Opinion ID: 2257561
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Development of Children's Rights

Text: Although the common law assumed that parents had the duty and the authority to control the upbringing of their children, the state retained the power and the duty to protect those unable to protect themselves. See, e.g., Stanley v. Illinois, 405 U.S. 645, 92 S.Ct. 1208, 31 L.Ed.2d 551 (1972). The government even occasionally superseded the rights of parents when in the government's best interest. See, e.g., Commonwealth v. Barker, 5 Binn. 423 (Pa. 1813) (Congress can enlist minors without the consent of their parents). This doctrinal power originated from the authority of the king and is, of course, termed parens patriae. Parens patriae enabled the state to intervene when parents were unable or unwilling to provide adequate emotional and physical care for their children. See Prince v. Massachusetts, 321 U.S. 158, 64 S.Ct. 438, 88 L.Ed. 645 (1944). This Court recognized the doctrine of parens patriae as early as 1839 in Crouse, where the child's mother had committed the child to a workhouse because she felt the child was unmanageable. The father sought custody and a determination that the legislation permitting the Commonwealth to keep the child was unconstitutional. This Court propounded the parens patriae doctrine as the rationale by which the Commonwealth could accomplish child behavioral reformation, by training [children] to industry; by imbuing their minds with principles of morality and religion; by furnishing them with means to earn a living; and, above all, by separating them from the corrupting influence of improper associates. Crouse, 4 Whart. 9, 1839 WL 3700 at . The seeds of the best interests of the child dogma were sown. Traditionally, courts abhorred interference with parental decision-making, reasoning that such interference may undermine parental authority and hinder parents from fulfilling the legal and moral duties imposed by society. The child's best interests generally served as a tiebreaker in custody disputes between parents; nevertheless, they gave way in disputes between a parent and a third party. Nonetheless, sporadically, common law courts, such as that in Crouse, recognized exceptions to the blanket rule against interfering with parental autonomy. Thus, although not explicitly recognized as inalienable rights in some early cases, the rights of the child to have his or her best interests considered trumped the right of the parents to the companionship and control of their children. See, e.g., Crouse, supra; Commonwealth v. Addicks, 5 Binn. 520 (Pa.1815) (using best interests of the child over parental rights to decide child custody issues); see also In re Waldron, 13 Johns. 418 (N.Y.1816) (finding that it is in best interest of the child to remain with grandfather rather than be placed in the care of father); Legate v. Legate, 87 Tex. 248, 28 S.W. 281, 282 (1894) (holding that [t]he right of the parent or the state to surround the child with proper influences is of a governmental nature, while the right of the child to be surrounded by such influences as will best promote its physical, mental, and moral development is an inherent right, of which, when once acquired, it cannot be lawfully deprived.). Gradually the concept of children as property became obsolete and judicial attitudes and approaches changed. See, e.g., Chapsky v. Wood, 26 Kan. 650, 1881 WL 1006,  (1881) ([A] child is not in any sense like a horse or any other chattel, subject matter for absolute and irrevocable gift or contract.); Child as Property, supra ; Katharine T. Bartlett, Re-expressing Parenthood, 98 Yale L.J. 293 (Dec. 1988). Although the remnants of the autonomy and supremacy of the parent to make life-determining decisions for a child remained, some courts adopted the position that parents are the trustees of the child's best interests. Even more significant was the recognition of specific children's rights, some of which reached constitutional magnitude.