I am interested in the development and implementation of children's rights law.  What does children's rights law provide, and how do we make it meaningful to the lives of children around the globe?  In short, how can children's rights law help secure both the rights and well-being of children and enable every child the opportunity to develop to his or her fullest potential?

Current projects:

• Implementation of Children’s Rights

• Human Rights Education/Children’s Rights Education\

• Youth Participation

Publications:

Works in Progress

• I am currently working on a number of specific projects covering a variety of topics, including: using data analytics to assess children’s rights law; law and policy on youth participation; children’s constitutional rights in the United States; children and disasters; and children’s rights and child development.

Selected research projects:

• Implementation of Children's Rights Law

  • Children’s Rights and Children’s Development: An Integrated Approach (forthcoming with NYU Press, January 2025) (with Ursula Kilkelly)

  • “Deprivation of Liberty as a Last Resort: Understanding the Children’s Rights Law Mandate for Youth Justice,” Stanford Journal of International Law, 60: 1-27 (2024) (with Lauren Meeler)

  • “Confronting Categorical Exclusions Based on Age: The Rights of Children and Youth,” Harvard Human Rights Journal, 36: 283-297 (2023)

  • “Youth Voice Matters: The Critical Nature of Youth Participation in Achieving the Right to a Healthy Environment,” Northeastern Law Review, 15(2): 763-777 (2023)

  • “Children’s Rights as a Unifying Framework to Remedy Our Failing Youth Justice System,” Pediatric Research (Online first July 28, 2023; Print forthcoming) (with Elizabeth Barnert et al.)

  • “A Rights-Based Assessment of Youth Participation in the United States,” Temple Law Review, 95(3): 411-455 (2023) (with Charlene Choi and Joseph Wright)

  • “Age Discrimination and the Personhood of Children and Youth,” Harvard Human Rights Journal Online (Dec. 2022)

  • “Reimagining Children’s Rights in the United States,” JAMA Pediatrics (published online Oct. 24, 2022, doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2022.38222022; print forthcoming) (with Elizabeth Barnert, et al.)

  • “Evaluating the Implementation of Human Rights Law: A Data Analytics Research Agenda,” University of Pennsylvania Journal of International Law 43: 1-77 (2021) (co-authored with Charlotte S. Alexander)

  • “Incorporating the CRC and Its Optional Protocols in the United States.” In Incorporating the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child in National Law, edited by Ursula Kilkelly, Laura Lundy, and Bronagh Byrne, Intersentia, pp. 123-143, 2021.

  • “The Trauma of Trump’s Family Separation and Child Detention Actions: A Children’s Rights Perspective,” Washington Law Review 95: 377-427 (2020) (co-authored with Daniela Villamizar Fink)

  • The Oxford Handbook of Children’s Rights Law, Oxford University Press, 2020 (co-edited with Shani King)

  • “Making Children's Rights Widely Known,” Minnesota Journal of International Law, 29(1): 109-149 (2020)

  • “Article 8: Preservation of a Child’s Identity” in The Convention on the Rights of the Child: A Commentary, edited by John Tobin, Oxford University Press, 2019 (co-authored with John Tobin)

  • “Violence, Exploitation, and the Rights of the Child” In International Human Rights of Children, edited by Ursula Kilkelly & Ton Liefaard, Springer, 2018.

  • “Confronting Child Exploitation: The Optional Protocols and the Role of Children’s Rights Law.” In Violence against Children: Making Human Rights Real, (Gertrud Lenzer ed., New York: Routledge, 2018).

  • “Children’s Rights and Women’s Rights: Interrelated and Interdependent.” In Handbook of Children’s Rights: Global and Multidisciplinary Perspectives (Martin Ruck, Michele Peterson-Badali, and Michael Freeman, eds., New York: Routledge, 2017).

  • Advancing Children’s Rights and Ensuring the Well-Being of Children, JAMA Pediatrics, 169(1): 5-6 (January 2015)

  • “The Elephant in the Playroom: The U.S. Government’s Role in Advancing Children’s Rights,” PlayRights Magazine, 1(13): 23-25, 35-36 (International Play Association, 2013)

  • Beyond the Bedside: A Human Rights Approach to Adolescent Health, Journal of Law and Policy, 20: 191-229 (2011)

  • “At the Crossroads: Children’s Rights and the U.S. Government” in Human Rights in the United States: Beyond Exceptionalism, edited by Shareen Hertel & Kathryn Libal, 132-152. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011.

  • Children’s Health in the United States: Assessing the Potential Impact of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Child Welfare, 89(5): 37-56 (2010)

  • Inextricably Linked: An International Human Rights Perspective on Child Health and Education, Childhood Education, 85: 278-282(June 2009)

  • Family Integrity and Children’s Rights: A U.N. Convention Perspective, Human Rights, 36(3): 20 (Summer 2009)

  • Lawyers and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, International Law News, 38: 12-13 (ABA Section of International Law, Winter 2009)

  • Rights Relationships and the Experience of Children Orphaned by AIDS, U.C. Davis Law Review, 41: 417-476 (2007)

  • The U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child: An Analysis of Treaty Provisions and Implications of U.S. Ratification (Brill Academic Publishers, 2006) (co-edited with Mark Wojcik and Cris Revaz)

  • The U.S. View of the Convention on the Rights of the Child—Time for Reconsideration, Children’s Rights Litigation, 8(4): 1, 3-6 (Fall 2006) (co-authored with Howard Davidson)

  • Women’s Rights and Children’s Rights: A Partnership with Benefits for Both, Cardozo Women’s Law Journal, 10: 603-624 (2004)

  • Birth Registration: An Essential First Step Toward Ensuring the Rights of All Children, Human Rights Brief, 10(3): 32-35 (Spring 2003)

