Instruments for the Protection of Children against Their Own Parents

Abstract

Considering that the principle of the best interest of the child has frequently meant no more than the transfer of paternalism from the father to the judge, it is necessary to reflect on the sufficiency of the rights that the Brazilian legal system has made available to minors, so that they autonomously exercise certain choices about their life, in a compatible way with their maturity. Moreover, due to the small social utility of loss and suspension of family power as remedies for domestic abuse and disrespect for the existential autonomy of children, this study seeks to examine the other instruments, later created by Brazilian jurisprudence and legislation, to protecting children and adolescents within their family nucleus, guaranteeing them the ownership and the exercise of specific rights.