In this article, the patterns of contact arrangements over time in a sample of Norwegian children in long‐term care are analysed. General legal and professional thinking about the importance of continuity for children in care is contrasted with a view of contact arrangements as multifaced and depending on other considerations than strictly professional ones. Maintaining contact is instead seen as ongoing negotiations between parents, workers, foster parents and children, with the parents as the weakest party. The variation inherent in the process of maintaining contact presupposes the use of discretion in the individual case. On the other hand, professional thinking about the importance of conñtinuity needs to be translated into functional practice guidelines to aid the workers and to stimulate the development of arrangements that are more generally applicab