Scathing International Attack on Norway´s Child Welfare
This article has been published in «The Hindu» of New Delhi.
In today´s edition of the daily newspaper of India, «The Hindu», a scathing attack is made on Norway´s Child Protection Services (CPS), also known in English as the Child Welfare («Barnevernet»). The story of the Bhattacharya family who came to Norway with two small children for professional work for Halliburton in the oil industry, is shaming for this nation that has been proud to market herself worldwide as a proponent for peace and harmony in areas of international conflict, while allowing gross breaches domestically of human rights and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
The two children, a two year old boy taken when he was napping at kindergarten, and a five month girl when mommy was breast-feeding her, have been placed in two different foster homes. The Norwegian government has decided that the parents will be allowed to see their children for 3 HOURS EVERY YEAR until they are 18, i.e. in the year 2026 and 2028. The children will not be allowed to learn their mother tongue, nor meet waiting grandparents.
The Ombudsman for Children has made NO STATEMENT in this matter!
As a pastor with extensive knowledge of child welfare in Norway, and even as one who has boldly challenged our Ombudsman for Children and the whole Child Welfare system, I can say that the story in today´s edition of «The Hindu» is trustworthy, and must lead to an independent investigation of the racist and anti-religious stance of CPS/Child Welfare, and the pro-government, anti-religious, anti-family stance of the Ombudsman, who is appointed and financed by the government, and totally serves the narrow agenda and causes of the socialist & social-democratic government of Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg and Minister of Child & Family Affairs, Audun Lysbakken.
In matters of family rights and religion, Norway has become one of the world´s most oppressive and bigoted regimes! We pride ourselves in practicing religious freedom, but this freedom is contingent upon subservience to the present government´s atheist, secular agenda.
For several years I have had extensive family counseling with internationals and nationals in our country who live in fear of family dissolution because of issues of culture, tradition, morality and faith (different faiths). There is a realistic, looming expectation of family dissolution by a government that increasingly sees the GOVERNMENT as the de facto PARENT. (My counseling has had little or nothing to do with the issue of spanking, which in Norway today is forbidden by law. Not even a light slap is allowed.)
The proposition against «the biological principle» on February 6th, 2012 of child psychologist Magne Raundalen, stating that biological parents in Norway will no longer be the prioritized caregiver in their children´s lives, was shockingly immediately condoned by Ombudsman Reidar Hjermann!
I have co-authored the book «Statens Barn?» (Forlaget Exodus 1996), which in English means «Children of the Government?».
