The constitutional parent
Subtitle: rights, responsibilities, and the enfranchisement of the child
By: Jeffrey Shulman
Published: 2014
Language: eng
Number of pages: 345
ISBN-13: 9780300191899
Subjects: Domestic relations; Parent and child (Law); Constitutional law; Children; Legal status, laws
Description: "In this bold and timely work, law professor Jeffrey Shulman argues that the United States Constitution does not protect a fundamental right to parent. Based on a rigorous reconsideration of the historical record, Shulman challenges the notion, held by academics and the general public alike, that parental rights have a long-standing legal pedigree. What is deeply rooted in our legal tradition and social conscience, Shulman demonstrates, is the idea that the state entrusts parents with custody of the child, and it does so only as long as parents meet their fiduciary duty to serve the developmental needs of the child. Shulman's illuminating account of American legal history is of more than academic interest. If once again we treat parenting as a delegated responsibility-as a sacred trust, not a sacred right-we will not all reach the same legal prescriptions, but we might be more willing to consider how time-honored principles of family law can effectively accommodate the evolving interests of parent, child, and state"--
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Sacred trust or sacred right? --; title: Parenting as a sacred trust --; title: Parenting as a sacred right --; title: Toward constitutional parenthood -- -- Conclusion:; title: The world all before them.