The purpose of this law-sociological study was to, on the basis of the District Court's decree to single custody, analyze the District Court’s comprehensive ideas and fall-oriented interpretations of the concept of the best interest of the child and the way they are constructed in connection with the District Court's application of the new law regulation of 6kap. 5§ FB regarding collaboration between parents. Our empirical data consisted of ten decrees to single custody. The decrees were examined and analyzed on the basis of social constructionism as a theory and the idea-analysis as the study's method. Legal sources such as law and its legislative history and the law inSwedenandScandinaviain general, with both domestic and international previous research, gave us initial knowledge in the area which gradually grew during the study. Results show that sweeping presumptions for single custody, with vague connections between single child's best interest and decisions about single custody based on the parents' lack of cooperation, can be glimpsed in several of the judges' texts. The District Court’s ideas/interpretations of the concept of the best interest of the child reach for the most part in the decrees where an individual assessment has been made.

In der Kinderheilkunde kommt es gelegentlich zu einem ethischen Konflikt zwischen Kindeswohl und Kindeswillen, wenn Kinder eine medizinisch indizierte Behandlung nachdrücklich ablehnen. Kann es in einer solchen Situation gerechtfertigt sein, das Kind zu einer Behandlung zu zwingen? Zur Beantwortung dieser Frage fehlte es bislang an medizinethischen Untersuchungen, die den Gehalt dieser beiden Begriffe sowie ihren Zusammenhang systematisch untersuchen.   In der vorliegenden Arbeit wurde eine solche systematische Analyse der rechtlichen und ethischen Voraussetzungen der Begriffe Selbstbestimmung, Kindeswohl und Kindeswille in der Medizin vorgenommen sowie eine qualitativ-empirische Untersuchung in Form eines Faktoriellen Survey durchgeführt, um die praktische Relevanz der Fragestellung zu prüfen. Dazu wurde in Kooperation mit der Ärztekammer Niedersachsen eine repräsentative Stichprobe niedersächsischer Kinderärztinnen und Kinderärzte befragt. Es wurde untersucht, ob die Problematik in der Praxis der Kinderheilkunde eine Rolle spielt und ob Kinderärzte der Ansicht sind, dass der Kindeswille berücksichtigt werden müsse und auch ausreichend berücksichtigt werde. Weiterhin wurde geprüft, welche Kriterien dafür als relevant angesehen werden.  Es konnte gezeigt werden, dass ein solcher Konflikt zwischen Kindeswohl und Kindeswille in der Praxis nicht selten vorkommt und von Kinderärzten als Dilemma wahrgenommen wird. Die Kinderärzte halten es mehrheitlich für notwendig, den Kindeswillen schon bei Kindern zwischen 8 und 14 Jahren zu respektieren, auch wenn dieser dem Elternwillen widerspricht. Dies wird bisher in der rechtlichen Regelung nicht abgebildet. Auch konnte als problematisch herausgearbeitet werden, dass die Selbstbestimmungsfähigkeit Minderjähriger bisher ausschließlich anhand der kognitiven Fähigkeiten und des Alters, nicht jedoch an Hand anderer Reifefaktoren beurteilt wird. Entgegen der bisher im Recht vertretenen Auffassung, dass Minderjährige unter 14 Jahren einwilligungsunfähig sind, wird es in Zukunft notwendig sein, den Kindeswillen in der Medizin stärker zu berücksichtigen. Dies wird auch gestützt durch das in Artikel 12 die UN-Kinderrechtskonvention festgestellte Recht von Kindern auf eine angemessene Berücksichtigung der eigenen Meinung. Die Achtung vor dem Willen des Kindes ist notwendige Voraussetzung zur Entwicklung zu einem selbstbestimmten Erwachsenen.

