Abstract

Who gets to parent whom? Anca Gheaus claims that each child should be parented by the “best available parent” and that parental interests should play no role in assigning parental authority. I investigate this view. I find that it does not clearly rule out parental interests and is underspecified. Various further specifications do not seem to be about giving children the best available parent, but rather concern familiar distributive principles that attempt to balance competing interests. At the level of policy, I find the view less radical than it may first appear.