RIGHT OF FAMILY INTEGRITY
right of family integrity.A fundamental and substantive due-process right for a family unit to
be free of unjustified state interference. • While not specifically mentioned in the U.S.
Constitution, this right is said to emanate from it. The contours of the right are nebulous and
incompletely defined, but it at least includes the right to bear children, to rear them, and to guide
them according to the parents’ beliefs, as well as the right of children to be raised by their parents
free of unwarranted interference by state officials. The right restricts state action under the
Fourteenth Amendment. Interference is not permitted in the absence of a compelling state interest
and is reviewed under a strict-scrutiny standard. Most courts require a state to establish by clear
and convincing evidence that interference in a familial relationship is justified. — Also termed
right to family integrity. See PARENTAL-AUTONOMY DOCTRINE; PARENTAL-PRIVILEGE
DOCTRINE . Cf. freedom of intimate association under FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION. [Blacks Law 8th]