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Norway?s Children?s Ombudsman: Commuting Between Separated Parents? Homes Is Bad for Most Children

By Janet Langjahr

In recent years, the national (and international) trend has been one of increased tolerance of the notion of rotating custody, or timesharing that is more evenly distributed among parents than in traditional visitation schedules.

That is why the situation in Norway is so noteworthy.

Norway has an Ombudsman for Children, a government official who is supposed to be a mixture of spokesperson and advocate for kids.

And Norway’s Ombudsman doesn’t think children should have to “commute” between their parents’ respective homes after divorce.

He thinks this puts the parents’ rights above the children’s needs. And that the “commute” is too stressful and disruptive to most children.

The Ombudsman points out that some separated parents even want their children to attend different schools.

A Norwegian politician criticized the Ombudsman for failing to “equate the positions of mother and father”, concluding that therefore “it will continue to be the fathers who are discriminated against”.

The politician expressed no opinion as to the best interests of children though, arguably conceding the Ombudsman’s argument.

Read more in this Norway Aftenposten article: Child custody spurs debate.

Full post as published by Florida Divorce - Child Custody - Domestic Abuse Law on January 05, 2008 (boomark / email).