights Act 1998
- Article 3: Prohibition of torture/degrading treatment
- Article 6: Fair trial
- Article 8: Right to respect of your home for a private and family life
- A relative right, not an absolute right
- UN Convention on the Rights of the Child
- Article 3: right to protection; best interests of the child; pro-active
- Article 12: child’s right to participate (increasingly important)
– Family life v child protection
- Families have a right to respect, but, children have a right to be protected
- Break-up effects both the parents and the children
- Situations when abuse had been suspected
– Children (Scotland) Act 1995
- Welfare of child is primary obligation
- Needed more proof in order to meet allegations that seemed less serious
- Most policies look better on paper than they are in practice
- Question of what harm is significant?
- Seems a helpful question but can cause more controversy than needed
- Question of what harm is significant?
Questions:
Are women’s and children’s human rights being overlooked in comparison with men whose human rights are violated?