The implications of the International School Psychology Committee's Declaration of the Psychological Rights of the Child are reviewed from the perspective of the life-span developmentalist. Primary focus is on how children's rights change from conception to adolescence. A critique of previous attempts to define children's rights is included.…

Children's rights are discussed as part of a larger conflict between the integrative (emphasizing the duty of institutions to guide the child) and the libertarian views of civil rights. The relative authority given to the judgments of parents, professionals, and children by the law and by court decisions is described. (Author/PP)