Joint statement on the Right to Family of children without parental care
2 July 2019 // IF is among 11 disability rights and children’s rights organisations and networks that have endorsed a statement and key recommendations on the Right to Family, recognised under international law.
All children have the need and the right to live and grow up with a family. The preamble of the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) recognizes that for their “full and harmonious development”, all children “should grow up in a family environment.” Reflecting the CRC standards, the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) sets out that the best interests of the child are the paramount consideration in all decisions affecting them (Article 7(2)), and places clear obligations on States to protect the right to family life (Article 23) and to live and be included in the community (Article 19).
Where children are living without parental care, governments are under the obligation to create supportive services so that children with and without disabilities have a range of options for living in the community in a family setting, including extended kinship care, foster care, or adoption, and including the maintenance of the child’s sibling relationships.
The organisations call on the UN General Assembly to include a number of recommendations in its forthcoming resolution on the rights of children without parental care.
The statement is endorsed by: Autism-Europe, Child Rights International Network (CRIN), Disability Rights International (DRI), European Disability Forum (EDF), European Network on Independent Living (ENIL), Inclusion Europe, Inclusion International, International Disability Alliance (IDA), International Federation for Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus (IF), TASH, and Validity Foundation
