Föräldrar i konflikt och barn i kläm - En studie av vårdnadshavares bestämmanderätt och samarbetsskyldighet, särskilt avseende barnpsykiatrisk vård
(2008)Department of Law
- Abstract
- In 1977 the Swedish legislator initiated a series of alterations of the Swedish family law making joint parental responsibility the norm. However, a recent alteration renders single parental responsibility possible in more cases. As a consequence of both parents sharing the parental responsibility almost all decisions concerning the child's personal affairs must be made by the two parents together. They are obligated to co-operate. If they fail to come to an agreement the court can only settle the dispute if it concerns either the child's residence, the contact between parent and child or the parental responsibility itself. In other matters the status quo is maintained. This is the case when parents are unable to reach a decision on child... (More)
- In 1977 the Swedish legislator initiated a series of alterations of the Swedish family law making joint parental responsibility the norm. However, a recent alteration renders single parental responsibility possible in more cases. As a consequence of both parents sharing the parental responsibility almost all decisions concerning the child's personal affairs must be made by the two parents together. They are obligated to co-operate. If they fail to come to an agreement the court can only settle the dispute if it concerns either the child's residence, the contact between parent and child or the parental responsibility itself. In other matters the status quo is maintained. This is the case when parents are unable to reach a decision on child psychiatric care. Not only can an actual disagreement between the parents constitute an obstacle but the law in force also enables an abusing parent to deliberately deny psychiatric care for a child who has experienced family violence by refusing to co-operate with the other parent and to consent to such care. A preservation of the existing conditions can have serious consequences for the child's mental health. In 2006 the Swedish government thus assigned a committee to analyse which disadvantages can arise for a child whose parents aren't able to co-operate and also gave it the task to propose a new legislation. Last year the committee submitted its report suggesting that one parent, in exceptional cases, can be assigned the right to make certain decisions on his or her own, for example in health related questions. This graduate thesis aim to give further details on the Swedish legislation concerning joint parental responsibility and the right for parents to decide on the child's personal affairs as well as parents' obligation to co-operate, especially regarding child psychiatric care. To broaden the perspective this thesis also contains an examination of the relevant articles of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child as well as of the Norwegian, Danish and Finnish laws. The thesis also treats the report made by the committee, especially the proposal for a new regulation. The examination of the Swedish legislation reveals that children may have the right to consent to psychiatric care themselves. The public authorities are also given the possibility to intervene when a child is denied necessary care although the prerequisites in the laws enabling such interventions are hard to fulfil. In many situations neither of the alternatives above is possible. The parents' inability to co-operate and come to an agreement then clearly leads to children in need being denied psychiatric care. I consequently come to the conclusion that the legislation is not in compliance with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and that an alteration of the law must be made. Other presented legislations also have their disadvantages and they do not always present a solution to the Swedish dilemma. Although the proposal made by the committee also has its negative aspects I consider it to be one step on the way to a legislation that prevents a parent from obstructing child psychiatric care. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/1559269
- author
- Kullander, Johanna
- supervisor
- organization
- year
- 2008
- type
- H3 - Professional qualifications (4 Years - )
- subject
- keywords
- Familjerätt
- language
- Swedish
- id
- 1559269
- date added to LUP
- 2010-03-08 15:55:23
- date last changed
- 2010-03-08 15:55:23
@misc{1559269,
abstract = {{In 1977 the Swedish legislator initiated a series of alterations of the Swedish family law making joint parental responsibility the norm. However, a recent alteration renders single parental responsibility possible in more cases. As a consequence of both parents sharing the parental responsibility almost all decisions concerning the child's personal affairs must be made by the two parents together. They are obligated to co-operate. If they fail to come to an agreement the court can only settle the dispute if it concerns either the child's residence, the contact between parent and child or the parental responsibility itself. In other matters the status quo is maintained. This is the case when parents are unable to reach a decision on child psychiatric care. Not only can an actual disagreement between the parents constitute an obstacle but the law in force also enables an abusing parent to deliberately deny psychiatric care for a child who has experienced family violence by refusing to co-operate with the other parent and to consent to such care. A preservation of the existing conditions can have serious consequences for the child's mental health. In 2006 the Swedish government thus assigned a committee to analyse which disadvantages can arise for a child whose parents aren't able to co-operate and also gave it the task to propose a new legislation. Last year the committee submitted its report suggesting that one parent, in exceptional cases, can be assigned the right to make certain decisions on his or her own, for example in health related questions. This graduate thesis aim to give further details on the Swedish legislation concerning joint parental responsibility and the right for parents to decide on the child's personal affairs as well as parents' obligation to co-operate, especially regarding child psychiatric care. To broaden the perspective this thesis also contains an examination of the relevant articles of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child as well as of the Norwegian, Danish and Finnish laws. The thesis also treats the report made by the committee, especially the proposal for a new regulation. The examination of the Swedish legislation reveals that children may have the right to consent to psychiatric care themselves. The public authorities are also given the possibility to intervene when a child is denied necessary care although the prerequisites in the laws enabling such interventions are hard to fulfil. In many situations neither of the alternatives above is possible. The parents' inability to co-operate and come to an agreement then clearly leads to children in need being denied psychiatric care. I consequently come to the conclusion that the legislation is not in compliance with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and that an alteration of the law must be made. Other presented legislations also have their disadvantages and they do not always present a solution to the Swedish dilemma. Although the proposal made by the committee also has its negative aspects I consider it to be one step on the way to a legislation that prevents a parent from obstructing child psychiatric care.}},
author = {{Kullander, Johanna}},
language = {{swe}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Föräldrar i konflikt och barn i kläm - En studie av vårdnadshavares bestämmanderätt och samarbetsskyldighet, särskilt avseende barnpsykiatrisk vård}},
year = {{2008}},
}