The objective was to explore how children and young people retrospectively described their own strategies to get access to protection and support for recovery after disclosing child sexual abuse. Thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews with 14 young people who had disclosed sexual abuse during childhood shows that the participants adopted a range of strategies to be able to access protection and support for recovery. The strategies include finding allies among adults, arguing their case, resisting adult agendas, taking initiatives, and choosing exit. The results demonstrate how a child's agency may contribute to the outcomes for a particular child, while children's opportunities for protection and recovery are both restricted by parental rights and heavily depend on responsive adults pushing a children's rights agenda.

Finding a good match between legal proceedings and the problems they will be used to address, is by no means a new challenge. The complexity of custody disputes—the variations in underlying factors, the child’s individual needs, experience, and views, and the health and life circumstances of the parents—can make the challenge seem overwhelming. Therefore, rather than diving into the details of the law applicable to custody disputes, the present anthology seeks to address broader perspectives, and look for new ways forward, perhaps beyond those set out in current laws.

​This open access book explores how legal proceedings in and out-of-court can be matched to the complex problems underlying disputes concerning child custody, residence and contact between parents. It focusses in particular on Nordic experiences of in and out-of-court mechanisms as means of resolving custody disputes. The contributors are internationally renowned and experienced researchers from the legal, psychological, and sociological fields who provide empirical as well as legal perspectives. They examine central legal, ethical and knowledge-based dilemmas in custody dispute proceedings. The findings speak to an international audience and suggest ways how to best realize the interests of the child. It transcends disciplinary, institutional, and jurisdictional boundaries in search of new knowledge.

The introductory chapter presents the aim, outline, and content of the anthology. First, it describes the dilemmas and challenges that arise in custody disputes, drawing on pre-existing empirical research, discussions among policymakers, and legal scholars. Second, the chapter outlines the child welfare family-law systems of the Nordic countries. It is also argued that the focus on gender equality and the awareness of domestic violence have affected law and policymaking-as well as created new dilemmas when handling custody disputes in practice. Third, the chapter presents the paradigm shift through which children’s rights have been strengthened, for example, the right of every child to freely express their views in all matters affecting them (Article 12, The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child). However, the right to participation raises demands for practical implementation that, so far, have not been fully met. It is proposed that the nature and complexity of custody disputes are serious challenges for society that call for an interdisciplinary and comparative discussion. Thus, the aim of the anthology is to transcend disciplinary, institutional, and jurisdictional boundaries, in search of new knowledge that can integrate multiple perspectives and experiences. The anthology will explore how legal proceedings, in and out-of-court, can be applied to the complex problems inherent in these disputes.

The objective was to explore how children and young people retrospectively described disclosure of child sexual abuse in relation to their own agency. Data consists of semi-structured interviews with 14 participants that had disclosed sexual abuse during childhood. Interviews were audio recorded, transcribed and analysed with thematical analysis. Participants' descriptions of their own agency in relation to disclosure of child sexual abuse, shows that both silence and disclosure can be active choices. By offering children choices trusting them to make decisions for themselves, their sense of control can be increased.