My point that remains is that it's not as simple as society just cruelly sending kids back to their parents -- there are real decisions to be made, and the court could make a mistake in either direction.

Which is why I think the happiness and wishes of the youth in question should be the main thing to consider. The notions of "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" implicit in the Constitution should be a right applicable to people of any age, not just those legally designated "adults" any more than the notions should be limited to men only; or white men only; or white men with a certain amount of property holdings only (each of which was the case in descending order at one point after the Constitution was first written). That is the main argument of youth libbers, of course.

Sometimes a temporary separation of parent(s) and child may be necessary to help with the process of the youth working things out with parents they greatly love but do not see eye-to-eye with on a regular basis, thus causing a huge amount of anger and frustration on both sides. This should be a totally mutable situation, of course, so if it turns out a mistake was made, it could be easily and quickly reversed.