Børnekonventionen i Danmark. Barnet mellem forældre og stat

Sammendrag

Børnekonventionen har haft stor gennemslagskraft i Danmark. Konventionen blev dog først virkeligt ’opdaget’ i Danmark i slutningen af 1990’erne, da private og offentlige børneorganisationer fandt sammen om at bruge konventionen som redskab i deres politiske arbejde. Artiklen viser, hvordan konventionen efter årtusindskiftet har spillet en stigende rolle i lovgivning om beskyttelse af udsatte børn samt i reguleringen af skilsmisse og samvær. Analyser af lovgivning og debatter blandt beslutningstagere, børneaktivister og professionelle demonstrerer desuden en stigende forventning om, at myndighederne skal kunne intervenere i udsatte familiers liv. Familien er i stadigt mindre grad et autonomt fællesskab. Tværimod kan staten stille øgede krav til forældres kompetencer og livsstil. Undersøgelsen viser, at der er sket en omdefinering af retten til familieliv, og at barnets stilling mellem forældre og stat er blevet betydeligt ændret gennem de seneste 20 år.

English abstract

The Convention on the Rights of the Child in Denmark. The Child between the Parents and the State

The Convention on the Rights of the Child has had a significant impact in Denmark. International perspectives were inspiring certain statutes on children’s rights already by the 1980s – before the Convention was adopted. However, it was not until the end of the 1990s that the Convention truly became a living instrument, as private and public children’s organisations started collaborating on issues of children’s rights. After the turn of the millennium the Convention played a prominent role in the enactments of legislation in relation to socially vulnerable children and in the regulation of divorce and contact. Applying a historical analysis, the article shows how these reforms enhanced children’s rights to development and protection, yet at the same time redefined rights to family life. The study concludes that the authorities gained a wider margin regarding intervention in privacy matters, and new standards were developed for the authorities to be able to assess parenting competence.