I got this photo from Cecilie’s twitter, and it illustrates the sad truth of how CPS treats biological families in Norway.  A police officer and a CPS employee supervise a visit between a boy and his biological father.

This is what Norway is known for these days.

This is what the Bodnariu family has been subjected to for the past 6 months. Incomprehensible.

If the Bodnariu children are not returned at the end of the month as expected by the international community, there will be a high price to pay by the Norwegian government. The entire world will rise up in protest against Norway because of what Barnevernet did to the Bodnariu family and other families like them.

Delight in Truth received this comment from Norway. It highlights the sense of fear that Norwegian citizens have with respect to their CPS. Some data has been edited to protect the author.

“Hi. Thank you everybody out there for speaking up for us parents here in Norway. We are many, we are scared, we have no hope. Please help us deliver this pain and suffering this restriction of speaking up, to resist to the government [is] too risky for us.

I am a single mother. I sent my […] year old child across the street of my working place after work to buy ice cream. Some people saw him alone and talking to a stranger in front of the ice cream fridge. They called the police. When my child came out too me with ice cream my child went to the lunch room. The police came into my work place asking for my child and the man my child was speaking with. We had to lie to the police, that we did not see a child. If they had seen him with the ice cream they would have taken him to interrogation to barnehuset. Removed him from his home beacause I didn’t watch him this second.

I was so scared, luckily I was sparred this time, next time I don’t think before I let him out playing or anything else unforeseen happens I will lose my child for not being there all the time.

This is the terror, everyday terror I live with. In a city of […] people. I know about 20 parents scarred to death to get in the same situation as me with the ice cram incident. I know of hundreds of people I have spoken to that live in fear. Working as a […] so people dare to speak with me. We live in fear, in restriction, we are suffocated in our own country. Too scared to resist, to speak.

Please help us. Talk for us. We need you out there speaking for us.”

Florin Barbu is a Romanian man who commenced a hunger strike in France in front of the European Court of Human Rights because the English CPS has confiscated his Romanian-citizen children and given them into foster care and upcoming adoption to a homosexual couple.  He has not seen his children in over a year, and after representing himself in court, he lost his appeal so far.

He is desperate right now, and in the absence of funds to hire a law firm to fight on his behalf, a hunger strike seems like his only option. He has previously said he willing to die for this cause.

This is a very serious issue because he is determined to follow through.

Delight in Truth is asking the following question, and hopefully our commentators can help answer it:

HOW EFFECTIVE IS A HUNGER STRIKE AT ACHIEVING IT’S SCOPE?

Historically, hunger strikes have had some success because they attract public attention to a cause, but their success is dependent on how well they are publicized and how well the campaign on their behalf is coordinated.

Florin Barbu has approximately 21 days to achieve his scope of getting media and government attention to pressure the CPS in London to return his children.

Why 21 days?

In the first 2-3 days of fasting, the body uses glycogen stores in the liver for energy. In the following 3 weeks or so the body undergoes ketosis which consumes the fat stores in order to survive. After that period a dangerous phase begins where muscle, bone and organs break down to feed the brain and heart. The subject can become very weak and will have to be stationary at the site of protest unless others will transport and care for him. Cold weather will have an absolutely devastating effect and lead to early death in the strike.

Florin Barbu does not have the kind of time that the Bodnariu family has in publicizing their case. It took a few months for the Bodnariu case to hit mainstream media despite large-scale protests.

Mr Barbu has 21 days. We are hopeful that the Romanian government will come to his aid very, very soon. As the strike progresses the media must pick it up and publicize it, or else the story will make the news when it will be too late.

photo: Florin Barbu Facebook

In a welcomed move by common sense Americans and citizens of the world, the American College of Pediatricians (ACP) delivered a statement that embarrasses the LGBT and the Obama Administration agendas.

Gender dysphoria and gender identity disorder are actual DSM-V psychiatric diagnosis which should require counseling and treatment. The ACP recognizes this along with the chaos created by mixing boys and girls in locker rooms throughout public schools.

Here is the stern statement from the ACP:

The American College of Pediatricians urges educators and legislators to reject all policies that condition children to accept as normal a life of chemical and surgical impersonation of the opposite sex. Facts – not ideology – determine reality.

1. Human sexuality is an objective biological binary trait: “XY” and “XX” are genetic markers of health – not genetic markers of a disorder. The norm for human design is to be conceived either male or female. Human sexuality is binary by design with the obvious purpose being the reproduction and flourishing of our species. This principle is self-evident. The exceedingly rare disorders of sex development (DSDs), including but not limited to testicular feminization and congenital adrenal hyperplasia, are all medically identifiable deviations from the sexual binary norm, and are rightly recognized as disorders of human design. Individuals with DSDs do not constitute a third sex.¹

2. No one is born with a gender. Everyone is born with a biological sex. Gender (an awareness and sense of oneself as male or female) is a sociological and psychological concept; not an objective biological one. No one is born with an awareness of themselves as male or female; this awareness develops over time and, like all developmental processes, may be derailed by a child’s subjective perceptions, relationships, and adverse experiences from infancy forward. People who identify as “feeling like the opposite sex” or “somewhere in between” do not comprise a third sex. They remain biological men or biological women.

