‘The Norwegian Response’ – The Development of Contact Rights in Care Order Cases from the Norwegian Supreme Court in Light of Judgments from the European Court of Human Rights

The Norwegian child protection services have faced significant international scrutiny, with the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ruling several times that Norway has violated the rights of biological parents and children. These cases, which passed through the Norwegian legal system before reaching the ECtHR, reveal a divergence between Norwegian jurisprudence and that of the human rights court. A particular area of criticism concerns the restricted contact rights of biological parents after a child is placed in care. Although the Norwegian Supreme Court (NSC) has acknowledged systemic challenges and called for reforms, its rulings show limited substantive change regarding contact rights. This article examines the development of such rights in the NSC’s case law, viewed through the lens of ECtHR jurisprudence. While there is growing recognition of the ECtHR’s authority in the NSC’s decisions, practical changes appear modest. The reforms are seemingly more prominent on paper than in practice, suggesting that deeper transformation must begin at lower levels of the system, as emphasised by the NSC itself.