How can human rights for children born outside their national jurisdiction with parents deemed as terrorists be safeguarded? In what ways do children risk being discriminated in their welfare rights in Sweden when treated as invisible part of a family? How can we do research on children’s rights in not just ethically sensitive ways but also with respect for children as rights subjects? And what could be a theory on social justice for children? These are questions discussed in studies from different disciplines concerning children’s international human rights, with a special focus on the realization of the CRC in Sweden.
Finding a good match between legal proceedings and the problems they will be used to address, is by no means a new challenge. The complexity of custody disputes—the variations in underlying factors, the child’s individual needs, experience, and views, and the health and life circumstances of the parents—can make the challenge seem overwhelming. Therefore, rather than diving into the details of the law applicable to custody disputes, the present anthology seeks to address broader perspectives, and look for new ways forward, perhaps beyond those set out in current laws.
This open access book explores how legal proceedings in and out-of-court can be matched to the complex problems underlying disputes concerning child custody, residence and contact between parents. It focusses in particular on Nordic experiences of in and out-of-court mechanisms as means of resolving custody disputes. The contributors are internationally renowned and experienced researchers from the legal, psychological, and sociological fields who provide empirical as well as legal perspectives. They examine central legal, ethical and knowledge-based dilemmas in custody dispute proceedings. The findings speak to an international audience and suggest ways how to best realize the interests of the child. It transcends disciplinary, institutional, and jurisdictional boundaries in search of new knowledge.
This chapter describes the background for, and implementation of, the Barnahus model within the Nordic countries. It highlights the core elements of the model and the specifics of the Nordic welfare state context relating to the child welfare and criminal justice systems. A contextual and comparative perspective is used to shed light on how the model is shaped by the legal and institutional context in which it has been implemented. Local adaptions of the Barnahus model, specific to each Nordic country, are also identified. Finally, the outline of the book, containing sixteen chapters divided into four broad themes, is presented.
This edited collection explores the background and implementation of the Nordic Barnahus (or 'Children's House') model – recognised as one of the most important reforms related to children who are the victims of crime in the Nordic region. This book discusses both its potential to affect change and the challenges facing it. The model was introduced as a response to a growing recognition of the need for more integrated and child-centred services for children exposed to violence and sexual abuse. In the Barnahus structure, different professions work together to ensure that victimized children receive help and treatment and that their legal rights are met. This original study is organised into four broad themes: child-friendliness, support and treatment; the forensic child investigative interview; children’s rights perspectives; and interagency collaboration and professional autonomy. Each themed section includes in-depth chapters from different Nordic countries, outlining and analysing the practice and outcomes of the collaborative work engaged in by Barnahus from different perspectives. The introductory and concluding chapters offer a comparative lens useful for policy and practice implementation within the Nordic welfare state context and beyond, ensuring this book has global academic and practical appeal.
Crimes against children are among the most complicated. One of the reasons is high demand on the evidence in a criminal case. As a consequence, many alleged crimes may be difficult to solve. In order to protect the child from future harm, further legal processes might become necessary. The thesis studies risk assessment in custody cases and child protection cases.
One aim of the thesis concerns what evidential criteria relate to the definition of risk within each act and if the law gives any indication of what information that is required in order to assess such risk. Related to the second theme is the issue of what legal possibilities exist to involve the child in the process. The thesis also applies a behavioral science perspective, and provides an overview of the discussion within the research area of children and risk.
Limitations in contact between a child and a parent based on the legal concept of risk constitute exceptions to the main principle that children and parents have a right to live together. This presumption characterizes the current procedural legal frameworks. For example, the party that claims that there is a risk for the child also carries the burden of proof. The level of risk must be at least probable. If this level of risk can not be proven, there is no risk from a legal point of view, and consequently no possibility to intervene against the parents will. A regulation with more options to act within a lower risk domain could be motivated from a child protection perspective (risk monitoring).
