Student Showcase
Parental Rights
Raising the age of criminal responsibility to 18 years of age in the 2017/2018 NY state budget, has had a major impact on the ability of parents to parent their adolescents. This project will describe some of the ramifications of this policy change in respect to parental authority. For example, it places parents in a no-win situation by requiring the parent to be responsible for the child, without assisting the parent with consequences for criminal activity. Parents’ hands are tied in relation to getting support with their reasonable parenting objectives. Children who used to be considered for Persons in Need of Supervision (PINS), who could be cared for outside of the family environment, no longer have that option. This was a budgetary decision that has left parents without compelling alternatives for supervising their children. The old Niagara Falls police station has been standing empty for many years. Perhaps that building could be considered as a place of help and support for families with rebellious adolescents.