In 1989 the United Nations General Assembly adopted, without a
vote, a new Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). Within
a year, 130 nations had accepted the CRC, and some 175 now have.
The United States has not yet ratified it, but is now
considering doing so. As approvals of international human rights
treaties go, this is such blinding speed that the CRC's
widespread acceptance seems surprisingly uncritical-especially
for a Declaration that includes an unprecedented approach to the
autonomy of children. Although it restates many time-honored UN
themes about children, the new CRC would also arguably alter a
number of American laws affecting families and children. That
the U.S. is not yet among the adopting nations is a curious
fact, since Americans took the lead in developing the CRC's
unique provisions for child autonomy. American sluggishness
might be explained by a traditional reluctance to adopt human
rights treaties. Moreover, family law is typically reserved to
the states, which complicates the p