3. A person’s belief that he or she is something they are not is, at best, a sign of confused thinking. When an otherwise healthy biological boy believes he is a girl, or an otherwise healthy biological girl believes she is a boy, an objective psychological problem exists that lies in the mind not the body, and it should be treated as such. These children suffer from gender dysphoria. Gender dysphoria (GD), formerly listed as Gender Identity Disorder (GID), is a recognized mental disorder in the most recent edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association (DSM-V). The psychodynamic and social learning theories of GD/GID have never been disproved.

4. Puberty is not a disease and puberty-blocking hormones can be dangerous. Reversible or not, puberty- blocking hormones induce a state of disease – the absence of puberty – and inhibit growth and fertility in a previously biologically healthy child.

5. According to the DSM-V, as many as 98% of gender confused boys and 88% of gender confused girls eventually accept their biological sex after naturally passing through puberty.

6. Children who use puberty blockers to impersonate the opposite sex will require cross-sex hormones in late adolescence. Cross-sex hormones (testosterone and estrogen) are associated with dangerous health risks including but not limited to high blood pressure, blood clots, stroke and cancer.

7. Rates of suicide are twenty times greater among adults who use cross-sex hormones and undergo sex reassignment surgery, even in Sweden which is among the most LGBQT – affirming countries. What compassionate and reasonable person would condemn young children to this fate knowing that after puberty as many as 88% of girls and 98% of boys will eventually accept reality and achieve a state of mental and physical health?

8. Conditioning children into believing that a lifetime of chemical and surgical impersonation of the opposite sex is normal and healthful is child abuse. Endorsing gender discordance as normal via public education and legal policies will confuse children and parents, leading more children to present to “gender clinics” where they will be given puberty-blocking drugs. This, in turn, virtually ensures that they will “choose” a lifetime of carcinogenic and otherwise toxic cross-sex hormones, and likely consider unnecessary surgical mutilation of their healthy body parts as young adults.

Delight in Truth received this invitation from pastor Gabriel Hada, one of the organizers of this year’s West Coast Romanian Youth Conference. He invites all Romanian youth to attend the convention!

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On behalf of the Philadelphia Romanian Pentecostal Church, we would like to invite you to the 2016 Romanian Youth Conference in Portland, Oregon! The theme of this year’s conference is REVEAL CHRIST. We as Christians have a high calling to be a living testimony for Jesus Christ. Now more than ever we are called to stand boldly upon the truth of the Gospel, and Reveal Christ in all of His glory.

Let’s unite in prayer, and raise our expectations that God will impact the youth in a mighty way through prayer, worship, and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. May He be revealed to the hearts of our youth, in Jesus name!

John Piper is probably the most recognizable face when it comes to contemporary Evangelical theologians and preachers. He is the author of dozens of books, and the founder of Desiring God ministries. He has been following the news out of Norway with stories like the Bodnariu case. In a recent podcast on Desiring God he said:

“…we humans are not in a very good position to define what perfect love in the Creator of the universe must look like. We are too sinful, too finite, too culturally bound.

For example, this is right off my front burner: I think that if the federal government of Norway were to vote on what a loving God must or may not do, they wouldn’t allow him to spank his children. This has been very much in the news recently because Norway has become increasingly, it seems, heavy-handed — I would say that anyway — in removing children from their parents who don’t measure up precisely to the ideas of what parental love looks like to the government. Whoa, government.”

We hope John Piper will bring the drama of the children in Norway to the forefront of American Evangelicalism as more and more newspapers and news outlets (Washington Times) are publicizing the stories of families like the Bodnariu family.

These are exciting times for Barnevernet victims who have suffered for years at the hands of this system.

Photo: Micah Chiang

The above letter was sent from Barnevernet to the family of baby Aria. Baby Aria was confiscated soon after her birth without any wrongdoing by the parents who have been fighting for the past 16 months to bring her home.

The letter states the following:

For security reasons, and the safeguarding of privacy, consent is not given by the child welfare services ( barnevernet ) for Filming or audio recording, if this occurs the visitation could be canceled. There will be given opportunity for photography, it is encouraged that the photos taken during the visit are for private use and not to be published in social media.

