Abdi Ibrahim v Norway [2021] ECHR 1060 was about the decision by the Norwegian authorities to allow the adoption of a child by a foster family against his mother’s wishes.

Background

Ms Ibrahim was a Somalian who had moved to Norway and who had been granted refugee status in June 2010. She had arrived in Norway with her son, X, who had been born a few months earlier in Kenya. In December 2010, X was placed in emergency care by social services. Following a decision of the County Social Welfare Board (“the Board”) he was then put in ordinary foster care with an Evangelical Christian family, while his mother had argued he should go either to her cousins or to a Somali or Muslim family. Continue reading →