Page 21 of 30 Fagerberg-Moss (ibid.). Above all, on this occasion as well, the County Administrative Court’s judgment - like that of the Administrative Court of Appeal which confirmed it - was founded not only on written material but also on a hearing in the presence of the applicants (see paragraphs 28 and 29 above). And again, the judgment of the Administrative Court of Appeal was not reversed (see paragraph 29 above). It could be thought that the children’s favourable development whilst in care and especially the apparent improvement and stabilising by 1982 of the applicants’ situation - both of which were recorded in the County Administrative Court’s judgment - militated against continuation of care. However, the Court considers that it is justifiable not to terminate public care unless the improvement in the circumstances that occasioned it appears with reasonable certainty to be stable; it would clearly be contrary to the interests of the child concerned to be restored to his parents, only to be taken into care again shortly afterwards. 77. In the light of the foregoing, the Court has come to the conclusion that in 1982 the Swedish authorities had "sufficient" reasons for thinking that it was necessary for the care decision to remain in force. Neither has it been established that a different situation obtained when they subsequently maintained the care decision until its final reversal on different dates in the first half of 1987 (see paragraphs 30 and 31 above). 3. The implementation of the care decision 78. According to the applicants, the implementation of the care decision also gave rise to a violation of Article 8 (art. 8). They relied, inter alia, on the placement of the children separately and at a long distance from each other and their parents, on the restrictions on and the conditions of visits and on the conditions in the homes where the children were placed. 79. In contesting this claim, the Government argued that the measures relating to the placement of the children had been taken in good faith, were not unreasonable and were justified by the special circumstances. They adverted in particular to the following matters: the fear that the parents might remove the children, as they had previously done with Stefan (see paragraph 17 above); the desire to avoid keeping the children in institutions for too long, coupled with the limited supply of suitable foster homes; the special needs of Stefan, which led to his being placed with the Ek family whom he already knew, his subsequent move having been motivated solely by conflicts between the natural and the foster parents (see paragraph 17 above); the view that, having regard to Helena’s inclination "to take too great a responsibility for her brother Thomas" (see paragraph 12 above) and to the special needs of these two children, it would not have been realistic or "psychologically appropriate" to place them in the same foster home; and the last-minute impossibility of fulfilling the original intention to place these two children in the same village (see paragraph 19 above). The Government further submitted that the applicants’ previous removal of Stefan from his home and their attitude of confrontation towards the foster parents, respectively, justified the initial and the later restrictions on their access to Helena and Thomas (see paragraph 24 above). They added that Mr. and Mrs. Olsson had in any event not made full use of their entitlement to visit all three children. 80. The Court finds, like the Commission, that it is not established that the quality of the care given to the children in the homes where they were placed was not satisfactory. The applicants’ complaint on this score must therefore be rejected. 81. As for the remaining aspects of the implementation of the care decision, the Court would first observe that there appears to have been no question of the children’s being adopted. The care decision should therefore have been regarded as a temporary measure, to be discontinued as soon as circumstances permitted, and any measures of implementation should have been consistent with the ultimate aim of reuniting the Olsson family. In point of fact, the steps taken by the Swedish authorities ran counter to such an aim. The ties between members of a family and the prospects of their successful reunification will perforce be weakened if impediments are placed in the way of their having easy and regular access to each other. Yet the very placement of Helena and Thomas at so great a distance from their parents and from Stefan http://cmiskp.echr.coe.int/tkp197/viewhbkm.asp?sessionId=60525252&skin=hudoc-en&a... 10/13/2010