The Restatement of Children and the Law: Modern Regulation in a Developmental Framework

In May 2024, the membership of the American Law Institute approved the Restatement of Children and the Law, the first Restatement to focus on the law regulating children and families. The combined efforts of five Reporters (Elizabeth Scott, Reporter, and Richard Bonnie, Emily Buss, Clare Huntington and Solangel Maldonado, Associate Reporters), working for almost nine years, this new Restatement covers most of the legal landscape of American law's relationship to children. It is organized in four Parts: Part I, Children in Families, deals with parental rights and authority and state intervention in families; Part II, Children in Schools, covers children's rights and the state's obligation and authority (and its limits) in the public school context; Part Ill, Children in the Justice System, covers the rights and protections of youths in both the juvenile and criminal systems; and Part IV, Children in Society, deals with the law's direct relationship to children not mediated by the institution s of the family, school, or justice system. All citations that follow are from the Restatement.