Table of Contents
Foreword 1
Introduction 4
Chronology 7
1 The Evolving Legal Rights of Children Have Always Been Dependent on Age Michael Grossberg 10
2 The Age of Majority Must Be the Same for Males and Females: The Supreme Court's Decision Harry Blackmun 23
3 The Requirements for Minor Emancipation Vary by State: Gale Encyclopedia of Everyday Law 32
4 Want to Get Emancipated from Your Parents? Better Be Rich Eliza Shapiro 42
5 My Father Offered Me Emancipation, but I Refused It: Personal Narrative Alyssa Bereznak 47
6 The Emancipation of Foster Care Youth Is Far from Ideal Alfreda P. Iglehart Rosina M. Becerra 53
7 I Aged Out of the Foster Care System and Became Homeless: Personal Narrative La Tasha C. Watts 61
8 A Married, Independent Minor Can Be Considered Legally Emancipated: The Washington State Supreme Court's Decision Lloyd W. Shorett 64
9 There Is a Mature Minor Exception to Parental Consent in Medical Decisions: The Tennessee Supreme Court's Decision Frank Drowota 70
10 Medical Emancipation Statutes Forbid Mandatory Parental Involvement for Student Medical Care: The California Attorney General's Opinion Bill Lockyer Susan Duncan Lee 82
11 Old Enough to Vote, Old Enough to Smoke? Jennifer Lai 91
12 There Is No Reason to Set the Drinking Age Later than the Age of Majority Laurence M. Vance 95
13 There Is Good Reason for Allowing Emancipation Prior to Legal Drinking Christopher Carpenter Carlos Dobkin 103
14 The Mind-Booty Problem: Rethinking the Age of Sexual Consent William Saletan 114
15 For Many College Students, Home Means Both the Place They Live and the Place They Left Timothy L. Hulsey 120
Organizations to Contact 125
For Further Reading 130
Index 133
