A lot of child advocates and culture watchers (myself included!) have been weighing in on this subject.  There are both moral and legal issues involved.  In the show’s beginning, it was a reality show… unscripted and with crews showing up every once in a while to film the family in its normal course.  That evolved over time as the series grew popular.  Gradually, the crews became virtual live-ins and directed the activities.  That’s when child labor laws SHOULD have kicked in… when the children became “actors” rather than “participants”.  Unfortunately, child labor laws are often indifferently enforced; especially where the entertainment industry (and its immense clout!) is concerned.  Child actors being overworked- laws notwithstanding- is an ongoing scandal that has been underappreciated for the last century! 

The moral aspects as those of the degraded status of children in the Industry itself.  The traditional results are parental greed, children as cattle and family disfunction; resulting in unstable young adults when the kids grow up.  And these are the “amateur” acting families.  In the professional Hollywood ones, these factors often become severe indeed.  Remember:  Child exploitation to the point of actual child pornography has become legitimized in Hollywood.  If they can get away with it, they will.  “Jon & Kate + 8″ only proves that no family is beyond their corruptive reach in the present day.

Dear Dan: 

The Gosselin case is more complex than most people realize.  It’s more than just a custody case between a divorcing (celebrity) family.  There are legal and moral considerations in play here that reflect some truly fundamental questions.  As all too often, the idiocies and irresponsibilities of adults in the popular culture are imposed on their children… which, in turn, imposes on children in society at large; both directly and indirectly. 

Much centers around the question of whether the Gosselin children are child actors (as they seem to have become with the show’s evolution) or remain “participants” (an increasingly common legal dodge among TV producers).  This calls into question child labor laws and financial questions as per that status.  It also helps illustrate the all-too-common tendancy of authorities to look the other way when TV or film producers bend or break the rules with children.

But the prime question remains that of the childrens’ custody and upbringing.  BOTH parents have demonstrated (repeatedly) that their own interests have become ascendant over that of their children and that their children, who are largely responsible for their parents’ fame and fortune, have become mere financial assets in their eyes.  (This is now a frighteningly common situation among child actors in Hollywood.)  The time has come to remove those children to a more nurturing environment.  And in the process, the time has also come to reassert basic rules of decency with children- the absence of which is so overtly illustrated with the exploited (and underloved) kids in the entertainment industry.