Do Parental Licensing Schemes Violate the Rights of Biological Parents?

Abstract

In his inventive and wide-ranging book, The Right to Be Loved, S. Matthew Liao develops a novel argument against licensing biological parents. Licensing schemes require prospective parents to demonstrate that they have the characteristics and means required for parenting. When would-be parents are found wanting, they are either not allowed to raise children, or have their authority restricted in a way that isn’t true of parents who pass the test. Liao believes that licensing biological parents (but not adoptive ones) can be rejected on principled grounds, without consideration of the effects expected from particular licensing schemes. This novel criticism differs from existing anti-licensing arguments, which tend to reject licensing schemes because of their effects.