A proposed child-centered legal framework built on the U.S. Supreme Court's parental-rights cases (Meyer, Pierce, Santosky and Troxel v. Granville). It proposes six principles, including that both safe, fit parents stand as equals unless harm is proved by clear and convincing evidence, that any restriction on a parent-child bond use the least restrictive means, that judges, not advisors, make decisions with written findings, and that decisions rest on specific conduct linked to real harm rather than labels.

The paper also names a "dual failure": fit parents separated from their children on unreliable grounds, and genuine survivors of domestic violence struggling to be believed.