MINORS’ PARENTAL RIGHTS POLICY 1

Minors’ Parental Rights Policy

Alexsaundra S. McKinley-Markham

California State University, Sacramento

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Minors’ Parental Rights Policy

The state law and policy that have been chosen to do is Minors’ Rights as Parents and

how it affects their relationship with their family.

According to Guttmacher.org, Minors’ Rights As Parents (State Law & Policy) is where

many states require parental involvement in a minor’s decision to terminate a pregnancy. In

sharp contrast, states overwhelmingly consider minors who are parents to be capable of making

critical decisions affecting the health and welfare of their children without their own parents’

knowledge or consent. Nearly every state permits minor parents to place a child for adoption,

although some require an adult to be involved in the process in some capacity. Moreover, most

states authorize minor parents to make health decisions for their children, and some allow minor

parents to authorize surgery.

Family relationship is known as the relatedness or connection by blood, marriage, or

adoption​. According to Steinberg, he says that “As they develop, adolescents spend increasingly

less time in family activities, especially in activities with the family as a group” (Steinberg,

pg.100). When families enter a new stage in their child’s development, it definitely has taken

them a while to figure out what is the best way to deal with it. As time goes by, they tend to

usually reach a comfortable place, a sort of equilibrium. Once in early adolescence, when this

shift toward more egalitarian relationships first begins, it is frequently becoming a challenging

time not only for the parents but also for the adolescent going through the changes.
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This how Family relationships affect Minors Parental Rights policy; Many parents tend to

get involved in their children’s lives, but when the child makes a mistake that puts them into an

adult position, most parents tend to leave their child in the dust as a way for them to learn their

lesson while suffering the consequences. Also, it can create tension between the parents and the

child; sometimes leading to the child emancipation away from their own parents to becoming an

adult legally. Also, ​many minors do live in messed up familial environments, and parental

involvement laws cannot transform these families into stable homes nor facilitate clear

communications. But, just by forcing minors to involve their parents in under these

circumstances could put them at particular risk of violence.

Given the knowledge about family relationships, this policy is half and half when it

comes to meeting the needs of teenagers. It meets the needs of teens by letting them decide on

their own on whether or not to give consent on their child’s adoption and medical care. But, it

doesn’t meet the needs of teens when the states feel to make that there’s no distinction between

minor and adult parents, considering that minors haven’t fully developed their prefrontal cortex

so the decisions they tend to make is somewhat impulsive and hasty.

According to advocatesforyouth.org, parental involvement disproportionately affects

young women of color and immigrant youths; for young women of color, they’re

disproportionately living in states where parental involvement is in full effect. As for immigrant

youth, they’re not granted access to reproductive healthcare and require government proof of

identification. One recommendation for this policy is to be able to grant reproductive healthcare

access to immigrants youths to inform them about sex and provide them with necessary products

for free while they’re figuring out their next move.

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References

Minors' Rights as Parents. (2020, April 01). Retrieved from

https://www.guttmacher.org/state-policy/explore/minors-rights-parents

Abortion and Parental Involvement Laws. (n.d.). Retrieved from

https://advocatesforyouth.org/resources/fact-sheets/abortion-and-parental-involvement-laws/

Steinberg, L. D. (2020). ​Adolescence.​ McGraw-Hill Education.