I still think that a key function of the way we think of the concepts “adult” and “child” is to separate the human population into “people who deserve autonomy but no protection” and “people who deserve protection but no autonomy” and in the process dehumanize both groups of people. We ignore the fact that all people need both autonomy and protection, and that our society could easily be set up to provide everyone a healthy mix of both.
And to be honest much of what we label as “protection” for children and “autonomy” for adults is merely the appearance of such. We act as if dictating what children are allowed to say, think, or feel is a form of care, and as if cutting away all social safety nets for adults is a form of empowerment.