Title Dalen
The best interests of the child and the child's right to participation and self-determination The child's best interests must be a fundamental consideration in all actions that affect and concern children. Before parents or others make a decision about personal matters for the child, the child has the right to receive information and the opportunity to be heard.barnetoj The child's right to participation and self-determination is regulated in Sections 31-33 of the Children's Act . Other laws may have special rules on the child's right to participation and self-determination. Before parents or others make a decision about personal matters for the child, the child has the right to receive information and the opportunity to be heard. The right applies from the time the child is able to form his own views. The child's opinion must be weighted according to age and maturity, and from the age of 12, great weight must be attached to what the child thinks. The law's starting point is that the parents have complete freedom of agreement on how they want to arrange parental responsibility, where the child will live and access rights. However, the best interests of the child must be decisive in agreements and decisions about parental responsibility, where the child must live permanently and visitation. What is in the child's best interest in the individual case must be decided after a concrete overall assessment. Which solutions are in the best interest of the child can change as the child gets older, and the parents must be responsive to the child's needs. It is legislated that the child's opinion must be given weight in the assessment. This also follows from the Constitution and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child .