Although the legal "rights" of children involved in a divorce action may be limited---because children have few legal rights---most states afford children a philosophical "bill of rights" intended to guide the parents. Most states have copied and honored one such bill of rights, created by the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
History
A children's bill of rights in divorce is still a relatively young concept. According to Jay Folberg, dean of the University of San Francisco School of Law and author of "Divorce Mediation: Theory and Practice", the children's bill of rights didn't come into vogue until the late 1980s when family mediation was adopted by many courts as the preferred instrument for handling child custody matters in divorce.
Role of Mediation
In family mediation sessions, supervised by a licensed and court appointed family mediator, the details of custody are worked out before the divorce is granted. Mediation sessions give parents the opportunity to learn how to serve a child's special needs before and after divorce.
Right to Unfettered Love
A child's cardinal right, according to Folberg, is to experience love with both parents without any taint of anger, revenge or stress after the divorce. Children have the right to feel love, receive love and express their love for both of their parents---freely---without negative reactions or restrictions from either parent.
Custody Issues
Courts have many options when it comes to the awarding of custody of a child. Custody most often is "joint," where both parents are legally responsible for the child's immediate welfare. But the court determines that the child will live the majority of the time with one parent, termed the "custodial" parent. The child will have frequent visitations with the other parent, including overnight stays, weekends, holidays and vacation periods. A child has a right to a visitation schedule that takes her needs into consideration, not the needs of either of the parents.
Right Not to Be Pawn
Family mediation sessions include lessons on how to refrain from using the child as any kind of pawn in "gamesmanship" between the divorced adults, or punishing the child for expressing love for the other parent. Children have the right to complete protection from such "games."
Right to Family
Children also have the right to have relationships with other members of the family of both parents, including grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. Parents involved in a divorce have to make allowances with visitations so that other family members can have contact with the child.
Sane Life
Children have a right to stability and predictability and divorced parents must consider this right. According to Folberg, family mediators encourage parents to devise, manage and handle in an ongoing fashion, all custody issues so that their child's life does not become an insane merry-go-round with the child trapped between two sides of a revolving visitation door.
References
- DivorceSupport: Children's Right's in Regards to Custody & Visitation
- Divorcenet: Children's Bill of Rights
- "Divorce Mediation: Theory and Practice"; Jay Folberg; 1988
