Children and the Law Posts

Expanding State Parent Registry Laws

This Article, using pronouncements by the Uniform Law Commissioners and The American Law Institute, explores parents registries, their variation and limitations, and provides suggestions on how to reform them to meet constitutional and public policy concerns.

The Enduring Importance of Parental Rights

In this Essay, Huntingdon and Scott argue that parental rights are—and should remain—the backbone of family law. Building on previous scholarship and their work drafting The American Law Institute’s Restatement of the Law, Children and the Law, they also evaluate scholars’ proposals to limit parental rights.

Children’s Digital Privacy and the Case Against Parental Consent

As companies rely on the verifiable parental consent required by the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act to collect and use minors’ data, reviewing boilerplate waivers of liability and consent forms for children’s online activities have thus become part of parenting.

Confronting Indeterminacy and Bias in Child Protection Law

A child protection reform legislative agenda has begun to emerge, but without comprehensively addressing the indeterminacy at the heart of the present legal structure. This Article argues a transformed system must include determinate substantive standards for various stages of child protection cases to limit the system’s scope and the potential for biased decision-making.

A Reexamination of the Parens Patriae Power

This article reexamines the theory of the parens patriae power and shows that far from being obsolete, it continues to have an impact in the juvenile legal system, particularly on the interpretation of minors’ constitutional rights in juvenile and criminal law.

October 2021 Council Meeting Updates

At its meeting on October 21 and 22, 2021, the Council reviewed and discussed Council Drafts and approved drafts and portions of drafts.