Contact and Evaluations of Violence: An Intersectional Analysis of Swedish Court Orders

What are the impacts of age, ethnicity, and gender on ensuring children’s rights to participation and protection in disputed contact cases in which there are indications of violence? Drawing from a review of all contested contact cases from three primary courts in Sweden during 2010 and 2011, findings suggest that the contact presumption is strong, and generally overrides protection. This norm applies even where there are convictions or explicit reports of child abuse or domestic violence. Priority was neither given to consideration of risk of abuse, nor was a view of children as competent subjects with a right to participation in these proceedings, despite both of these concepts being present in Swedish family law. In cases with ‘non-Nordic’ fathers however, the contact presumption is less likely to override protection than in cases with ‘Nordic’ fathers. Intersections of adult, male, and white privileges appear as an obstacle for ensuring children’s rights.