To Their Fullest Potential? Conceptualising the Adequacy of Children's Living Standards for their Development

Abstract

In this paper a framework is proposed for conceptualising ‘fullest potential’ towards which, according to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), children’s education should be directed (Article 29). Children’s development to their fullest potential is linked explicitly to their right to a standard of living adequate for their development (Article 27). The paper argues that focus on ‘fullest potential’ as a human rights issue exposes a tension between the rights of children, the obligations of parents to their children, and the obligations of the state to support all children’s development.