Justice for children : autonomy development and the state / Harry Adams.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Adams, Harry William, 1962-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Autonomy (Psychology) in children.

Autonomy in children.

Social justice.

Parent and child.

Child development.

Child welfare.

Physical Description:

x, 254 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Albany : State University of New York Press, [2008]

Summary:

In this groundbreaking theory of justice for children, Harry Adams takes the basic moral and political ideal of autonomy and shows what radical implications it has when applied to children and their development. Adams argues that it makes little sense to try to respect everyone's autonomy if enough attention hasn't been given to the ways that people do and do not develop autonomy in the first place, when they're young. Using the latest empirical research-from developmental psychology to population health and life course studies to primate ethnology and neurobiology-he explores how children develop different degrees of autonomy. Adams also discusses various public policies and programs that he feels any truly just society will have in place, in order to protect disadvantaged children's attainment of a minimal level of autonomy. He analyzes the ethical and practical appeals to, as well as the dangers and limits of, various family intervention programs, compulsory contraception programs, and early education programs, providing both a parental licensing model and an educational justice standard.

Contents:

Autonomy

Autonomy

The necessary conditions of autonomy

The degrees of autonomy

The value of autonomy

The moral priority of children's development of autonomy

Autonomy development

Child development and the autonomy threshold

Young adulthood and the signs of autonomy (the commencement of a life path)

Adolescence and the building blocks of autonomy (the acquisition of self-efficacy skills)

Childhood and the foundations of autonomy (the early pathways of development)

Crippled autonomy development and state intervention

Crippled autonomy development and the harm principle

Possible types of state intervention

Intervention in the family : a parental licensing model

The proactive management of risks

A model of parental licensing

Compulsory contraception

Intervention in the school : an educational justice standard

The need for educational justice

The educational justice standard (to support at least minimal autonomy, [greater than or equal to] AL3)

Addendum : educational support for more than minimal autonomy ([greater than or equal to] AL4)?

Conclusion.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 225-249) and index.

ISBN:

9780791473313

0791473317

OCLC:

125401559