Adoption and religious upbringing: Abdi Ibrahim

Background

In Abdi Ibrahim v Norway [2019] ECHR 914, the applicant, Mariya Abdi Ibrahim, who was born in Somalia, had a son in November 2009 in Kenya and travelled to Norway in 2010, where she was granted a temporary residence permit with refugee status [6 & 7]. In September 2010 a parent-child institution notified the child welfare services that it was concerned that the child risked harm in her care [8]. He was placed in emergency foster care and in December 2010 the Country Social Welfare Board made a care order. He was subsequently placed with a Christian family, while Ms Ibrahim had argued that he should go either to her cousins or to a Somali or Muslim family [9]. Continue reading