Children's Bill
of Rights
From:
http://www.nancm.com/?page=childrens_rights
Marriage is a contract between adults, and
when it ends, the matter is between the adults
also. Yet no parental action has a greater
impact on children. Children love their parents
and want to be with them. Even in times of great
stress, parents have a responsibility to conduct
their legal affairs in a manner that will
protect their children from adult conflicts.
At a minimum, children are entitled to the
following Bill of Rights:
- Neither parent shall deny the child
reasonable use of the telephone to place and
receive calls with the other parent and
relatives.
- Neither parent shall speak or write
derogatory remarks about the other parent to
the child, or engage in abusive, coarse or
foul language, which can be overheard by the
child whether or not the language involves
the other parent.
- Neither parent shall permit the children
to overhear arguments, negotiations or other
substantive discussions about legal or
business dealings between the parents.
- Neither parent shall physically or
psychologically attempt to pressure, attempt
to influence, pressure or influence the
children concerning the personal opinion or
position of the child concerning legal
proceedings between the parents.
- Each parent will permit the child to
display photographs of the other parent or
both parents in the child's room.
- Neither parent shall communicate moral
judgments about the other parent to the
child concerning the other parent's choice
of values, lifestyle, choice of friends,
successes or failures in life (career,
financial, relational) or residential
choice.
- The parents will acknowledge to the
child that the child has two homes although
the child may spend more time at one home
than the other.
- The parents shall cooperate to the
greatest extent practicable in sharing time
with the child.
- Each parent will permit the child to
retain, and allow easy access to,
correspondence, greeting cards, and other
written materials received from the other
parent.
- Each parent will respect the physical
integrity of items possessed by the child
which depict the other parent or remind the
child of the other parent.
- Neither parent will trivialize, or deny
the existence of the other parent to the
child.
- Neither parent will interrogate the
child about the other parent nor will either
parent discourage comments by the child
about the other parent.
- Neither parent will intercept, "lose",
derail, "forget" or otherwise interfere with
communications to the child from the other
parent.
- Neither parent will refuse to
acknowledge that the child can have or
should have good experiences with the other
parent.
- Neither parent will directly or
indirectly attack or criticize to the child
the extended family of the other parent, the
other parent's career, the living and travel
arrangements of the other parent, or lawful
activities of the other parent or associates
of the other parent.
- Neither parent will use the child as a
"middleman" by using the child to
communicate with the other parent on
inappropriate topics.
- Neither parent will undermine the other
parent in the eyes of the child by engaging
in the "circumstantial syndrome" which is
done by manipulating, changing, or
rearranging facts.
- Neither parent will create for, or
exaggerate to, the child differences between
the parents.
- Neither parent will say and do things
with an eye to gaining the child as an
"ally" against the other parent.
- Neither parent will encourage or
instruct the child to be disobedient to the
other parent, stepparents, or relatives.
- Neither parent will reward the child to
act negatively toward the other parent.
- Neither parent will try to make the
child believe he or she loves the child more
than the other parent, by, for example,
saying that he or she loves the child more
than the other parent or over-informing the
child on adult topics or overindulging the
child.
- Neither parent will discuss child
support issues with the child.
- Neither parent will engage in
judgmental, opinionated or negative
commentary, physical inspections or
interrogations once the child arrives from
his/her other home.
- Neither parent will "rewrite" or
"re-script" facts which the child originally
knows to be different.
- Neither parent will punish the child
physically or threaten such punishment in
order to influence the child to adopt the
parent's negative program, if any, against
the other parent.
- Neither parent will permit the child to
be transported by a person who is
intoxicated due to consumption of alcohol or
illegal drugs.
- Neither parent will smoke tobacco
materials inside structures or vehicles
occupied at the time by the child.
- Each parent will permit the child to
carry gifts, toys, clothing, and other items
belonging to the child with him or her to
the residence of the other parent or
relatives or permit the child to take gifts,
toys, clothing, and other items belonging to
the child back to the residence of the other
parent, as the case may be, to facilitate
the child having with him or her objects,
important to the child. The gifts, toys,
clothing and other items belonging to the
child referred to here mean items which are
reasonable transportable and does not
include pets (which the parents agree are
impractical to move about).
The
Children's Rights Council
Formed in 1985, the Children's Rights Council
(CRC) is a national non-profit organization
based in Washington, DC that works to assure
children meaningful and continuing contact with
both their parents and extended family
regardless of the parents' marital status.
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