In 1989, the Convention of the Right of the Child (CRC) spurred on the rapid creation of child ombudsman programs around the world. Although the U.S. has yet to ratify the CRC, as of 2008 29 states had a children’s ombudsman or an “Office of the Child Advocate”. In this essay, Howard Davidson, the director of the American Bar Association Center, proposes the creation of an NGO run U.S. National Ombudsman for Children to protect the rights of our children. Davidson discusses both the legal parameters (ABA standards), as well as UNICEF’s suggested practices and actions of a protective human rights agency for children.
