ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the cases of three American children of divorced parents in the process of negotiating custody and visitation arrangements. By exposing ideological contradictions in the child-focused legal forums that attempt to balance children's agency, autonomy rights and parental rights, it contributes to questioning the existence of one dominant western model travelling around the globe. An inherent contradiction in the system is its encouragement of children to have agency, freely express their views and have an opportunity to be heard in legal proceedings, while denying them a direct voice in determining what is in their best interest. The chapter contributes to the overall theme of the link between childhood and mother/fatherhood by looking through adolescent's lenses to see their views of parenthood and the once nuclear family form, now more amoebic, dissolving, blending and ever-changing. It analyses that what happens to children's agency and voice when family and legal systems intersect.
