How the child’s views is weighted in care order proceedings

Abstract

This study addresses how the Norwegian County Social Welfare Board weights’ the child’s view when regulating visitation rights between parents and children, when a care order is issued. Based on 86 care orders from 2018 and 2019, comprising a total of 107 children, the thematic analysis in this study suggests that the child’s view effects the decision-making process to a limited extent: While the child’s view is not mentioned or only very briefly mentioned in seven out of ten cases; the remaining cases are divided between considering the child’s view to some extent, and assessing and elaborating the child’s view in the written decisions. The analysis shows no relation between the child’s age, the child’s maturity, and weighting of the child’s view. Overall findings argue that the child’s view is generally not given weight in the written decisions. As the care orders are presented in this study, findings suggest that the Board’s practice may be in contradiction to children’s’ conventional rights, and by this also in contradiction to the Norwegian law.