Parental licensing: an Australian perspective

Parental licensing is the idea that parenting competence should be demonstrated prior to adults achieving full parental rights. It is a long-standing idea that is alive among a host of academic philosophers, political scientists and others interested in children’s rights. The question is – is the notion of parental licensing a good idea or is it an extreme authoritarian response to the social problem of child abuse and neglect? The next question is – if parental licensing was in place, who would decide on parental competence, what are the boundaries of competence and how would competence be measured? And what about those adults who are deemed as incompetent? It is worth considering the proposition that, by endorsing the concept of the “best interests of the child” and passing legislation that gives standing to the removal of a child from parental care, by default this constitutes a system of parental licensing.