Paper
Adoption as an alternative to long-term fostering
- issue: Issue 3 / 2009
- authors: Turid Vogt Grinde
- keywords: policy changes, attachment, best interest
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abstract
Background and introduction
Today, most Norwegian adoptions are international or of stepchildren after a parent enters into to a new marriage. However, both the previous child welfare act (1953) and the "new" act (1992) have regulations for deprival of parental responsibility, eventually also adoption without parental consent. There are no similar sections in the Danish and Swedish acts. In the Norwegian adoption concept, the adopters get the same status and economic rights as birth parents, the children the same status and legal rights as children of birth parents. The adopters do not receive payment as foster parents, they get child benefits on line with birth parents, but this is a small amount. The adopters and the child are free from child welfare inspection, but can ask for help. They are free to travel and obtain a passport for the child. In Norway an adoption cannot be cancelled. However, the child welfare may, if needed, intervene in the adoptive family as in birth families. However, the main difference for the adopters seem to be that the child through adoption is "their own", and the attachment between them and the child is strengthened.
The decision system and the use of adoptions without parental consent
Earlier compulsory decisions were taken by municipal child welfare boards, could be appealed to the chief administrative county officer and, eventually, further to the court system. Several child welfare decisions were also appealed to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court discussed especially cases where there might be doubt about the decisions or raised new questions or viewpoints. In 1982-1992 the Supreme Court made decisions in 28 child welfare cases and in 22 of these, the main conclusions conformed with the child welfare decisions (Grinde 1993). In nine of the 28 cases questions about adoption were central, and adoptions were accepted in eight.
A decision in 1982 opened for a broader use of adoption (section 20: deprival of parental rights, accept of adoption). So far, withdrawal of parental responsibilities had been used when the behaviour of the parents caused serious problems for the foster home and the child. The 1982 decision opened for interventions also when an adoption clearly would be in the best interest of the child, and the number of adoptions without parental consent increased. If the mothers have serious problems and the family can not care for the child, the babies may be taken in care by an acute decision shortly after the birth, while the services prepare a formal decision about out-of-home care, eventually also adoption. However, there were worries that it had been "too fast and easy" to get through an adoption. In 1991 and 1992 the Supreme Court again discussed legal aspects in adoption and ended with more restrictive decisions.
In the new Child Welfare Act (1992) "heavy" decisions were moved from municipal boards to state-appointed county boards, and the legal aspects in presentations and decisions were strengthened. According to the first part of the new section 4-20, the parents could be deprived their responsibility, however, an eventual adoption required documentation of three criteria (shortened here): a) the parents seemed permanently unable to give reasonable care, or if the child was so attached to persons/ environment where it lived that a removal would cause serious problems; b) adoption would be in the child's best interest; c) the applicants had been foster parents and shown themselves fit to bring up the child as their own.
County board decisions about deprival of parental responsibility and adoptions in 2004 (section 4-20)
In Norway about 78 children (1995-2004) are each year taken in care before their first birthday (1 -2 children per 1,000 births). Some will probably later return to their birth parents, few are adopted, most remain in long-term foster homes. Even with good foster homes, the children's chances for the future will probably be better with an adoption. However, the numbers of adoptions without parental consent are reduced. In 1995 the county boards made decisions in 53 cases, in 2005 in only 14 cases. With so few cases, the cases promoted for decisions are relatively extreme.
I have studied the county board decisions in 2004 with 18 final decisions + 3 cases discussed without a final decision. The material includes 19 birth mothers and 24 children. Three of the 19 mothers had died (somatic illness, murder, over-dose), and 16 of 24 had been in child welfare care from their first year. Adoptions were accepted for 13 children, refused for four, and parental responsibilities withdrawn for four. The parents had agreements about contact with the children, however many had not used this for years. In their situation they wanted continued foster home care for the child, but they refused to accept adoption "that would change my relations to the child".
Contact details
Turid Vogt Grinde, NOVA, Norway
Email: Turid.V.Grinde@nova.no