Section 28(2) of the South African Constitution determines that every child has the right to have their best interests considered of paramount importance in all matters concerning them. Section 9 further provides that every person is considered equal before the law and has the right to equal protection and benefit of the law. Several grounds are listed relating to the unfair discrimination of persons, including their sexual orientation. The concept of care is incorporated in the Children's Act, and it entails a comprehensive description of parents' daily life regarding their children and the powers and duties expected to ensure the general protection, well–being and best interests of the child. The study aims to research the legal position when the sexual orientation of a parent is a considering factor in the granting of care, and the extent of which courts can give consideration to that factor. I commence by examining relevant national legislation relating to the concept of care and the best interests of the child standard in the Children's Act to establish how the sexual orientation of a parent is interpreted by courts in the granting of care. I then proceed to examine relevant international and regional documents to determine the relevant rights relating to the interests of children in the granting of care to a parent in divorce proceedings. I then proceed to analyse landmark cases to establish ways in which the approach of the courts regarding homosexuality have changed since the beginning of the new political dispensation in 1994. Finally a conclusion will be reached on the nature and scope of the consideration of a parent's sexual orientation in the granting of care in the South African context. / Thesis (LL.M. (Comparative Child Law))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012.

Section 28(2) of the South African Constitution determines that every child has the right to have their best interests considered of paramount importance in all matters concerning them. Section 9 further provides that every person is considered equal before the law and has the right to equal protection and benefit of the law. Several grounds are listed relating to the unfair discrimination of persons, including their sexual orientation. The concept of care is incorporated in the Children's Act, and it entails a comprehensive description of parents' daily life regarding their children and the powers and duties expected to ensure the general protection, well–being and best interests of the child. The study aims to research the legal position when the sexual orientation of a parent is a considering factor in the granting of care, and the extent of which courts can give consideration to that factor. I commence by examining relevant national legislation relating to the concept of care and the best interests of the child standard in the Children's Act to establish how the sexual orientation of a parent is interpreted by courts in the granting of care. I then proceed to examine relevant international and regional documents to determine the relevant rights relating to the interests of children in the granting of care to a parent in divorce proceedings. I then proceed to analyse landmark cases to establish ways in which the approach of the courts regarding homosexuality have changed since the beginning of the new political dispensation in 1994. Finally a conclusion will be reached on the nature and scope of the consideration of a parent's sexual orientation in the granting of care in the South African context. / Thesis (LL.M. (Comparative Child Law))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012.

In November 2016 the Swedish government requested a study where actions were suggested in order to strengthen the children's rights perspective for those children living at refuges. This resulted in the commission of inquiry "A window of opportunity- a strengthen children's rights perspective for children in refuges" (SOU 2017:112). The aim for this paper is to study how this inquiry is constructed and in which way it problematize children's rights and will be guided by three research questions: how is the concept ‘children's rights' problematized in the report SOU 2017:112, how does the problematization of children's rights position children living at the refuges in order to strengthen them as rights holders and what implicit assumptions are made as a way to increase the children's rights perspective for the children living at refuges? To investigate these questions this paper will do a policy analysis based on Carol Bacchi’s (2009) “What’s the Problem Represented to Be?” (WPR) approach. The method is chosen since the WPR-approach is used for the study of policies and especially studies the way a policy constructs a problem. This paper argues that the problematization of children's rights positions the children at the refuges as in need of protection and care and at the same time emphasizes their right to get their voice heard, as they are being active individuals. The urge to strengthen the children is argued to be a way to prevent the children who have experienced violence to become abusive themselves. As such, the conclusion is that a strengthen children's rights perspective for those children living in refuges transmits to them becoming ‘good citizens'.

Nowadays, anonymous sperm donation is indeed a globally discussed topic: the popularity of the use of assisted reproduction technology for the purpose of conception is directly proportional to increasing infertility and technological progress. Also, the duration of its use already started to show, with the first generation of opinionated anonymous donor children growing up. The aim of my work is to analyze what are the today's Western society's current ethical and legal views on the anonymous sperm donation and its alternatives, as well as what they should be, and to demonstrate these on the example of Canada, United Kingdom and Australia. In the first two chapters, I outline the context of ethical and legal thinking about anonymous sperm donation: I analyze the concept and implications of the infertility, as well as the development and types of methods of assisted reproduction. Further, I proceed from the basis of ethical reasoning and the determination whether the right to know one's origins, implying the right to know the circumstances of one's conception, exist, and its competition with the rights of parents and donors in the third chapter, to its legal grounds. First, in the fourth chapter, I deal with legislation on the right to know one's origins and other related rights in the international...

