This article was written by a resident of Naustdal (same county as the Bodnariu family) and published in the newspaper Firda. Translated by Marianne Skanland. Segments posted with permission:
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“Personally I feel strongly for the [Bodnariu] family and I believe they are being treated very unjustly. It is a strange thing that this is what the rest of the world seems to believe also, just not in Norway and especially locally. I think most Norwegians are over-confident that Barnevernet does everything in the best interest of children. Everybody – government ministers, diplomats, county governors – rise to tell in complimentary words about the theoretically fantastic child protection set-up we have, without entering into the real world. I hope from my heart that this is what causes their behaviour.
But I do not believe it. In this case I believe and I feel that it is not.
By good fortune the larger newspapers have lately covered several child protection cases around the country, giving us shattering stories. On social media there are also links, to loads of terrible accounts by people in Norway who have experienced Barnevernet on its worst behaviour. Naustdal is hardly alone. It seems to me that proper investigation and renovation are needed, of laws, rules and procedures. It is not enough that an arrangement looks fine on paper. One must see to it that it functions in each individual case. I think there may be great variations between different county committees and not least between those working there.
All the secrecy in Norway appears to serve the county committees more than the affected families.
Everybody can go to social media and see authentic recordings from actions with a family, the police and Barnevernet in action. I guarantee it is not a pleasant experience.
Regarding Naustdal, I understand it to have happened without warning. But from what I have heard, taking children away from their parents is supposed to be a last resort after everything else has been tried? Here, obviously, they have started at the wrong end. And where is it to end?
In addition, the parents have been charged and risk a criminal court case, a paragraph running to 6 years of prison being used. Does it take a month-long court case to get the children home? All this is to happen to a young woman who grew up on a farm in a community in Naustdal municipality, a woman who went to Romania to help street children there, met her husband there, came home and by and by had five children. Together with her husband she has lived for 10 years in their own house on the farm of her parents, where they all lived happily in a large family.
People ought to read carefully the desperate cry from the heart of the grandparents in an article in Firda on 10 February 2016.
I have to ask, what has Norway become?
Can such a thing happen only in Naustdal? Are people right abroad? Are these conditions such as we want to live with in Norway?”
photo: wikimedia commons by permission
Delight in Truth 
This is what CPS does in most of the Europe an also it’s becoming a rising trend here in the US. A close analysis done by a CPS worker, and the results are not good at all. Christians need to stand up and speak strongly against it. We need to be a voice for these children. https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PLWShsO1hX-QOgjIpnSPBU1Daj71qhlNRH&v=c15hy8dXSps
great resource!
“child welfare is an industry… industries are self-protective ecosystems”
They only get paid if they take someone’s child.
So true…
For those in Norway who wonder about Norway’s reputation internationally, I might suggest they look at a document like this.
Click to access Visiting%20Norway%20with%20family.pdf
The document presumably provided by the Norwegian Embassy regarding things to know when visiting Norway with family. A full three pages of this four page document are telling you about their Child Protective Services and their processes.
Looks like CPS is the most important aspect a person needs to pay attention to while visiting Norway. That is not the best way to characterize your country with big Warning Signs.
The link address given by Matt indicates this comes from the embassy in India, so it was probably published at the time of the Bhattacharya case, I should say, when half India was in uproar because of the way those two children and their family were treated.
Of course it contains the same empty formulations which our embassies dish out nowadays in connection with the Bodnariu case. It is all formalistic, preaching about the way the guidelines say Barnevernet SHOULD be, nothing to do with reality. It is as Per Storegjerde, the writer of this article quoted by Delight in Truth says: ” It is not enough that an arrangement looks fine on paper. One must see to it that it functions in each individual case.” This is what they refuse to do. The people in power have delegated away the treatment of concrete cases, and have decided that they themselves cannot (will not!) reverse that and take back the command.
One thing the embassy statement says is particularly revealing:
“If someone has a complaint against the way a Child Welfare Service has handled an individual case, they can contact the County Governor. There are 19 counties in Norway. The County Governor sees to it that municipalities execute their tasks in accordance with the Child Welfare Act.”
Ah, but the County Governor (CG) does not govern! He is the state’s top representative in a county, and his powers are solely formal, to check whether the formal prescriptions have been followed. He never looks into the real content of particular cases either! Lots of Norwegian victims of Barnevern offices around the country have complained to their CG when they have experienced how the cases actually go. Nothing comes of it. Lots of CPS supporters in debates, too, come up with this argument that “one can complain to the county governor”. In practice, the CG finds that all formal rules have been followed in the case. (There is no formal – or other – rule against manhandling children and parents by means of “child experts”, that’s why. Not when these experts say that that is in the child’s best interest.) Even if the CG finds some violation, he can only come up with some criticism and Barnevernet is not even obliged to take account of it. It’s somewhat like taking your case from Herod to Pilate and back to Herod again. See p 8 here:
Click to access critical-comments-to-norway-fourth-periodic-report-to-the-un-committee-on-the-rights-of-the-child-2008.pdf
I suspected this might be from the embassy in India. The lack of honesty about the process is very noteworthy, but I will admit that if I were a potential tourist looking for information from an embassy and 75% of the embassy documentation was telling me that my children were under their control, and that my parenting was subject to their standards and evaluation once I crossed their border, I would immediately assume the entire system was corrupt and not to be trusted.
