The child's best interests

When the United Nations developed their paper about the Rights of the Child in article 3 they said that the 'child's best interests' need to be considered in all cases where children are involved. Also in the Family Law Act which talks about the rights of Australian families, 'the best interests of the child' comes first.

Everyone is talking about it - but what does 'the child's best interests' mean!?

Defining the child's best interests is not easy, because every child is different and what can be good for one child can be bad for another.

The idea of the 'child's best interests' includes:

• the child's physical well being
• the child's happiness
• the quality of relationships between the child and people who are important to them (significant others)
• the quality of how children live
• the right to a relationship with each parent if it's okay for the child

The aim is to provide an environment for all children in which they can grow and feel secure and supported by people around them. When making decisions that affect children directly or indirectly, people must always consider the child's best interests first. When parents make any decisions around their children, they have to decide what is best for them and they must include the children's own views about things.

Both adults and children change as they get older so what is 'best' for them might change too. Therefore ideas about what is best for children need to be flexible.