De la promulgation du Code civil en 1804 à l’Ordonnance civile du 23 décembre 1958, la protection de l’enfant « en danger » a connu ses plus grandes transformations. Le Code civil sacralise la puissance paternelle comme un droit-pouvoir exercé sur l’enfant. De cette conception restrictive découle une absence de protection légale de l’enfant « en danger » au sein de son foyer, qu’il soit légitime ou naturel. Dès le XIXe siècle pourtant, les juges ont dégagé la notion d’intérêt de l’enfant pour pallier les insuffisances législatives, mais confrontés à une conception forte du droit du père sur l’enfant, ils ne peuvent en limiter durablement les effets en l’absence d’abus de droit. À la fin du siècle, le passage de la magistrature paternelle à la magistrature judiciaire s’accompagne de l’immixtion graduelle des autorités publiques dans la sphère privée, marquée par la promulgation de la loi du 24 juillet 1889 instituant la déchéance de la puissance paternelle. Il apparaît cependant que les rares interventions législatives des XIXe et XXe siècles portant atteinte au droit sacré du père répondent à une logique première de sauvegarde des intérêts de l’État face à la menace sociale, représentée par des familles considérées comme défaillantes, plutôt qu’à une volonté d’élaborer un droit protecteur pour l’enfant. Dès lors, en œuvrant pour une politique hygiéniste systématique, le législateur a provoqué une politique judiciaire du « tout ou rien » fondée sur la faute des parents au détriment de l’intérêt de l’enfant. Toutefois, les juges ont continué à élaborer des théories juridiques pour combler les lacunes, à tel point que l’intérêt de l’enfant tend à devenir le critère judiciaire de sa protection dès l’entre-deux-guerres. Il faut cependant attendre l’Ordonnance du 23 décembre 1958 pour que l’intervention de l’État ne soit plus fondée sur la faute des parents mais sur le seul intérêt de l’enfant. / From the Civil Code in 1804 to the Ordonnance of Decembre 23rd, 1958, the legal protection of the child « in danger » has been revolutionized. As the Civil Code consideres the « paternal authority » (puissance paternelle) as an inviolable and sacred power of the father on his child, there is a complete absence of legal protection of the child, whether the child is a natural one or a legitimate one. The right of custody may not been taken away from the father who neglects his own child. Nonetheless, since the early 19th century, the judges had drawn the concept of « interest of the child » in order to protect him against his father's abuse of auhtority. However, because the « paternal authority » is strong, they cannot limit durably the effects of the father’s power. Then, at the end of the century, the State involves itself in the legal protection by entering at the father’s home. Indeed, the law of July 24th, 1889 instaures for the first time forfeiture parental rights when parents has commited a fault. According to this new principle, an harmful judicial policy of « all or nothing » paralyzes the child protection. Thus the infrequent legislative interventions in the 19th and 20th centuries, harming the paternal authority, are taken in the aim of protecting the interest of the State in stead of developping a real Right to the child. Consequently, the judges still work for the protection of the child by formulating pretorian theoricies. As a result of the judges’work, the interest of the child tends to be the criterion of judicial protection since the interwar years. It is not until the Ordonnance of December 1958 that intervention of the State is not based anymore on a parental fault but on the only interest of the child.

