Smjernice o pravosuđu naklonjenom djeci katalog su ponašanja različitih sudionika postupaka, i sudskih i izvansudskih, u kojima se susrećemo s djetetom kao neposrednim sudionikom ili uzgrednim subjektom nekog postupanja. One predstavljaju poželjna ponašanja i upute, poglavito tijelima, kako Konvencijom o pravima djeteta zajamčenim pravima dati konkretno obličje. U ovome se radu, polazeći od temeljnih načela Smjernica, a to su: sudjelovanje djeteta, najbolji interes djeteta, dostojanstvo djeteta, zaštita od diskriminacije i vladavina prava, nastoje dodatno rasvijetliti teorijska i praktična pitanja njihova ostvarenja kojom bi se i djeci u tako specifičnim postupcima osigurala stvarna zaštita.; Guidelines on child-friendly justice should be considered as a good set of instructions to the legislator to create a strategy for better protection of children and their rights, which is the obligation of every state that has ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child. In this respect, legal systems have to make a choice between being overprotective and not- sufficiently protective of children in all areas of law, including the criminal proceedings. The child should enjoy the highest level of protection of all the recognized rights in the criminal proceedings. Taking into consideration a child's maturity and ability to participate in the proceedings (by expressing his or her opinion as a fundamental right), as well as the circumstances of a case and a child's liability (as a defendant or a witness), balance should be established based on all of the aforementioned factors. The guidelines are a clear set of instructions to all states on how to treat children in civil, criminal and administrative proceedings. Although the guidelines refer primarily to criminal proceedings, they can be applied to proceedings related to family law. What all the guidelines have in common is that obligations of different bodies (courts, legal representatives, police, and subsidiary bodies) are inextricably bound with legal interests regarding the protection of the integrity and dignity of the child and his or her Convention rights. The author expects that the Croatian legislator will be sensitive to these requirements and that the proclaimed rights of the child will be implemented to ensure adequate protection.