By comparison with the South African model that fully complies with international standards for the promotion and protection of the rights of the child, this article seeks to review the state of child law in the United States. The United States has been criticized for being one of only two countries in the world that have not ratified the International Convention on the Rights of the Child. There is strong opposition against ratification of the convention from within the ranks of evangelical Christians, based essentially on a perception that the convention undermines family values. However, this article argues that the main obstacle confronting the United States in this regard derives from the constitutional dispensation of federalism.
Johan D. van der Vyver, "Children's Rights, Family Values, and Federal Constraints," Journal of Markets & Morality 15, no. 1 (Spring 2012): 117-142