Fathers' Rights Movement By Country - Sweden

Sweden

If one of the parents wants a change in custody, the question of custody may be decided by a court. The same applies to the questions of which of the parents the child is to live with and how access for the other parent is to be organised. In divorce proceedings, moreover, the court must, in the absence of a claim, award custody of the child to one of the parents if joint custody is manifestly incompatible with the welfare of the child. This Law, passed in 2006, has resulted in significant majority of all court cases in which sole custody is requested, being awarded to the mother.

If a child is born to an unmarried mother, the mother gains sole custody automatically unless she elects to, in her sole decision, agree to shared custody. \

In Sweden there are three organizations that fighting for fathers right in custody disputes. http://www.pappa-barn.se/ is one of the most well known lobby organisation in Sweden which have a large membership of fathers and mothers supporting equal gender rights in custody. http://www.pappaliv.se is another big lobby organisation with more than 1000 members. http://www.minpappa.nu is a smaller organisation located to south of Sweden and more helpful for fathers how need help.

Parental Alienation and Parental Alienation Syndrome are unrecognized by the courts and psychologists of Sweden. The Alliance for the Child ("Allians för Barnen") is a social initiative to connect interdisciplinary scholars into a competence network engaging in informing political decision-makers in Sweden, Scandinavia and Europe about Parental Alienation Disorder (PAD). This condition, coined by Professor William Bernet, Professor of Psychiatry at Vanderbilt University, USA, is defined as one of several forms of emotional child abuse. It has been active since the late 70's in media by publishing articles in the press (Svenska Dagbladet, Brännpunkt: Barns rätt till två föräldrar - "Children's rights to two parents", Dec 27, 1979), in Swedish Radio (P1: Tendens), and, recently on the social debate media Newsmill (Ny Lag behövs till stöd för barn som berövas sina pappor - "A new law is required to support children deprived of their fathers")