Bakgrund: Svensk migrationslagstiftning har sin grund i en äldre rättsordning som uppkom i och med nationalstatens grundande. Efter andra världskriget växte en ny rättsordning fram baserad på mänskliga rättigheter. Barnets bästa är ett begrepp som har vuxit fram utifrån barns särskilda skyddsbehov och har sedan 1980-talet i ökande omfattning varit del av svensk lagstiftning. Sedan lagändringar i föräldrabalken 2018 ska barnets bästa ges största vikt vid alla frågor som rör adoption av ett barn. Dess-utom ska oftare begäras in ett yttrande från Migrationsverket. Migrationsverket bedömer om en adoption kan vara ett försök att få stanna i landet på ogiltiga skäl. Detta innebär att tingsrätten i beslutsfattandet samtidigt ska förhålla sig till, och resonera kring barnets bästa, och till misstanken om att adoptionen kan vara ett försök att kringgå gällande lagstiftning. Syfte: Att ge kunskap om hur tingsrätten förhåller sig till ett motstridigt område i rättsordningen där mänskliga rättigheter står mot nationens syn på medborgarskapet genom att ställa frågan: Hur resonerar tingsrätten runt barnets bästa i adoptionsärenden gällande barn som inte är svenska medborgare? Metod: Kritisk reflexiv metod och teori som den beskrivs av Alvesson och Sköldberg (2017). Material: Samtliga tingsrättsbeslut i adoptionsärenden från Södertörns tingsrätt under tidsperioden 1 september 2018 till 1 april 2020, gällande barn under 18 år som inte har svenskt medborgarskap. Urvalet resulterade i 16 ärenden. Resultat: Tingsrättens avvägningar och resonerande kring barnets bästa var inkonsekvent. Det tydligaste mönstret var att relationen mellan barn och sökande innan adoptionen avgjorde hur tingsrätten förhöll sig till barnets bästa. Utifrån denna skillnad skapades två resultatkategorier. När det saknades en relation mellan barn och sökande innan adoptionsprocessen utmärktes besluten av kort text med få argument. När en redan etablerad relation fanns mellan barn och sökande, eller då barnets behov var startpunkten för adoptionsansökan, var protokollen till stor del referenser till socialtjänstens och migrationsverkets yttranden. Tingsrätten redogjorde och resonerade både kring barnets bästa och migrationslagarna i större utsträckning, och kunde uttrycka tvivel om adoptionens syfte. Trots att tingsrättens bedömning av barnets bästa ska utgå från det individuella barnet så gjordes detta till stor del utifrån andra faktorer. Diskussion:  Utifrån det individuella barnets bästa borde inte relationen före adoptionsansökan vara avgörande för vare sig omfattningen av tingsrättens utforskande av nationella omvårdnadsmöjligheter eller risken för människohandel. Slutsats: I tingsrättens överväganden, i dessa internationella adoptionsärenden, vägde nationens bästa genomgående tyngre än barnets bästa. Detta tyder på att de nyare rättsordningarna med mänskliga rättigheter och barnets bästa med universella idéer, som det ser ut nu, både domineras av och används som rättfärdigande av den äldre rättsordningen om medborgarskap kopplat till nationalstaten. / Background: The best interests of the child (Sw. barnets bästa) is an expression that has arisen from children's special protection needs and has been a part of Swedish law since the 1980s. Since 2018 the best interests of the child should be given the largest concern in all adoption matters. Furthermore, in more cases an opinion should be received from the Swedish Migration Authority with an assessment if an adoption is an attempt to stay in the country on invalid grounds. This means the court in its judgement at the same time must consider and reason about the best interests of the child, and that the adoption could be an attempt to circumvent current immigration legislation. Purpose: To bring knowledge regarding how the district court reason about a conflicting area in current legislation where human rights stand against the nation's view on the citizenship by asking the question: How does the court reason about the best interests of the child in adoptions cases regarding children who aren't Swedish citizens? Method: Critical reflexive method and theory as described by Alvesson and Sköldberg (2017). Material: 16 district court rulings in adoption cases from Södertörns District Court between 1 September 2018 and 1 April 2020, regarding children under 18 who does not have Swedish citizenship. Results: The district court's reason about what constituted the best interests of the child was inconsistent. The clearest pattern was that the relationship between the child and the applicant(s) before the adoption decided how the court treated the child's best interests. When there was no relationship between the child and the applicant(s) before the adoption process, the decisions in general had short text with few arguments. When there was an established relationship between the child and the applicant(s), or when the child's need was the basis of the adoption application, the protocols was in large references to the Social Service Administration's and the Migration Authority's opinions. The District Court reported and reasoned both to a greater extent about the child's best interests and the migration laws and could express doubts about the purpose of the adoption. Although the district court's assessment of the best interests of the child should be based on the individual child, this was largely based on other factors. The scope of reasoning increased with the child's age, and decreased with the status of adults, respectively. When the applicant had Swedish citizenship, less reason was raised about the best interests of the child. In addition, patterns of gender stereotyped assessments of the applicant's parental ability were shown. Conclusions: In the district court's considerations, in these international adoption cases, the nation's best consistently weighed heavier than the child's best. This suggests that the newer human rights legal systems and the best interests of the child with universal ideas, as it now appears, are both dominated by and used to justify the older legal system of citizenship linked to the nation state.

