Introduction: Paradoxes of Children's Rights

• Author: Nicholas Bala
• Pages: 1-13

1

Introduction: Paradoxes of Children’s Rights

 

A. The “holisTic sT udy” of The leg Al sTATus of

chi ldhood

is i s a ne col lection of essays that indiv idually and collectively add ress

some of the most important and challeng ing issues related to the legal status

of child ren, and the volume m akes an impor tant contribution to t he grow-

ing but sti ll small Ca nadian literature on children’s rights. ese es says are

being publi shed together to honour a nd, at least in part, reect upon some

of my scholarsh ip wrien over the pa st three decades. A s is ing, some of

the contr ibutions are laudatory of my work, some ba rely mention it, some

gently disagree with some of my ideas, wh ile others are deeply critic al of

some of the controversia l positions that I have ta ken on contentious issues.

So it is both a pleasure and a challenge for me to provide some words of

introduction to t his volume.

I have devoted much of my career as a scholar to writing about a range of

interrelated issues concern ing children, their parents, and the law in Canada.

As my good friend Cat hy Lane Goodfe llow observes i n her contribution to

this b ook, I have tak en a holistic approach in my study of the legal status of

children . I h ave wrien about ch ildren as both victims and oenders, and

as t he focus of dispute s both between separ ated parents and betwe en par-

ents and state child welfare agencies; I also h ave considered the position of