A Conflict between the Best Interests of the Child and the Right to Respect for Family Life? Non-consensual adoption in Denmark and Norway as an example of the difficulty in balancing different considerations

This article explores Danish and Norwegian regulations of adoption without parental consent as a social initiative considering judgements from ECtHR, primarily involving Norway. As the countries are quite similar, Norwegian and Danish legislation are compared. The comparative analysis shows that in non-consensual adoption cases, the understanding of the concept of the best interests of the child seems to differ between the ECtHR on the one hand and Denmark and Norway on the other hand. It is argued that the social welfare system in the Nordic countries is matched by a Nordic view of children and the Court's approach impedes the ongoing development of the child as an independent bearer of rights in Nordic law.