Delegationsordningen påverkar socialsekreterares handlingsutrymme att leva upp till barnets bästa. Socialsekreterare styrs dagligen i sitt yrkesutövande av politiska beslut som utgörs av lagstiftning. Det politiska landskapet avser att bidra till en demokratisk process med avsikt att leda till likabehandling och rättssäkerhet för att stärka legitimiteten inom välfärden. Samtidigt är individer i behov av individuella lösningar och behovsanpassade insatser, något som lämnar socialsekreterare med ett handlingsutrymme att agera efter egen yrkesprofessionalism i försök att leva upp till barnets bästa. Socialsekreterare lever i ett mellanting mellan dessa två världar där organisationsprofessionalism och yrkesprofessionalism möts. Studiens resultat visar på svårigheter att definiera barnets bästa vilket medför en prövning av socialsekreterarens handlingsutrymme och flexibilitet i varje enskilt fall. Dessutom framgår det av det empiriska materialet att tillit utgör grundval för att handlingsutrymme ska bli önskvärt hos socialsekreterare. På barn- och utredningsenheten där studien utfördes upplever socialsekreterare generellt att de har tillit från ledningen på arbetsplatsen. Däremot framkommer det att delegationsordningen upplevs som ett ekonomiskt styrmedel för att reglera de offentliga utgifterna. Slutligen visar resultatet att socialsekreterare är oense om vem som ska vara yttersta beslutsfattare och efterfrågar expertkunskap i socialnämnden där de tyngsta besluten fattas. / The delegation of authority affects social workers discretion to live up to the best interests of the child. Social workers are affected daily by political decisions. The political landscape contribute to a democratic process with the intention of leading to equal treatment and the rule of law. At the same time, individuals are in need of individual solutions and needsadapted efforts, which leaves the social worker with the discretion to use occupational professionalism in an attempt to live up to the child's best of interests. Social workers act in between two worlds where organisational professionalism and occupational professionalism meet. The results of the study show difficulties in defining the best interests of the child, which challenges the social workers discretion in each single case. Trust is the foundation for making discretion desirable amongst social workers. At the child welfare unit, social workers feel that they have trust from their management. On the other hand, the delegation of authority is perceived as an economic instrument for regulating public expenditure. Finally, the results shows that the social workers disagrees on who should be the ultimate decisionmaker and demand expertise among the politicians in the social committee where the toughest decisions are made.

Studien har syftat till att undersöka hur socialtjänsten hanterar ärenden rörande barnäktenskap. Detta har uppnåtts genom att studera Socialstyrelsens riktlinjer, metodstöd från utvalda kommuner samt genom att utföra intervjuer med yrkesverksamma inom socialtjänsten som handlägger ärenden som rör barnäktenskap. Den insamlade empirin har analyserats utifrån de teoretiska perspektiven barnets bästa och feministiskt perspektiv. Resultatet av studien visar att de studerade kommunerna enbart har metodstöd för hedersrelaterat våld, men inga upprättade rutiner eller metodstöd för ärenden gällande barnäktenskap. Återkommande är att socialtjänsten saknar struktur och verktyg i hur man bemöter barn som är utsatta för risker förknippade med barnäktenskap. För att barnen ska få det stöd och skydd som de har rätt till behöver socialtjänsten ha specifik kunskap om vad hedersrelaterat våld och barnäktenskap innebär. / The purpose of this study was to examine how the social services are handling cases concerning child marriages. This has been achieved by studying the guidelines of The National Board of Health and Welfare, guidelines formed by selected municipalities and by conducting interviews with professionals who handle cases concerning child marriage. The collected data has been analyzed from the theoretical perspectives: the best interest of the child and a feminist perspective. The results of the study show that the chosen municipalities only have guidelines for honour-related violence, but no established guidelines or routines for cases concerning child marriage. Recurring is that the social services lack structure and tools on how to deal with children who are exposed to risks associated with child marriage. In order for children to receive the support and protection to which they are entitled, the social services need to have specific knowledge of what honour-related violence and child marriage mean.