Aoife Daly and Aisling Parkes, "Hearing children in civil law proceedings" in Miranda Horvath, ed, Oxford Handbook of Forensic Psychology (Oxford University Press, 2022 (original) (raw)
Courts are regularly called upon to make judgments on aspects of children’s upbringing, particularly where parents separate and there are disputes around where children will live. Relevant laws concerning children have greatly progressed in liberal democracies in the past few decades in terms of greater respect for children as individuals. This has not only been influenced by developments in the discipline of psychology but also by the emergence of rights claims in relation to all groups, such as women and ethnic minorities. Children have come to be recognised as a distinct group of rights-bearers, particularly since the advent of the main human rights instrument pertaining to children, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989 (CRC). In this chapter, the children’s rights issues which arise in cases regarding children’s upbringing are considered; particularly where they intersect with issues concerning elements of the discipline of psychology. The UK and Ireland will form the focus of this chapter primarily but many of our points are relevant globally. The CRC has been very influential in terms of bringing a focus to children in such cases. Following an exploration of this instrument and its impact on the lives of children, two of the most important principles in the CRC are considered – the best interest principle (Art. 3 CRC) and principle of respect for the views of the child (Art. 12 CRC). The chapter then examines how an enhanced awareness and understanding of child developmental psychology has impacted cases concerning children’s upbringing. Particularly contested issues in the area are then examined – children’s attachment to caregivers, children’s own wishes, shared residence and perceptions of mothers versus fathers.
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