The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) is more than an international human rights instrument – it provides a practical framework for legal decision-making. Lawyers who understand children’s rights are better equipped to identify issues that might otherwise be overlooked, advocate more effectively, and develop solutions that promote both legal rights and positive outcomes for children.
Unlike adults, children frequently rely upon parents, caregivers, lawyers, judges, educators, social workers, and other professionals to recognize, protect, and advance their rights. Children may have limited knowledge of legal processes, limited ability to access legal representation independently, and fewer opportunities to influence decisions that profoundly affect their lives. As a result, lawyers play a particularly important role in ensuring that children’s voices are heard and their rights receive meaningful consideration.
Implementing children’s rights is not limited to family law or child protection proceedings. Decisions affecting children arise throughout Canadian legal practice, including criminal law, immigration and refugee law, education, health law, Indigenous law, administrative law, constitutional litigation, employment law, housing, estates, and civil litigation. A child-rights approach therefore has broad application across legal practice.
A Child Rights-Based Approach
A Child Rights-Based Approach (CRBA) places children’s rights at the centre of legal analysis. Rather than viewing children solely as vulnerable individuals requiring protection, it recognizes them as independent rights holders entitled to dignity, participation, equality, protection, and development.
The approach is grounded in four guiding principles of the Convention:
- Non-discrimination (Article 2): Every child is entitled to equal enjoyment of rights without discrimination.
- Best interests of the child (Article 3): The child’s best interests must be a primary consideration in all actions concerning children.
- Survival and development (Article 6): Children have the right to life and to develop to their fullest potential.
- Participation (Article 12): Children capable of forming their own views have the right to express those views freely in matters affecting them.
These principles should inform both legal processes and legal outcomes.
Begin With the Child
One of the most effective ways to implement children’s rights is to begin every analysis by asking:
How does this decision affect the child?
This question encourages lawyers to move beyond adult-centred perspectives and consider the child’s lived experience.
A child-centred analysis asks:
- What is happening from the child’s perspective?
- What does the child understand?
- What relationships are important to the child?
- What cultural, linguistic, religious or community connections matter?
- What risks does the child face?
- What strengths and protective factors exist?
- Has the child’s voice been heard?
- Which Convention rights are engaged?
Beginning with the child’s perspective often reveals legal issues that might otherwise remain invisible.
Recognize Children as Rights Holders
Children should not be viewed merely as extensions of their parents or passive recipients of adult protection.
Children possess independent legal rights.
Those rights may sometimes align with parental interests.
Sometimes they do not.
Lawyers should avoid assuming that advancing a parent’s position necessarily advances the child’s rights.
This distinction becomes particularly important in matters involving:
- parenting disputes;
- child protection;
- criminal proceedings affecting parents;
- medical decision-making;
- education;
- immigration;
- Indigenous child welfare;
- youth justice.
Apply a Contextual Legal Analysis
A child-rights approach requires more than identifying legal rules.
It requires understanding the child’s lived reality.
The Supreme Court of Canada has long recognized that contextual analysis is essential to achieving substantive equality and meaningful justice. Understanding children’s experiences allows lawyers to connect legal principles with the practical realities facing individual children.
Relevant contextual factors may include:
- age and developmental stage;
- disability;
- neurodiversity;
- trauma;
- poverty;
- housing insecurity;
- family violence;
- systemic discrimination;
- colonialism;
- immigration status;
- language;
- culture;
- Indigenous identity;
- community supports.
Children experiencing multiple forms of disadvantage often require responses that address intersecting vulnerabilities rather than treating each issue separately.
Contextual analysis also promotes cultural humility and professional competence by encouraging lawyers to understand how different children experience legal systems in different ways.
Listen to Children
Article 12 of the Convention recognizes children’s right to participate in decisions affecting them.
Participation does not mean that children make every decision.
Rather, it requires that children be provided meaningful opportunities to express their views and that those views receive appropriate weight according to age and maturity.
Effective participation requires more than simply asking a child what they want.
Lawyers should consider:
- whether the child understands the issues;
- whether information has been provided in developmentally appropriate language;
- whether the child feels safe expressing views;
- whether power imbalances exist;
- whether accommodations are required;
- whether cultural or communication supports are necessary.
Children’s participation should be viewed as an ongoing process rather than a single interview.
Consider Trauma
Many children involved with legal systems have experienced adversity.
