Webinar Lunchtime Series: Book Talk – Foster Children, Rights and the Law: Best Interest, Normalcy and the Welfare System
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Book title: Foster Children, Rights and the Law: Best Interest, Normalcy and the Welfare System
This book discusses child wishes, rights and participation in the foster care system. Making decisions in a foster child’s best interest is a widely used, but also widely criticized international legal doctrine. This work discusses the two major legal frameworks, best interest and normalcy, for which foster care decisions are made and how those frameworks might shape how child welfare professionals view and interpret children’s rights and participation. Normalcy, the idea that decisions should promote a “normal” life, is a separate legal doctrine which can be in conflict with best interest determinations. However, the concept of normalcy is also theoretically built into best interest decisions and therefore also plays a role in most child welfare systems. Mixing both empirical legal and child welfare research, the book demonstrates the ways in which risk aversion and fear drive best interest decision-making to the detriment of both practitioners and the children they aim to serve. It argues that a children’s rights framework starting with normalcy is a better tool for promoting child participation and centering the child within the dependency process. The book will be of interest to academics, researchers and policymakers working in the areas of children’s rights law, child welfare and international human rights law.
Bio
Matthew Trail is a research fellow with the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods. He recently finished his PhD in Law from the University of Bonn. Prior to becoming a researcher, Matthew worked for 15 years as a attorney for foster children within the U.S. dependency system. He managed a team of attorneys in Texas and trained attorneys, social workers, volunteers and members of the Texas judiciary in child welfare issues. He currently is researching the intersection of legal decision making and AI within the child welfare system. He has more than 35 years experience as a TRPG game master and is always looking for new players.
(Matthew will be presenting online)
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