Non-resident parents' rights and contact with children

Father's role more important

Published:

Mothers still have the main responsibility for their children when the parents live apart. However, fathers take an increasingly more active role in caring for their children. More children live with their fathers, and more parents share the responsibility for their children.

In Norway, the number of children living with only one of their parents has increased for some time. From 1996 to 2002 this figure increased from 21 to 25 per cent. According to a new survey, an increasing proportion of parents have joint parental responsibility for their children, although the norm is still that the mother has the parental responsibility.

 

Arrangement of parental responsibility for parents not living
together. 1996 and 2002. Per cent
 
Parental responsibility All Resident mothers Non-resident fathers
1996     2002 1996 2002 1996 2002
 
Total  100       100  100  100  100  100
Mothers 67      53 78 63 66 54
Fathers 4      4 1 1 0 1
Both 29      42 22 36 34 44
Others 0      0 0 0 0 0
                 
Number 1 249      2 309  618 1 123  528  942
 
Source:  Survey on contact arrangements 1996 and Survey on contact arrangements
and child maintenance 2002, Statistics Norway.

 

The proportion of children who live half the time with each parent doubled from 1996 to 2002, but this still only applies to 8 per cent, as most children live with their mother. However, when the mother is the non-resident parent, between 40 and 50 per cent of those with contact arrangements have agreed that the children should spend half the time with each parent.

Most non-resident parents have contact

Most parents have more or less regular contact with their children following a separation or divorce. But sometimes there is little regular contact. In 2002 just over 5 per cent had not seen their children since the birth/break between the parents, 10-15 per cent had not had any contact with them in the last year and for 25-30 per cent there had not been any contact in the last month. This pattern holds for 1996 as well as 2002.

A majority spend more time with their children than formally agreed

Many parents who live apart have contact agreements stating how often and for how long the non-resident parent may or should see their children. Most non-resident parents live up to the rights and duties set out in these agreements, and often spend more time with their children than formally agreed.

Most contact agreements work well

The majority of parents feel that their contact agreements work well, and more so in 2002 than in 1996.

Mothers and fathers have different opinions

The survey sample consists of parents who do not live together, thus enabling comparisons of the mother's and father's answers. Non-resident fathers tend to report joint parental responsibility more often than resident mothers, they report having more contact with their children than the mothers, and they are happier with the contact arrangement than the mothers.

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