Publication Date
10-1-2024
Abstract
In child protective proceedings, courts face the difficult task of determining the permanent placement of a child that promotes their well-being and safety, even if it means terminating their parents’ rights. Every year, authorities wrongfully and forcibly remove thousands of children from their families and homes. It is imperative that courts and attorneys adopt steps to provide children a voice and to guarantee children’s rights in these proceedings. Courts hear children’s preferences in child protective proceedings through four primary avenues: (1) appointment of a representative for the child, (2) direct in-court testimony, (3) in camera judicial interviews, and (4) admission of children’s out-of-court statements. When these options are laid out in conjunction with accompanying federal legislation, observers often applaud them as providing a comprehensive solution for protecting children’s voices. However, upon closer examination, the reality is that judges and attorneys have the final say as to whether any of the options are actually offered to children. Appellate courts routinely affirm proceedings where judges did not provide children any of these avenues, disincentivizing courts from deviating from their current practices. This means that courts will continue to regularly ignore and silence children’s voices in child protective proceedings. Increasing accountability and oversight of the judiciary and children’s attorneys can provide the necessary safeguards to protect children’s right to be heard. This Article adds to the existing literature on children’s rights in child protective proceedings in two ways. First, it frames children’s legal right to participate in child protective proceedings as inherent in their constitutional right to family integrity. The failure to provide children with a meaningful voice in these proceedings violates this right by stripping them of their ability to express their placement preferences. Second, utilizing an updated fifty-state survey of statutes governing child protective proceedings, this Article argues that states should adopt a multitiered framework of accountability and oversight measures to best protect children’s rights.
First Page
41
Recommended Citation
Stephanie L. Tang, Safeguarding Children's Voices in Child Protective Proceedings, 102 Denv. L. Rev. 41 (2024).