Parens Patriae
Definition
A common-law doctrine under which the state acts as an ultimate guardian of persons who cannot fully protect their own legal interests, most often minors, giving courts and welfare bodies authority to intervene in a child's life without ordinary consent.
Related terms
- Child Abandonment
- The act of a parent or guardian permanently leaving a child without arranging for their care, treated in most jurisdictions as grounds...
- Child in Need of Care and Protection
- A child who has committed no offence but is abandoned, missing, abused, exploited, trafficked, or otherwise without a fit and willing caregiver,...
- Child Trafficking
- The recruitment, transport, transfer, harbouring, or receipt of a child for exploitation, including labour, sexual exploitation, or forced marriage, which does not...
- Due Process
- The constitutional or legal requirement that a person facing loss of liberty receive fair procedure, including notice, a hearing, and the chance...
- In Re Gault
- The 1967 United States Supreme Court decision extending core due process rights, including counsel and the privilege against self-incrimination, to juveniles facing...
- Justice Model
- An approach that treats the young person as a rights-bearing party entitled to due process safeguards and a proportionate, offence-based disposition.
- Protective Custody
- The temporary removal and placement of a child in state or state-approved care, ordered to secure the child's immediate safety while their...
- Restorative Model
- An approach centred on repairing the harm done to a victim and community through dialogue and accountability, rather than on either treatment...
- Vulnerability Factors
- Individual, family, or community characteristics statistically associated with a higher probability of harm to, or offending by, a child; cumulative and probabilistic...
- Welfare Model
- An approach to juvenile justice that treats the child as needing state care and treatment rather than punishment, decided through informal, judge-led...
Explained in these topics
- Children in Need of Care and Protection, and Youth Vulnerability
- Welfare Versus Justice Models of Juvenile JusticeA doctrine under which the state acts as a substitute parent for a child who cannot or will not be adequately protected by their own family.