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Children’s rights and parents’ rights: Popular attitudes about when we privilege one over the other
Author(s) -
Berrick Jill Duerr,
Skivenes Marit,
Roscoe Joseph N.
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
international journal of social welfare
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.664
H-Index - 47
eISSN - 1468-2397
pISSN - 1369-6866
DOI - 10.1111/ijsw.12523
Subject(s) - political science , human rights , privilege (computing) , immigration , perspective (graphical) , relevance (law) , inclusion (mineral) , psychology , law , social psychology , artificial intelligence , computer science
The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) is a widely accepted human rights document and has relevance for child protection policy. This study employs an experimental design with representative samples from Norway and California (USA) to test public perceptions of children's rights in child protection. The countries have welfare states and child protection contexts that differ, and their histories contrast with regard to the UNCRC. Results show that increased severity of risk to a child does not correspond with increased weight on children’s rights. However, residents of Norway are more likely to embrace a children's rights orientation, and participants in California are more likely to accept a parents’ rights perspective. Demographics such as immigrant status and age account for some of these differences. The study contributes to the literature on children's rights and the role of the state in aligning public policy with public attitudes about children.