What if children chose their parents?
At twelve, every child can choose which family to live with. Most stay at home. Some pack a bag in June.
June, and the form is on the table. Most children stay.
Day 1
The form is one page long. At twelve, a child can stay where they are, or name another home that has agreed to take them. The first June brings conversations most families used to put off until someone moved out.
Most children stay. The neighbours talk about the ones who don’t.
Year 1
Spring gets tense. Parents ask their children what they’ve decided, and often wish they’d asked differently. Grandparents, aunts and family friends find out that offering a spare room means something now.
Schools have the same pupils but a lot of new addresses.
Year 10
Children now get a choice most adults never had. Many use it to leave a difficult home, while a few just want to make a point and are back by Christmas.
The homes children stay in are the ones they would pick anyway. The difference is that now everyone knows it.
Who wins
- Children in difficult homesThere is a way out, on a fixed date, without needing a court.
- Relatives with a spare roomTheir offer can turn into a new address.
- Families children want to stay withBeing chosen means something.
Who loses
- Parents who ruled by fearTheir child’s twelfth birthday ends the arrangement.
- Strict but loving parentsOne bad spring can empty a bedroom.
Courts can already move a child who isn’t safe. Letting every twelve-year-old choose any home at all is a much bigger step, and very few parliaments would dare take it.
Would your kids have picked you?
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