(It is June of 2021. I have checked Mr. Metaxas’s You Tube and this video was taken down. If anyone knows where it is, please let me know.)
September 20, 2020
Back in May, Natalya Shutakova was interviewed by well-known American author, Erik Metaxas. Four months later Natalya and her husband are still waiting for the return of their children who were taken from them by the Norwegian “Child Welfare Services” (Barnevernet) for no good reason whatsoever.
This request appeared on Natalya’s Facebook page on Sept. 6th:
“Urgent prayer request. Dear friends and family many of you know our fight to get our children back is still on. This week Monday to Friday we ask you to lift up prayers as we go into yet another court. Blessings to all.”
It seems that the latest court decision will be made in a few weeks. The results of that court decision will be noted here as soon as it is made public.
Natalya’s children are American citizens. Like Eric Metaxas, I am shocked and angered at this kind of intrusion into family life in Norway.
Please pray that these children are returned to their loving parents soon.
Chris Reimers
Wings of the Wind 
My heart goes out to her. I’ve had a few friends here in the US who’ve gone through similar experiences and it ruined their lives. Thank you for posting and spreading awareness!
You’re welcome, Cherie, and I’m so glad you found my site.
I am a member of a few Facebook pages that discuss similar cases in the U.S. That your friends had to go through anything like Natalya’s family is criminal. The lack of wisdom and humanity in some of these “Child welfare” courts is saddening.
Worldwide protests were held in 2016 for a family in Norway and that’s how I became interested in that country. All of the Nordic countries and the UK are particularly bad but behavior like this anywhere is hard to imagine. In Norway it almost seems like legal child trafficking.
I appreciate your comment!
God’s blessings…
You’re very welcome, Chris! God’s blessings to you as well.
Thank you. 🙂
I too add my wishes and prayers for the children taken away from their family by the CPS to come home.
Yes, the situation in Norway regarding the CPS is bad. All we can do is to continue to reach out with information elsewhere, never give up. And luckily some of the outrages of the Norwegian CPS ‘Barnevernet’ have become well-known abroad. The Council of Europe (a very important organisation, formed after the 2nd world war to help prevent atrocities, and which also administrates the European Court of Human Rights – the ECtHR), produced a very critical report about European CPS, with special emphasis on Norway, and since then Norway has been found guilty of breaches of human rights in 7 child protection cases, and how has the un-enviable status of being a ‘habitual offender’. This country of over-confident do-gooders who love telling everybody else how to arrange their lives and societies, and claiming to be world leading in the field of human rights.
Our authorities are intensifying their policy of never listening to protests, never listening to information about the realities, trying to alternately ignore, ridicule and fight the ECtHR, but also to dish out propaganda about the condemning judgments ‘only’ criticising some formalities about our courts and our CPS not having ‘explained’ thoroughly enough the ‘excellent rightness’ of all the CPS does. Cf
“The Norwegian state’s interpretation of the ECtHR judgments about our child protection Barnevernet”
http://www.mhskanland.net/page45/Norw-states-interpretation-of-ECtHR-judgments/page667.html
If the international understanding gets to be great enough, about how inhuman Norway is in the field of child ‘protection’, then maybe – maybe the system will somehow ‘implode’. That might have beneficial repercussions in other countries too, for we know that the ideological ideas that steer all this are present in most countries when they start expanding their social work sectors. I have been in touch with people in the USA over the last 25 years who have been hit in the same way. We need help from abroad, and I hope we can also be of some help to other countries where families struggle in similar ways.
I have not been very active recently, Chris, sorry about that, but I think of all you good people west of the Atlantic.
I especially send my greetings to cheriewhite, who has commented in this post, and her friends who have had their lives devastated in the way she says.
This article relates to both our two countries, and to families from some others also:
“Separating children from their parents – is Norway better than the USA?”
http://www.mhskanland.net/page120/page496/page496.html
What do you think of the reasoning of the assertions of our Minister for Foreign Affairs?
I’m sure you can understand my dismay at the comments by the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
“Norway’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Ine Eriksen Søreide visited the United States recently. On the news back here in Norway, she made a special point of having criticized the USA for their recent practice of separating migrant children from their parents while the family’s application for entry/asylum is being processed.”
Like you, Marianne, in spite of what I stated in my following comment, which is a guess, the U.S. has no place waving a righteous finger at Norway when it comes to certain Child Welfare cases.
Ine Eriksen Søreide is in no position to denounce the U.S. situation when Norway has such a cruel record on Child Welfare. To pretend otherwise is a lie.
You included the full truth when you added:
“The United States has, at least in principle, said that the migrant children are to be reunited with their parents when the applications have been processed. Such principles are found in legislation and guidelines in Norway too, but our CPS, Barnevernet, and unquestioning courts of law prevent it in practice in most cases.”
