Children abroad: a relational analysis of cross-border child protection cases in the Finnish central authority

This article published in Child and Family Law Quarterly 2022 Issue 4 is available for download here.

Abstract

Children’s mobility and concerns relating to child protection in the cross-border context is an emerging field of study that has hitherto largely remained unexplored. Central to the effectiveness of transnational child protection are structures that facilitate collaboration between the local child protection and welfare authorities of different countries. Under the

practices of cross-border child protection.

Informed by the idea that the state is a social relation and the notion of ‘stategraphy’ the article examines how the state is brought into being in the practices of authorities who work on child welfare and protection and draw boundaries that exclude or include children. It is argued that particular ideas and normative expectations about the state lead to misunderstandings of...