Children’s voices in Norwegian Custody Cases

The notion of children’s participation and influence has gained general support and efforts at practical implementation. However, the rhetoric of children’s participation is difficult to transform into successful practice. Research from different fields of child participation shows that there may be a substantial gap between participation and influence. This contribution to an enhancement of our knowledge on the implementation of children’s right to participate is based on a study of jurisprudence in the field of child custody. The Norwegian Children’s Act gives children the right to be heard from the age of 7 and is thus disparate from legal frameworks in most other countries. This legal amendment was introduced in 2004; until that time, children from the age of 12 had the right to be heard. The changes in jurisprudence that have followed from the new 7-year rule are the main topic of this article.