Set Another Place at the Table: Child Participation in Family Separation Cases

Authors

Stacey Platt, Loyola University Chicago School of Law

Abstract

The issue of child participation in family separation cases divides judges, lawyers, child advocates, and mental health professionals. Broadly, the differing perspectives can be explained as follows: the anti-participation perspective is concerned about harming children by placing them in the middle of their parents' disputes, pressuring them to choose sides, and relying too much on children's unreliable opinions and sometimes whimsical positions; the pro-participation perspective is concerned about ensuring a just process in which children are provided the opportunity to be heard before decisions are made that will impact them directly and significantly, as children and beyond.

Both sides raise important points. This Article will contextualize the child inclusion debate in international guidance, state law, and real life practice; describe several methods of incorporating child voice and participation in family separation cases and discuss potential benefits and drawbacks of each; and, finally, suggest the careful facilitation, expansion, and study of child participation, particularly in family mediation.

Disciplines

Dispute Resolution and Arbitration | Law

Recommended Citation

Stacey Platt, Set Another Place at the Table: Child Participation in Family Separation Cases, 17 Cardozo J. Conflict Resol. 749 (2016).
Available at: https://larc.cardozo.yu.edu/cjcr/vol17/iss3/6