The fact that Norwegian authorities would think such ludicrous assurances in this context would actually be reassuring to anyone, rather than an immediate red flag to never set foot in their country, tells us just how hopelessly indoctrinated they are into their way of thinking.
For anyone reading this, perhaps from Norway, who really doesn’t understand what I’m saying. Imagine that you were about to visit the US, so you contacted the embassy about visiting with your family. If they provided you a document in which 75% of it explained that the US has a really good criminal prosecution system, and that anyone committing a crime like robbery or murder of tourists is prosecuted severely and that if you or your family member were to be a victim of a crime not to worry because we have really fine police and prosecutors you can talk to about it and we always catch the bad guys…wouldn’t you see that as kind of admission that we had a crime problem?..
I must admit I had troubles at first believing that this can be an official document! It is so poorly done, it’s unbelievable! The fact that there’s no indication of WHICH Norwegian Embassy issued that document, once this document starts to circulate online, it turns its message (that supposedly targets Indian population as we find out doing some research) into a message addressed to the people worldwide!! Way to go, Norway! :))
But wait, it becomes even more ludicrous! 🙂
One could wonder – what could be the purpose of such documents issued by the embassy?
a) is it pure information for visitors? is it to calm down the spirits and reassure the people travelling there? – but then why babble about raising children in Norway by parents who can be in a difficulty – mentally, physically and/or financially and how CPS enters the picture? How is this (and many other things) relevant to a visitor?
b) is it touristic promotion? – but then one issuing documents of such caliber should have known that things like “fear” and “complaints” have no place in a promotional material, especially in one representing an entire country’s image!
So in my humble opinion this document is simply defeating its purpose(s). Unless its purpose is a completely different one….
If I can describe Norway’s CPS in short sentence I will say that is a Children Poaching Service. Norway give a bad reputation to CPS.
Norway lost i a long time ago. There is no way my people will ever understand how far away from the truth they have been taken. Its soon not to be one single subject that is not involved in direct crime, that are not to be investigated, criticized or somehow shameful to our nation.
I have lived abroad many years for longer and shorter periods and I am just more and more shocked how severely brainwashed Norwegian has become and it just gets worse and worse.
Half the people are soon “investigating” the other half. Its called “divide and conquer”. Its all planned and executed without even being seen or discussed. If one can not even see the correlation between the war crime bombing of Libya done by Norway and the following refugee crisis, one should be forced to spend time in a library until one can repeat the final truth:
“We have been infiltrated and set up for a 100 year”
It’s nice to see that some people in Norway are brave enough to speak out against such policies.
At the same time, the comment from Arbe Belinda makes me sad. They have been “taken away from the truth” because a large portion of the population no longer obeys God’s Word. The same thing is happening in America and all over the world. This situation in Norway is only the tip of the Iceberg.
Many will find it very sad in that connection that atheists are not the only or the most fervent supporters this anti-family regime. Among the worst to condemn the victims and judge the attacked families immediately as “bad parents”, are Christian groups and churches. They are very conventional supporters of state-obedient society. There are exceptions who take a more independent and thinking attitude, but such groups are small.
Some years ago we had a prime minister from Kristelig Folkeparti (the Christian Democratic Party) who was a Lutheran minister, Kjell Magne Bondevik. His party held the Child and Family ministry too.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kjell_Magne_Bondevik
In my experience they were among the most negative and harmful politicians for victims of Barnevernet. Bondevik now heads a “peace and human rights centre” in Oslo. He is fond of speaking about the need for human rights in far-away-land.
Reblogged this on B a r z i l a i – e n – D a n (Un Barzilai izvorât din Dan).
Reblogged this on Christ4roNews.
Reblogged this on Blog de albina.
Norwegian birth rate extremely low:
http://www.thelocal.no/20160223/norwegian-birth-rate-at-historic-low
“Professional support for the Bodnariu family and other victims of Barnevernet”
Part 1
(Here I only give my translations into English of quoted text. The original version and links to the external sites they come from, are found on
http://www.mhskanland.net/page45/page318/page318.html)
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29 February 2016
In 2015 there was a significant movement among many professionals to have Norwegian authorities revise Barnevernet. Many lawyers, psychologists and others signed a paper they called “Report of worry about Barnevernet”. It quickly reached 150-200 signatures. They have had meetings with the authorities and gained some publicity.
The people in power – such as our politicians and the people of the Ministry – do not understand, or do not want to understand, that something is wrong with the whole set-up of Barnevernet. They make changes, e.g in legislation, but in the wrong direction, and otherwise only talk as if a few cosmetic changes will put everything right.
