Annual Report HAIT

Nur zu ihrem Besten?

Kindeswohl und Kinderrechte in historischer Perspektive

Agnes Anna Arndt

DOI: https://doi.org/10.70583/jbhait.v2024i1.49

Keywords: Transformation Research, Age and Care, Best Interest of the Child, Welfare State, Childhood Research

---

Abstract

The concept of “the best interest of the child” is a guiding principle in the development of children's rights. It shapes childhood studies and related transformation research. Nevertheless, there has been no historical account of the development and application of the term to date. This research project analyzes the emergence of the principle of the best interest of the child both in German and global context, from its origins in the German Civil Code, to the Reich's Youth Welfare Act, its current significance in the Eighth Social Code, and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. It highlights the relevance and ambivalence of this vague legal concept, especially in the area of tension between state intervention, parental rights, and children's claims to autonomy and participation. The research combines social, cultural, and legal-historical perspectives in order to explore the complex interpretations of the best interest of the child in different historical contexts. The project focuses on the internationally intertwined development of the Federal Republic of Germany, as described in the following introduction.

This story is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International. This does not apply to the image used in the story, for which the rights of use must be obtained from the appropriate source.

---

Author Biography

Agnes Anna Arndt

• since 2024 Head of the research project “Zu ihrem Besten? Kinderrechte, kulturelle Bildung und Demokratieerziehung in Europa” at the HAIT, funded by the Saxon Research Promotion Agency
• 2014–2023 Research assistant at the Max Planck Institute for Educational Research in Berlin
• since 2018 Lecturer, from 2006–2012 doctoral candidate at the Freie Universität Berlin