ABSTRACT
This chapter considers conceptions of parenthood that are able to generate parental rights and/or parental obligations. Individuals who stand in a custodial relationship with a child, who consent to take on parental obligations to a child, or who stand in a certain causal relationship to a child have parental rights and/or parental obligations. It discusses these three conceptions of parenthood, and considers their implications for the Buzzanca case. After examining these successful ways of thinking about being a parent, the chapter discusses the significance of a pluralistic understanding of parenthood. It notes that although numerous conceptions of parenthood are able to account for parental rights and/or parental obligations, they all can be united under a stewardship view of parenthood. The fulfillment of parental obligations requires at least some legal rights for parents, in the sense of protection from social and/or state interference in the parent-child relationship. Finally, the chapter considers the relationship between parental rights and parental obligations.