Trauma may arise from:
- family violence;
- abuse;
- neglect;
- parental separation;
- parental incarceration;
- displacement;
- discrimination;
- institutional involvement;
- war;
- forced migration.
Trauma-informed practice recognizes that behaviour often reflects adaptation to adversity rather than intentional misconduct.
Lawyers should therefore strive to create environments that are:
- predictable;
- respectful;
- developmentally appropriate;
- culturally safe;
- psychologically safe.
This includes minimizing unnecessary repetition of traumatic experiences and coordinating with other professionals whenever appropriate.
Work Collaboratively
Children’s legal issues rarely exist in isolation.
Effective advocacy frequently requires collaboration among:
- lawyers;
- educators;
- physicians;
- psychologists;
- social workers;
- Indigenous communities;
- cultural organizations;
- child advocates;
- government agencies.
A multidisciplinary approach often produces better outcomes than legal advocacy alone.
Lawyers should understand the limits of their expertise and make appropriate referrals where additional supports are needed.
Consider Systemic Inequality
Children’s rights cannot be fully understood without recognizing systemic inequality.
Some children face multiple overlapping barriers arising from:
- racism;
- colonialism;
- ableism;
- poverty;
- sexism;
- discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity;
- immigration status;
- language barriers.
Lawyers should remain alert to structural factors that influence children’s opportunities and legal outcomes.
Particular attention should be paid to the experiences of:
- First Nations, Inuit and Métis children;
- Black and racialized children;
- children with disabilities;
- children in care;
- newcomer and refugee children;
- children experiencing homelessness or poverty;
- LGBTQ2S+ children and youth.
Use Children’s Rights Throughout the Legal Process
A child-rights approach should inform every stage of legal representation.
At Intake
Ask:
- Are children affected?
- Which Convention rights are engaged?
- Has anyone spoken directly with the child?
- Are immediate safety concerns present?
During Fact Gathering
Seek information regarding:
- relationships;
- education;
- health;
- development;
- culture;
- identity;
- community;
- supports.
During Legal Analysis
Consider:
- applicable domestic legislation;
- Charter rights;
- the Convention;
- General Comments of the Committee;
- Canada’s Concluding Observations;
- relevant comparative jurisprudence where appropriate.
During Resolution
Ask whether the proposed outcome:
- respects children’s dignity;
- promotes stability;
- preserves important relationships;
- supports healthy development;
- minimizes unnecessary harm;
- allows meaningful participation.
Professional Responsibility
Competent representation increasingly requires lawyers to understand children’s rights.
The Federation of Law Societies of Canada’s Model Code of Professional Conduct requires lawyers to provide competent legal services. Where children are affected, competence includes understanding how children’s rights intersect with domestic law, international human rights principles, trauma-informed practice, and cultural competency.
Lawyers should remain informed regarding:
- developments in children’s rights jurisprudence;
- legislative reform;
- emerging research;
- Indigenous legal orders;
- evolving professional standards.
Practical Questions for Every Lawyer
When a matter affects a child, ask:
- Which rights under the Convention may be engaged?
- Has the child’s perspective been considered?
- What barriers does this child face?
- Are there cultural or community considerations?
- Are Indigenous rights engaged?
- Is the child experiencing trauma?
- What outcome best promotes the child’s long-term development?
- Have I considered both legal rights and lived reality?
These questions encourage thoughtful, child-centred advocacy regardless of the area of legal practice.
Practice Tip
Do not ask only, “What does the law permit?” Also ask, “How does this decision affect the child’s rights?” Viewing legal problems through the lens of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child often reveals additional considerations, strengthens legal analysis, and promotes outcomes that are more consistent with Canada’s domestic and international obligations.
Looking Forward
Implementing children’s rights is not a specialized area of practice reserved for child advocates. It is an essential aspect of competent legal representation whenever legal decisions affect children. As Canadian law continues to evolve, lawyers have an important role in ensuring that children’s rights are not treated as aspirational ideals but as practical legal principles capable of informing everyday advocacy, judicial decision-making, legislative development, and public policy.
A child-rights approach ultimately asks lawyers to do what the best advocates already strive to do: understand the whole child, situate legal issues within the child’s lived experience, and pursue solutions that respect children’s dignity, equality, participation, and development. In doing so, lawyers contribute not only to better outcomes for individual children but also to a more just legal system for all.