All parliamentary parties have agreed on amendments to the parental responsibility law, which among other things changes the practice that parents are generally ordered joint custody in the case of divorce.

“Parents who cannot cooperate and who have a high level of conflict, will no longer necessarily be forced into joint custody of their children,” says Social and Integration Minister Karen Hækkerup (SocDem).

The new law will also make it possible to reject parental custody cases.

“There are some people who have used the law as a launch pad to raise one case after the other. When one case on custody, or where the child is to live, has ended on Monday, they start another case on Tuesday,” Hækkerup says.

Parliamentary parties have agreed that a new case can only be raised if there is new information to add to previous hearings.

“The law previously focused on the parent’s right to the child – but now we want to focus on the child’s right to their parents. Children have been left alone with the responsibility of getting their parents to cooperate, and we will now be removing that responsibility from their shoulders,” the minister says.

Other proposals for changes to the law include ordering a children’s consultant to be present during conversations with children, and that it should be possible to order an investigation into a parent’s ability to care for the child.

“It must not be possible to harass oneself to parental custody. Consideration on whether a person is a good parent will be given to whether a person can cooperate. The investigations will help document whether there are parents who cannot manage being parents,” Hækkerup says.

The Social and Integration Ministry says that a hearing process will begin shortly.

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