88
Stevens, J., dissenting
presumption, the biological father could be denied even visitation with the child because, as a matter of state law, he was not a "parent." A plurality of this Court there recognized that the parental liberty interest was a function, not simply of "isolated factors" such as biology and intimate connection, but of the broader and apparently independent interest in family. See, e. g., id., at 123; see also Lehr, 463 U. S., at 261; Smith v. Organization of Foster Families For Equality & Reform, 431 U. S. 816, 842-847 (1977); Moore v. East Cleveland, 431 U. S. 494, 498-504 (1977).
A parent's rights with respect to her child have thus never been regarded as absolute, but rather are limited by the existence of an actual, developed relationship with a child, and are tied to the presence or absence of some embodiment of family. These limitations have arisen, not simply out of the definition of parenthood itself, but because of this Court's assumption that a parent's interests in a child must be balanced against the State's long-recognized interests as parens patriae, see, e. g., Reno v. Flores, 507 U. S. 292, 303-304 (1993); Santosky v. Kramer, 455 U. S., at 766; Parham, 442 U. S., at 605; Prince v. Massachusetts, 321 U. S. 158, 166 (1944), and, critically, the child's own complementary interest in preserving relationships that serve her welfare and protection, Santosky, 455 U. S., at 760.
While this Court has not yet had occasion to elucidate the nature of a child's liberty interests in preserving established familial or family-like bonds, 491 U. S., at 130 (reserving the question), it seems to me extremely likely that, to the extent parents and families have fundamental liberty interests in preserving such intimate relationships, so, too, do children have these interests, and so, too, must their interests be balanced in the equation.8 At a minimum, our prior cases rec-8 This Court has on numerous occasions acknowledged that children are in many circumstances possessed of constitutionally protected rights and liberties. See Parham v. J. R., 442 U. S. 584, 600 (1979) (liberty interest in avoiding involuntary confinement); Planned Parenthood of Central
Page: Index Previous 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 NextLast modified: October 4, 2007