Abstract
The place of children in society, the contributions they make, and their rights and legal status have evolved over time and across countries. Paediatric medical practice, a relatively new specialty, has also evolved. I will draw on insights from these societal and medical practice changes to provide a conceptual framework that can help grow recognition and understanding of the rights of children to contribute through the ballot box to their own futures and the societies in which they live. I will show that current resistance to giving children the vote merely reflects the slow pace of societal evolution, with objections similar to those that once held back universal adult suffrage. I will offer practical suggestions, drawn from the approach of paediatric medicine towards informing and involving children as they grow in understanding, and cognitive competence, in decisions about their care and their rights as individuals, and on processes that offer an operational approach to achieve child suffrage.
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Modi, N. (2022). A View from Paediatric Medicine: Competence, Best Interests, and Operational Pragmatism. In: Wall, J. (eds) Exploring Children's Suffrage. Studies in Childhood and Youth. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-14541-4_10
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