Balancing parents' and very young children's rights in care proceedings: decision-making in the context of the Human Rights Act 1998

This paper explores whether the Human Rights Act 1998 has influenced the approach a range of professionals, including social workers, managers and children's guardians adopt when they examine and seek to balance the potentially competing rights of parents and children involved in care proceedings. Drawing on findings from an empirical study of the decision-making process that influences the life pathways of very young children in care, it also explores some of the dilemmas professionals face in their day-to-day practice and examines whether parental rights are prioritized over children's rights in certain instances.