2. Phone:
- USA and Canada: 888-232-4444 or 250-383-6864.
- Europe 0845 230 9601 (UK only) or 44 (0)1865
722 113.
3. Locally in Tennessee,
please send an email request to
rennerj@etsu.edu. Additional information will be provided
promptly. Pick up / delivery possible.
Excerpt:
In a world in which the rights of adults often take precedence over
the rights of children, is there hope of ever realizing the best
interests of the child?
This book looks at a comparative study of the
"best interest of the child rule" from the context of two nations; the
United States and Sierra Leone. Molded and shaped by several societal
forces and cultural differences the author claims that cross-cultural
differences have brought variability to the interpretation of the best
interest rule. She argues that the best interest rule is a deceptively
simple principle, appealing, and seemingly easy to understand yet the
open-endedness of the standard can make legitimate practices in some
cultures, which are regarded in others as possibly harmful to children.
The outcome of the comparison of the two processes was significantly
different. One upholds the view that the socio-economic structure,
religion and maternal preference translates this rule into rights
accorded not exclusively to the child but to the parents and the other
promotes different approaches for differently situated families
requiring the judge to consider a child's expressed preference in
applying the rule. Nevertheless, it is argued that both perspectives
reflect the moderating influence of the empirical evidence that the best
interest rule is concerned with the child's physical claims made by the
affected party.
