ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the vital social policy theme of rights, shows that beneath easy phrases about respecting people's rights' are complex challenges, such as what sort of rights, how competing rights for an individual are weighed, and how responsibilities and resources are taken into account. The importance of civil and political rights for social work has been brought home by the Human Rights Act 1998. In Scotland, under the Children and Young Persons Act 2014, Scottish ministers are required to keep under consideration' whether there are any steps they could take to achieve the requirements of the UNCRC, and take those steps if they consider it appropriate to do so. If we look at and think about child and family social work, we can see how social workers have to deal with complex balances between rights and responsibilities all the time. The chapter also shows how rights-based arguments interact with other policy goals and priorities, notably about responsibility and the economy.
