Decisions concerning a child must explain how the child's best interests were considered.
Art. 63 · protection without arbitrary discrimination
Family, children and adolescents
The proposed Constitution protects the family in its legally recognised forms and makes the best interests of the child a primary consideration in decisions that directly affect the child. Children are not objects of guardianship: they have a voice, privacy, identity and evolving capacities.
Proposed Constitution · reference text · not promulgatedIn brief
A right is not an abstract promise: it constrains concrete decisions.
For protective safeguards, a child is a person under eighteen years of age. The text requires an effective opportunity to be heard, accessible support, protection against violence, neglect, trafficking and exploitation, and additional support for children with disabilities.
Hearing the child is part of the decision
There is no presumed minimum age for being heard. The weight given to the child's views follows age and maturity, and communication may include assisted or non-verbal means where necessary.
Protection is not the erasure of autonomy
Parents, guardians and institutions provide guidance in line with evolving capacities, but that guidance cannot erase the child's own rights. Protective measures must respect legality, necessity, privacy and proportionality.
What this means for you
Practical consequences
The child must have a safe and accessible means of expressing views on matters that affect them.
Disability does not reduce rights; it may require adaptations and additional support.
Limits and institutional honesty
What this safeguard does not authorise
Child protection does not create universal Candeian jurisdiction over every event in the world.
The best interests of the child do not authorise ignoring due process, third-party rights or legal competence.
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Related pages
Family protection
Family status is not an editable profile
Parentage, adoption, guardianship and child protection have civil effects and require a competent legal source. The interface may display the information, but it cannot alter a registered family relationship for convenience.
Best interests, age-appropriate hearing and protection against exploitation.
Equality and legal protection for recognised family relationships.
Relevant changes must preserve authority, history and evidence.
Disputes requiring adjudication belong to the competent procedure.