Opinion ID: 2257561
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Best Interests as a Fundamental Right

Text: A democratic society rests, for its continuance, upon the healthy, well-rounded growth of young people into full maturity as citizens . . . . Prince, 321 U.S. at 168, 64 S.Ct. 438. Accordingly, [i]t is evident beyond the need for elaboration that a State's interest in safeguarding the physical and psychological well-being of a minor is compelling. New York v. Ferber, 458 U.S. 747, 756-57, 102 S.Ct. 3348, 73 L.Ed.2d 1113 (1982) (internal quotation marks omitted). Hardly a more compelling State interest exists than to keep children safe from the kinds of physical or emotional trauma that may scar a child's health and physical, mental, spiritual, and moral development well into adulthood. Much attention has been given to the fundamental right of parents to the care, custody, and control of their minor children. The primary justification for this parental preference principle, one that resounds within numerous decisions, is based on the constitutional considerations articulated in Meyer, Pierce, Barnette, and Yoder. A parent's superior right to custody of the child is an acknowledgment that parents and children have a recognized unique and legal interest in, and a constitutionally protected right to, each other's companionship. The parent has a right to raise the child, yet the child has a corresponding right to be raised by his or her parent. See generally Stanley v. Illinois, 405 U.S. 645, 92 S.Ct. 1208, 31 L.Ed.2d 551 (1972). Thus, the rights of the parent and the child are ordinarily compatible for it is generally believed that it is in a child's best interest to be reared by its parent. Further, the liberty interests of parents protected by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution are also protected by the Constitution extant in this Commonwealth. However, it is not only parents who have a right to familial integrity and constitutional protection. Article I, Section 1 of our Pennsylvania Constitution states that: All men are born equally free and independent, and have certain inherent and indefeasible rights, among which are those of enjoying and defending life and liberty, of acquiring, possessing and protecting property and reputation, and of pursuing their own happiness. The term men as used in this Article is generic for all natural persons. Minors are natural persons in the eyes of the law and, therefore, possess a constitutional right to liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Because fundamental rights do not mature and come into being magically when one attains the state-defined age of majority, minors, along with adults, are protected by our Constitution and possess constitutional rights. See, e.g., In Interest of Stephens, 501 Pa. 411, 461 A.2d 1223 (1983) (determining that minors possess the constitutional right against placement in double jeopardy); Commonwealth ex rel. Tabb v. Superintendent of Youth Study Ctr., 407 Pa. 466, 183 A.2d 317 (1962) (freedom from self-incrimination). Further, we have repeatedly held that this Article provides greater protection than that provided by the United States Constitution. See, e.g., Commonwealth v. Nixon, 563 Pa. 425, 761 A.2d 1151, 1156 (2000); Theodore v. Delaware Valley Sch. Dist., 575 Pa. 321, 836 A.2d 76, 88 (2003). In In re William L., 477 Pa. 322, 383 A.2d 1228 (1978), a termination of parental rights case, we established that while the state generally may not enter into the private realm of family life and because parental rights must be accorded significant protection, the state as parens patriae has an affirmative duty to protect minor children. Thus, the restraint on state interference in family matters does not reach so far as to compel the courts to protect parental rights at the expense of ignoring the rights and needs of children. Id. at 1236. Having decided that the statute was facially constitutional, the William L. Court took great care in applying the statute to the facts. It rejected the appellant's assumption that the purpose of the termination statute was to punish an ineffective or negligent parent and that therefore a finding of parental fault was constitutionally necessary before termination. Rather, the Court pointed out, inquiry should center upon the welfare of the child rather than the fault of the parent. The state's responsibility to protect its weaker members authorizes interference with parental autonomy and decision-making in appropriate circumstances. Justice Roberts in William L. set forth the moral and practical importance of this authority: These cases do not, however, support the proposition that the state can never interfere in the parent-child relationship. Indeed, in Stanley v. Illinois, supra, the United States Supreme Court recognized that the state had not only a right, but a duty to protect minor children. [ Stanley v. Illinois, ] 405 U.S. at 649, 92 S.Ct. at 1212. See also Prince v. Massachusetts, supra (upholding anti-child labor statute against challenge that it unreasonably infringed upon parent's and child's free exercise of religion and parent's right to educate child in her beliefs). Constitutional restraint on state interference in family matters does not compel the courts to protect parental rights at the expense of ignoring the rights and needs of children. In Planned Parenthood of Central Missouri v. Danforth, 428 U.S. 52, 96 S.Ct. 2831, 49 L.Ed.2d 788 (1976), the United States Supreme Court rejected the argument that the state's interest in protecting parental authority justified giving parents a veto power over a minor's decision to have an abortion where the minor and the non[-]consenting parent are so fundamentally in conflict and the very existence of the pregnancy has already fractured the family structure. Id. at 1235 (internal quotation marks omitted). The fundamental rights of children to have their best interests considered prevails over the fundamental rights of parents to the care, custody, and control of their children in custody determinations between fit parents, in dependency and delinquency proceedings, and in proceedings to terminate parental rights. Although not explicitly stated in these past decades, I believe that Pennsylvania, for some considerable time, has treated the best interests of the child as a fundamental right. It is on this basis that I advocate that we finally legitimize the right of the child to have his or her best interests considered as a fundamental right. This interest is expressed in a variety of statutes and proceedings, ranging from the complete severance of parental rights on a judge's finding of parental unfitness, to the limitation of parental choices in the areas, for example, of education, health care, and safety. Thus, I believe that the instant matter involves a situation that burdens two fundamental rightsthe right of a fit father to make parenting decisions for the child and the right of the child to have its best interests considered. Many cases, with their emphasis on the importance of family and personal associations, provide support for the view that a child has a due process right to maintain relationships with individuals other than his or her parents. Interestingly, Great Britain has come to terms with the fundamental rights of children. In Lawrence v. Penbrokeshire County Council, 2006 WL 1288355, at 38 EWHC 1029 (Queen's Bench Div.) (May 11, 2006), the House of Lords held that where rights of parents and a child are at stake, the child's rights must be the paramount consideration. If any balancing of interests is necessary, the interests of the child must prevail. Before turning to a balancing of these rights, I will briefly consider the form of relief that the grandmother seeks.