ABSTRACT
Legal issues related to parenting address the rights and responsibilities of parents as they perform their parental functions, such as caring for their children, managing their education, making health care decisions on their behalf, monitoring their behavior, providing appropriate discipline, and guiding their development into the autonomy of adulthood. In particular, there are legal standards defining the extent of parental control over these various domains, and there are also standards for defining the conditions under which the state can override a parent’s standing as the primary party responsible for making such decisions on behalf of a child. In addition, there are legal considerations when a parent must interact with either the adult or juvenile court system on behalf of their child, such as in cases when a child is arrested or accused of a crime, or when a parent may have legal responsibility for their child’s behavior (or misbehavior) or medical treatment.
