Child Right to Association and Parental Ontological (In)Security Management: A Norwegian Study with Potential Insights for Community Social Work

In Norway, children are entitled to all individual and collective rights under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), while parents play an important role in facilitating access to these rights. However, conflicts may arise when a teenager’s right to freedom of association clashes with their parents’ religious beliefs and identity. This article studies the ontological (in)security challenge faced by Muslim parents in Norway when their teenage children choose to participate in confirmation rites. The article explores how Muslim parents navigate the tension between their responsibility to pass on religious beliefs and identity to their children and their children’s assertion of the right to freedom of association with peer groups. The study is based on a pilot survey of Muslim parents whose children participated in confirmation rites at the Norwegian Humanist Association (NHA).