I haven’t studied the American Child Welfare System nationwide as I should. I know that in my state of Arkansas, reunification is generally the goal, and a local politician has recently been able to get legislation passed in our state assembly that would help situations like Natalya’s to be avoided.
The Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs has her hand in the position where 1 finger is pointing at the U.S. while 3 of her other fingers are pointing back at her.
As you know, I always appreciate when you comment, Marianne. Thank you for your kind thoughts, words, and prayers for those like Natalya whose lives have been turned upside down by the Barnevernet.
I do not have an official version of the decision Natalya wanted us all to pray for in the post above. But, I did get some sad news from someone who seems to know that it did not go in Natalya’s favor. If this is true, I don’t blame Natalya for refraining from commenting at this time. I’m sure there will be an appeal of sorts if true.
Thank you for the link. I went back and reread it (I posted it here on March 12th) and am disgusted once again at the hubris of Norwegian childcare officials.
I have noticed that you haven’t been as active of late, Marianne. Things do look bad, I will admit as well, but there is always hope.
It seems that American officials are choosing to do nothing to help those like Natalya, at least for now. I’m hoping and praying that this attitude changes.
I have been watching the child welfare facebook pages here in America and the situation doesn’t seem to be getting any better here either. I may be wrong, but it does seem like Americans have a bit better legal due process than Norwegians in this area overall.
In any case, thank you for your contributions and attempts to find justice for parents who have been wrongfully deprived of their children.
Chris: “.. and a local politician has recently been able to get legislation passed in our state assembly that would help situations like Natalya’s to be avoided.”
I remember you telling me before about this, Chris. It seems to me that just that kind of individual initiative and action is what is needed. If only we could get that ‘everywhere’, it will add up and wake people’s minds up about the very real needs of children for their biological families. And that might wake up the authorities everywhere to see how negligently and cruelly they are letting the CPS organisations treat children.
Chris: “Like you, Marianne, in spite of what I stated in my following comment, which is a guess, the U.S. has no place waving a righteous finger at Norway when it comes to certain Child Welfare cases.”
and
“I may be wrong, but it does seem like Americans have a bit better legal due process than Norwegians in this area overall.”
I think the USA does have a somwhat better legal due process, so I think the U.S. does have a place waving a righteous finger at Norway. I believe (but I may be wrong) that it has to do with Americans – probably because of the way the large American immigrant society was formed from the start several hundred years ago – are after all less subservient to the state’s authority and to bureaucratic dictatorship.
Back in 2016, when we were maximally concerned with the Bodnariu case, Octavian Curpas in Arizona wrote a very perceptive article which was published on many web sites, and which he let me publish as well:
“With Barnevernet, Norway is going South”
http://www.mhskanland.net/page120/page364/page364.html
I notice that the article relating to foster care in America which he refers to towards the end of his article is no longer at that link. But the website provides a search program and I found it again immediately (I shall put the new link in on my website’s version of Octavian’s article – it is really tiring, though, that so many who publish take away or change their articles’ links). Here it is:
“The evidence is in
Foster Care vs. Keeping Families Together: The Definitive Studies”
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B291mw_hLAJseVk3VnFGTGR1cEk/view
In the case of the local politician I’ve mentioned, it took three things:
1) People who were not afraid to tell their stories to the man who represented them in Little Rock, and
2) A man (in this case State Senator Alan Clark) who was willing to listen to them, take them seriously, and craft legislation that would uphold parental rights in certain cases. There were two new laws crafted, and only one of the two passed into law. Still, progress was made.
3) It took a group of lawmakers who would pass such a law.
It seems a minority of American representatives are willing to spend so much time on issues like these but there are some. It also seems like Norway would get stopped, in almost all cases, by the second and third requirements listed.
You stated:
“I think the USA does have a somewhat better legal due process, so I think the U.S. does have a place waving a righteous finger at Norway.”
As you know so much more about this issue than I, I am glad to see this statement as I’ve been one of those doing a good deal of finger pointing. I have excused my finger pointing to the opinion that my local CPS is doing a better job than the Barnevernet.
In the past several years I have heard the same evidence, in various places, that Octavian found in the article you’ve linked to, including this from Molly McGrath Tierney. ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c15hy8dXSps)
From the article Octavian sent:
“In fact, many children now trapped in foster care would be far better off if they remained with their own families even if those families got only the typical help (which tends to be little help, wrong help, or no
help) commonly offered by child welfare agencies.”
I don’t think there is a good argument against this evidence and I know that you feel as I do that the childcare welfare industry mostly gets it wrong.
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