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Children of Exception: Redefining Categories of Illegality and Citizenship in Canada
Author(s) -
Meloni Francesca,
Rousseau Cécile,
Montgomery Catherine,
Measham Toby
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
children and society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.538
H-Index - 58
eISSN - 1099-0860
pISSN - 0951-0605
DOI - 10.1111/chso.12006
Subject(s) - citizenship , agency (philosophy) , perspective (graphical) , sociology , child protection , law , criminology , gender studies , political science , social science , politics , artificial intelligence , computer science
This article examines legal discourses on precarious status children in Canada over the last decade. Drawing on different theoretical frameworks and taking into account laws and court decisions, the paper will examine the way in which precarious status children are regarded as powerless subjects in need of protection and as threatening others. The article argues that these two apparently contrasting discourses are embedded within specific socio‐historical constructions of childhood and children's citizenship which deny and limit their agency and conceive of their claim to membership as illegitimate. In the case of precarious status children, illegality and citizenship need to be redefined in a developmental perspective, questioning the potential risks associated with prevalent moral and social assumptions on childhood.