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Among “the 150” are some quite strong voices. Especially one of the leaders, Gro Hillestad Thune, has a lot of clout. She is a jurist, and has held a position of judge in the European Commission of Human Rights:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gro_Hillestad_Thune .
(The Commission used to be the first instance of the European Court of Human Rights.)
She has for many years criticised Norwegian Barnevern. The authorities, of course, tend to avoid her but she does not give up.
“Had to sit in the audience”
http://forum.r-b-v.net/viewtopic.php?p=36225#p36225
Recently, Gro Hillestad Thune has come out with some very serious and clear statements in connection both with the Bodnariu case and with the unrest there is generally about Barnevernet. These statements should be known abroad.
The newspaper Firda, which is based in the county of Sogn og Fjordane, on 17 February 2016 carried an interview article “Refsar barnevernet” (Castigates Barnevernet).
http://www.firda.no/nyheiter/barnevern/refsar-barnevernet/s/5-15-178196. Unfortunately, the article is not open on the internet except to subscribers.
It contains e.g this dialogue:
“– Do you agree with the criticism from abroad, about the Norwegian system being contrary to human rights?
– I think it is a blessing that the demonstrations have come. The security of a rule of law is much poorer for children and parents in contact with Barnevernet than it is for those who are to be punished and put in prison, says Thune, who wants more help for parents and less control over them.”
(continuation to follow)
(Continued – -)
“Professional support for the Bodnariu family and other victims of Barnevernet”
Part 2
In another recent article, Etterlyser systemgranskning (Calls for investigation of the system) http://www.aftenbladet.no/nyheter/lokalt/Etterlyser-systemgransking-3877949.html
in Stavanger Aftenblad of 26 February 2016, we find:
“The authorities carrying out supervision do not function. Norway needs a commission to examine critically Barnevernet as a system. This is the opinion of human rights expert Gro Hillestad Thune.”
“The former judge at the Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg has over several years lately been engaged in how to secure the rule of law for children and youths under the care of Barnevernet. Last year she was one of several experts who created debate over the appeal called “Report of worry about Barnevernet”. Hillestad Thune has read the article series “The Glass Girl” about Ida (17) and her two dramatic years under Barnevernet’s care. She thinks Ida’s case reveals system failure on many levels and that it should be used to learn from on a national level.”
“But she strongly doubts whether the announced investigation of the case will lead to such learning. On Tuesday it was clear that the County Governors of Hordaland, Rogaland and Troms counties are to supervise the Barnevern service of Karmøy, The Office for Children, Youth and Family Affairs region West, the private Barnevern agent Aleris, the health services and possibly other agents who have handled Ida.
– I will not anticipate the result of an investigation. But on principle this is like setting the fox to mind the geese. The County Governors are the appeal instance for children under Barnevernet and are responsible for carrying out inspection of the institutions. They are to make sure that the children are not exposed to indefensible use of force and coercion. So the County Governors cannot be said to be independent.”
Bravo! Here is a prominent jurist saying what victims of Barnevernet know to be the truth about the state’s top representatives in the counties, the County Governors.
Cf p 8 here:
“Critical comments to Norway’s fourth periodic report to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child – 2008”
Click to access critical-comments-to-norway-fourth-periodic-report-to-the-un-committee-on-the-rights-of-the-child-2008.pdf
“So the question is: How can we achieve an investigation of the quality the girl deserves and which the public can have confidence in? How can we achieve the investigation needed by society in order to learn? asks Hillestad Thune.”
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Another front figure in “the 150 group” is psychologist Einar C. Salvesen. He has been in contact with the Bodnarius and has read their case papers. His general stance is less critical of Barnevernet. But the article in Firda says:
“A tragedy and an abusive action towards the children. This is the way psychological specialist Einar C. Salvesen characterises the way Barnevernet took five children out of their home in Naustdal.”
“He is not in any doubt that it was a grave misjudgment when Barnevernet took action and took the children away from their home.”
“It is a tragedy for the children. This case is so painful and heart-rending that it is almost impossible to bear it. I am in no doubt that Barnevernet has made mistakes in this case, says Salvesen.”
“Psykologspesialist slaktar barnevernet”
http://www.nrk.no/sognogfjordane/psykologspesialist-slaktar-barnevernet-1.12808161 , nrk Sogn og Fjordane, 18 February 2016
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I have come to think that Barnevern-circles may have become somewhat nervous these days about such statements appearing in the mainstream media, especially in conjunction with the demonstrations and information abroad not ceasing. They are not used to it.
While it is true that the people employed in the system appear brainwashed and unable to see reality, and while they pepper our nation with propaganda for the Barnevern system the whole time, the situation in Norway is, in other words, not that there are no voices of sense and humanity. But we sorely need politicians and lawyers in general to throw away their dependence on each other and start looking into what the sensible voices say. The first thing that is needed is to go into individual cases, of course, to face them, face the concrete examples of what their power has directed.
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