The similarities between custody cases which involves accusations of abuse of a child and a child protection case, motivates that both types of cases are handled in the same way and by the same authorities. In order to supply the court with sufficient information, it is necessary to secure both the authority and the competence to carry out this responsibility in the best possible way. This motivates not only alignment of investigative procedures, but also that the investigative body is equipped with the same authority and competence.
I juni 2009 fick Juridiska institutionen vid Stockholms universitet i uppdrag av Rikspolisstyrelsen, Åklagarmyndigheten, Socialstyrelsen och Rättsmedicinalverket att genomföra utvärdering av myndighetssamverkan i gemensamma lokaler kring barn som misstänks vara utsatta för brott, s.k. barnahus. I uppdraget ingick att jämföra förundersökningskvalitet och psykosociala insatser till barn misstänkt utsatta för brott på åtta orter med barnahus och fyra orter utan barnahus.
The child’s right to information is part of the child’s fundamental human right of participation and access to justice according to the CRC. The child’s right to information is also stated in the Swedish national guidelines for Barnahus and in Swedish national law. The child´s right to information is, however, connected to both legal dilemmas and dilemmas in practice. In this chapter, we discuss children’s right to participation from a child rights perspective in a criminal investigation in Barnahus.
This paper presents a brief overview of the legal theoretical problems that arise in connection with the societal ambition of protecting vulnerable groups. One of the central difficulties in legislation with proactive and therapeutic ambitions arises from the link between law and philosophy of science, i.e., the relationship between facts and norms. It is shown that Therapeutic Jurisprudence differs in several aspects from Swedish legal scholarship that follows Scandinavian Legal Realism. It is also demonstrated that Therapeutic Jurisprudence has several similarities with the so-called Proactive Approach. This paper suggests that Therapeutic Jurisprudence may serve as a useful legal theoretical perspective in Swedish legal scholarship, especially when studying complex and vague regulations with a future focus. Two examples from Swedish legislation are examined: (a) Laws regulating compulsory care of abused or neglected children, and (b) laws related to the mentally ill. This paper illustrates the complexity in these acts, and poses the question of whether the regulations serve their purpose of providing adequate care for and protection of those in need.
The objective was to explore how children and young people retrospectively described disclosure of child sexual abuse in relation to their own agency. Data consists of semi-structured interviews with 14 participants that had disclosed sexual abuse during childhood. Interviews were audio recorded, transcribed and analysed with thematical analysis. Participants' descriptions of their own agency in relation to disclosure of child sexual abuse, shows that both silence and disclosure can be active choices. By offering children choices trusting them to make decisions for themselves, their sense of control can be increased.
Barnahus är en samverkansform mellan myndigheter när barn misstänks vara utsatta för brott. En kärna i verksamheten är att sätta barnets bästa i fokus, men en utmaning för verksamheten är att lagstiftningen begränsar möjligheten till informationsutbyte mellan myndigheterna och därmed möjligheten att föra en samlad dokumentation.Den här boken mynnar ut i ett förslag om hur dokumentation av barnets väg genom barnahus kan samlas i en barnahuslogg. Grunden till förslaget är de rättsliga aspekter som aktualiseras när barn ska göras delaktiga, barns och ungas egna perspektiv på att vara delaktig i myndighetskontakter samt de inblandade myndigheternas dokumentation av åtgärder, insatser och beslut som de vidtar inom ramen för sina respektive ansvarsområden. Målet är att stärka barnets rätt till delaktighet i barnahus.
In Child-friendly Justice, world-leading experts on children’s rights analyse how the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child has strengthened children’s status in civil, administrative and criminal justice systems.
A key message from this chapter—and the book as such—is that the Nordic Barnahus model is a step in the right direction in terms of meeting victimised children’s needs and legal rights, and that it could be recommended as a promising practice for other countries. At the same time, it is not a quick fix. In light of the book contributions, this chapter discusses the potentials and challenges of the Barnahus model in the Nordic context and beyond. It highlights the importance of the Nordic welfare state context for the implementation of the model and discusses the different modes of governance that have developed around it. The chapter further describes how the implementation of the Barnahus model has led to the development of a new institutional field—the Barnahus field—and a corresponding field of multidisciplinary research.