Part I Overview.- Children’s Human Rights In The United States: Framing The Dilemma.- What Is A Child?.- Where Are Children And Their Rights In The Academic Disciplines?.- Children’s Rights Throughout History.- Part II Provision, Protection And Participation.- Provision Rights: Meeting Children’s Essential Needs.- Protection Rights: Keeping Children Safe.- Participation Rights: Recognizing Children’s Agency.- An Example: Imagining A Children’s Human Rights Framework In Education.- Part III Moving Forward.- Whose Rights Are Right? Constitutional And Legal Debates About Children’s Human Rights.- The Children’s Rights Movement.- Where Do We Grow From Here?.

This book critically examines why a human rights framework would improve the wellbeing and status of young people. It explores children’s rights to provision, protection, and participation from human rights and clinical sociological perspectives, and from historical to contemporary events. It discusses how different ideologies have shaped the way we view children and their place in society, and how, despite the rhetoric of children's protection, people under 18 years of age experience more poverty, violence, and oppression than other group in society. The book points to the fact that the USA is the only member of the United Nations not to ratify a children’s human rights treaty; and the impact of this decision finds US children less healthy and less safe than children in other developed countries. It shows how a rights-respecting framework could be created to improve the lives of our youngest citizens – and the future of democracy. Authored by a renowned clinical sociologist and international human rights scholar, this book is of interest to researchers, students, social workers and policymakers working in the area of children's wellbeing and human rights. 

​“This book stands out as “the” book on the topic of children’s human rights because it is comprehensive, theoretical, and historical while also offering a wealth of empirical data and support. It is a useful reference book because of its comprehensive coverage. Your passion for children’s rights shines through in every chapter. You make an uncontestable case for including and taking seriously that children’s rights are human rights. And the book’s sober assessment—that the last 100 years our societal approach to children is abysmal and must change—is far from pessimistic. It is a wake-up call to action.” (Nazneen Khan - Chair & Associate Professor of Sociology, Randolph-Macon College, Ashland, VA)“Children are the future of countries, and of our world. Current lack of knowledge and realization of their rights limits the ability of those children who deserve the promise for a better and brighter future. From the definition of the child to the debate of whether children are parental property to the active education of children’s human rights, this book provides a comprehensive perspective for the children’s human rights and addresses the fact that most people lack knowledge about children’s rights to have rights.  This book is the most welcomed one for academics and professionals advocating for the human rights of the children.” (Dr. Pinar Ioannides, Director of Research and Development Division “Hope For Children” CRC Policy Center, Cyprus) 

Proves that US children are worse off than children in less developed countries with a children's rights framework Explains why a child-as-rights-holder view is a better fit to understand the changing demography of childhood Shows how changing the framework we use to address children’s needs could improve democracy itself