Children have the right to contact with parents and others who are close to them. Contact means meeting in person and other communication. Parents have the right to contact a child in foster care unless the contact is clearly contrary to the interests and needs of the child, and incompatible with the objectives that the foster care measure aims at. Similarly, those who consider themselves close to the child have the right to contact the child, if it is beneficial for the child.

The child protection services that place a child in foster care shall initiate the visitation of the child with parents and other close relatives. An effort shall be made to reach agreement with those who are to be in contact with the child in foster care and to conclude a written agreement on its arrangements. If no agreement is reached, the district commissioner shall rule on disputes relating to visitation, whether they concern the right to visitation, its scope or its implementation. Before concluding an agreement or issuing a ruling on visitation, the child protection services shall examine the attitude of the foster parents to it. The provisions of an visitation agreement or ruling shall be incorporated into the foster contract. It is therefore important that there is either an agreement on visitation, or a ruling concurrent with the placement of a child in foster care.

When deciding on the visitation of a child in foster care, consideration should be given to what is best for the child to achieve the objective the foster care aims for. When deciding on the visitation of a child in permanent foster care with parents or others, the child's need for visitation and its impact on the child should be evaluated in each case. It should be kept in mind that it is generally important for children to know their origins, their history and their parents.

The foster parents of a long-term foster child are parties to the cases concerning visitation. This means that they participate in the visitation agreement, can request changes before a decision on visitation is made, are party to the ruling and can appeal a ruling on visitation to the Welfare Committee. The attitude of the foster parents of a child in short-term foster care should be examined before a decision on visitation is made.

Other close family members of the child, i.e. those persons who have the right under the child protection law to request visitation with a child who is being kept in foster care, are included as members of the part of the case that relates to requests for visitation.