  • The Challenge of Creating ‘A World Fit for Children’, Human Rights Brief, 10: 18-21 (Fall 2002)

  • Emerging Limitations on the Rights of the Child: The U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child and Its Early Case Law, Columbia Human Rights Law Review, 30: 159-200 (1998) -- Reprinted in Children’s Rights (Michael Freeman ed., Ashgate Publishing 2004)

• Human Rights Education / Human Rights in Children's Literature

  • “Sport as a Space for Human Rights Education and Children’s Rights,” Human Rights Education Review (forthcoming Winter 2024) (with Ursula Kilkelly)

  • “Children’s Rights and Human Rights Education through Museums,” Boston University Public Interest Law Journal, 31(3): 239-274 (2022) (co-authored, with Anissa Malik)

  • “Advancing Children’s Rights through the Arts,” Human Rights Quarterly, 44(1): 38-55 (2022) (co-authored with Ursula Kilkelly)

  • “Children’s Right to Participate: Insights from the Story of Malala.” In Literary Cultures and Twenty-First Century Childhoods, edited by Nathalie op de Beeck, Palgrave, 2020

  • "The Trump Effect, Children, and the Value of Human Rights Education," Family Court Review, 56(2): 331-343 (2018).

  • Human Rights in Children's Literature: Imagination and the Narrative of Law (Oxford University Press, 2016). See the "Human Rights in Children's Literature" page for more details.

  • "A Person's a Person: Children's Rights in Children's Literature,” Columbia Human Rights Law Review, 45: 1-56 (2013) (co-authored with Sarah Higinbotham)

• Children's Rights and Human Trafficking:

  • “Confronting Child Trafficking,” Indiana Health Law Review 18(1): 95-106 (2021).

  • “COVID-19 and Human Trafficking—The Amplified Impact on Vulnerable Populations,” JAMA Pediatrics (online Sept 21, 2020; print December 2020) (co-authored with Angela Diaz).

  • Child Trafficking: Issues for Policy and Practice, Journal of Law, Medicine, and Ethics, 46(1): 159-163 (2018) (co-authored with Jordan Greenbaum and Katherine Yun)

  • Adolescents’ Right to Participate: Opportunities and Challenges for Health Care Professionals, Annals of Global Health, 83:697-703 (2017) (co-authored with Angela Diaz)

  • Physician Encounters with Human Trafficking: Legal Consequences and Ethical Considerations, AMA Journal of Ethics, 19(1): 16-22 (2017)

  • The Complexities of Conducting Research on Child Trafficking, JAMA Pediatrics, Online First, November 28, 2016 (co-authored with Leslie Wolf)

  • Can Mandatory Reporting Laws Help Child Survivors of Human Trafficking?, Wisconsin Law Review Forward, 2016: 69-78 (2016).

  • Responding to the Sexual Exploitation of Minors, New England Journal of Medicine, 370(14): 1282-1283 (April 3, 2014) (co-authored with Ellen Wright Clayton)

  • A Child Rights Framework for Addressing Trafficking of Children, Michigan State International Law Review, 22: 557-593 (2014)

  • Human Rights, Labor, and the Prevention of Human Trafficking: A Response to A Labor Paradigm for Human Trafficking, UCLA Law Review Discourse, 60: 142-158 (2013)

  • Assessing Public Health Strategies for Advancing Child Protection: Human Trafficking as a Case Study, Journal of Law and Policy, 21: 93-112(2012)

  • Widening Our Lens: Incorporating Essential Perspectives in the Fight against Human Trafficking, Michigan Journal of International Law, 33: 53-76 (2011)

  • Moving Upstream: The Merits of a Public Health Law Approach to Human Trafficking, North Carolina Law Review, 89: 447-506 (2011)

  • Taking Prevention Seriously: Developing a Comprehensive Response to Child Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation, Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law, 43: 1-56 (2010)

  • The Importance of Realizing “Other Rights” to Prevent Sex Trafficking, Cardozo Journal of Law & Gender, 12: 885-907 (2006)

  • Prosecuting Sex Tour Operators in U.S. Courts in an Effort to Reduce the Sexual Exploitation of Children Globally, Boston University Public Interest Law Journal, 9: 1-23 (1999)

• Children's Rights in Post-Disaster Settings

  • “Children and Disasters: The Essential Role of Children’s Rights Law.” In Yearbook of International Disaster Law, vol 2, edited by Giulio Bartolini, Dug Cubie, Marlies Hesselman & Jacqueline Peel, Brill/Nijhoff, pp. 177-203, 2021.

  • Mainstreaming Children’s Rights in Post-Disaster Settings, Emory International Law Review, 25: 1233-1261 (2011)

  • A Child Rights-Based Approach to Reconstruction in Haiti, Intercultural Human Rights Law Review, 6: 43-86 (2011)

  • Accounting for Haiti’s Children after the Earthquake: Immediate Needs with Lifelong Consequences, American Society of International Law Proceedings, 104: 122-125 (2011).

Useful Links:

Law:

• U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child

• Optional Protocol to the CRC on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography

• Optional Protocol to the CRC on the Involvement of Child in Armed Conflict

• Optional Protocol to the CRC on a Communications Procedure

• ILO Convention (No. 182) concerning the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour

• Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children, Supplementing the U.N. Convention against Transnational Organized Crime

International bodies:

• Committee on the Rights of the Child

Resources for research and advocacy initiatives on children's rights:

• Child Rights Connect (formerly the NGO Group for the CRC)

• Child Rights International Network (CRIN)

• Human Rights Education Associates (HREA)

• Human Rights Watch -- Children's Rights Division

• International Labour Organisation -- Child Labour

• University of Minnesota Human Rights Library