Best interests
Child rights principle / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about best interest decisions in respect of children. For the British legal concept of best interests of an adult, see Mental capacity in England and Wales. For the British TV series, see Best Interests.
Best interests or best interests of the child is a child rights principle, which derives from Article 3 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which says that "in all actions concerning children, whether undertaken by public or private social welfare institutions, courts of law, administrative authorities or legislative bodies, the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration". Assessing the best interests of a child means to evaluate and balance "all the elements necessary to make a decision in a specific situation for a specific individual child or group of children".