Undersigned Barneverns leader in Lørenskog barnevern
Arnfinn Heimstad

This is further evidence of intimidation and suppression of freedom of expression by Barnevernet. The system is very sensitive about social media since sites like Facebook have become an effective battle ground against it. The victims now have a voice on the international stage. Various political bodies in Europe are monitoring what goes on in social media, and the human rights violations have not gone unnoticed.

Barnevernet is in survival mode. It is in self-preservation mode. As a result it lashes out against victims to further suppress their rights while threatening to take away visitations. This is cruel and inhumane.

We continue to support the family of Aria, the Bodnarius, the Nans and the rest of the victims in this public fight against the government of Norway.

The Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) is an advocacy group representing 84,000 families in the US, and they did what few have done to help the Bodnariu family.

The HSLDA went to Norway at the time of the April 16th, 2016 protest to see for themselves the international drama that has painted Norway in the worst possible light. They interviewed Marius and Ruth, Ruth’s sister, and a number of other supporters at the protest in Stryn. The HSDLA is also calling for supporters to contact the Norwegian Embassy in Washington, DC to express their outrage over the confiscation of the Bodnariu children.

While most of us offered support for the Bodnariu family from far away, the HSLDA went to the tiny town in Norway where the Bodnarius live to document for the rest of us that they are a great family and they are not alone in this difficult time.

The HSLDA documentary below also shows a new look on Marius’ and Ruth’s face: the look of hope. They had received back their baby at the time of the video, and they clearly have a hopeful tone in their voice.

And hope cannot be underestimated.

As difficult as this trial is, God is helping them cope with adversity. Watching the documentary you can clearly see a certain peace on their face, a peace that is hard to understand. It reminds me of what apostle Paul wrote to the Philippian church, just before he was executed: “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Phil 4:7).

We join the Bodnariu family in their hope. A hope of imminent reunification.

Please share this YouTube video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUckcj1y744

These are videos with stories directly from Barnevernet victims.  PLEASE SHARE these videos in the hope that many good and compassionate Norwegians will find out about the human rights violations happening in Norway, and hold Barnevernet accountable. Many thanks to Evgeni Dyakonov [ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Trc1w3k4G7Q ] for allowing us to share these videos on Facebook and Delight in Truth. We hope these clips penetrate deep into the heart of Norway.

This is Marilena, an immigrant from Brazil. Barnevernet took her 5 children. She was unaware of the accusations against her when they took her children. She was a new immigrant to Norway and had language difficulties, therefore she could not communicate well with Barnevernet. Her family’s life has been destroyed.

Mahboubeh is also an immmigrant. She does not know the reason her son has been removed. It later came out that her 10-year-old son longs for his mom, but this information has been kept hidden from her.

Samson is from Ethiopia. He has been living in Norway since age 15. His three children were confiscated. Initially he was able to see the kids 6 times per year, but now Barnevernet put an end to all visitation.

Pastor Cristian Ionescu from Elim Pentecostal Church in Chicago is the main architect of the global pro-Bodnariu/anti-Barnevernet movement. He is a Delight in Truth friend and a man of integrity who used the Bodnariu case as a spearhead to mobilize the world against the Norwegian CPS. He is in Norway to meet with Norwegian authorities this week, and he gave an interview to the top Romanian newspaper Adevarul.

He was asked:

“What will you continue to do? Norwegian authorities promised to re-analyze cases where children were removed by Barnevernet.”

Cristian Ionescu:

“I am not patient with Norway. They should have given the [Bodnariu] kids back long ago. All this procrastination proves that we are dealing with a system in survival mode, which will damage itself if it admits its mistake. It is an evil system, and evil cannot be reformed. It must be destroyed.

This system committed more abuse than it did good. It exploits crisis to create greater crisis. We are not here to represent a strategy. We do not play tic tac toe with Norway. Strategy is out the door now. We tell Norway what we will do and we will do it. We proved that we are credible.

Everything we announced, we did and we will do. If Norway does not hurry up and give the kids back, there will be an avalanche of actions. We hope we do not get to May 30th-June 2nd when [Barnevernet] is preparing a court hearing. God forbid that there will be an unfavorable decision for Bodnariu, because there will be protests and actions against Norway that Norway cannot imagine. We came [to Norway] to open their imagination and tell them exactly what will happen. If they want us to fight against the image of Norway abroad, then they should keep the kids.

This is a fight of two painful realities: Norway’s pain of recognizing it’s mistake and giving the kids back, or Norway’s pain of international shame. Which painful reality will prevail will be the one which will determine Norway’s action. We must make the international shame so painful that Norway will resort to returning the kids.

If the children are not returned, then we will communicate our actions at that time. All countries involved in this protest will have a blueprint of action, and this will cause great headaches for Norway. Once we get this going, it will be unstoppable.”

Interview here: adev.ro/o6psbm