The Indian Bollywood film about Norwegian child protection, and the child protection case it is based on

March 12, 2023

Written by Marianne Haslev Skånland, Professor Emeritus

It has been planned for several years, and has now finally been produced: a film based on a child protection case from 2011 onwards, a case in which an Indian couple’s two children were taken by the Norwegian CPS, called Barnevernet, in Stavanger. The film sounds, from the info I’ve been given and have seen, as though it’s pretty realistic.

The real case had many details and elements that have been misrepresented by Norwegian CPS and also by others. The children’s mother was scandalously treated by the child protection services, and unfortunately the children’s father eventually turned against her, unjustifiably, and almost campaigned for the CPS. This is NOT a case of a mother making up false claims or trying to make life miserable for her husband to get her way. Rather, it is a case that many people recognize: Child protection services burden the family with unreasonableness and horrors which ultimately cause the marriage to break up.

Many details about how the case ran are known and some of them are found in writing, in articles and documents. It would all of it be too much to have to write about all this (again), or to try effectively to counter all the distortions, falsehoods and misrepresentations that are resurfacing now, just as they have in the past, about the way the case evolved and the children’s development then and later. The central accusation from the CPS, the one they always make in Norwegian courts and which the Norwegian people bow to in respect, was the quack diagnosis of Sagarika: that she had a mental disorder and had also caused an ‘attachment disorder’ in the children – they ‘were not attached to their mother (in a healthy way)’. But the CPS made various other claims as well. They find it easy now to say that these allegations either did not exist or were not the reason why the children were taken. This is what the CPS usually says in child protection cases when there is criticism.

Now that the film is coming, the story is moving again, with the same false claims from the then head of the CPS in Stavanger, Gunnar Toresen, and now also from the children’s father. And these incorrect claims are allowed by Norwegian newspaper journalists to be served up unchallenged. I am adding links at the bottom of this article to a few articles which, among other things, contain significant inaccuracies. Feel free to read them, but you should not believe anything without checking it with those who know the matter and preferably Sagarika and the family in India, and especially with those who were active in obtaining and publishing correct information.

There are two people who more than anyone should have respect and admiration in this matter: they are Sagarika’s parents. They did not allow themselves to be fooled by prejudice or power, did not allow themselves to be overwhelmed or imagine all the malicious filth that was hurled at their daughter, but welcomed her with open arms when she in deep despair and after near torture in Norway succeeded in getting home, and they helped her faithfully in the years that followed. The children’s lives and development became very good from the time when she got them home. And they are definitely ‘attached to’ their mother!

I have found some of the articles and posts that some of us wrote and received at the time, and have added links to them. The most important is the case report prepared by Indian experts in 2012: “The confiscation of the Bhattacharya children by Norwegian authorities – a case study”.

Signatories to the Petition to the Indian National Human Rights Commission: 
The confiscation of the Bhattacharya children by Norwegian authorities – a case study – 
(12 October 2012)

Marianne Haslev Skånland:
Norwegian CPS attacks an Indian family
The Bhattacharya case in Stavanger
(January 27 – February 1, 2012)

Times Now:
“NHR Connect: Cultural ignorance or arrogance?” (Part 1)
YouTube video interview with parents 8 months after children were taken
(January 2012)

Modern Times Article
Deprived of the children – siblings split
(January 2012)

Forum Redd Våre Barn:
Photos of Indians in Kolkata demonstrating against the Norwegian CPS’s confiscation of those two children. Some 6,000 people took part. 
(Early 2012)

Athene:
Norwegian CPS still keeps the Indian children isolated from their family
(February 2012)

Marianne Haslev Skånland:
Norwegian “child protection service” and the children’s uncle
(The India/Stavanger case)
(11 February 2012)

Marianne Haslev Skånland:
The curious case of ‘child protection’ in Norway
(April 2012)

Siv Westerberg: 
Norway and Sweden – where inhuman rights prevail
(7 May 2012, 11 November 2017)

Suranya Aiyar: 
Understanding and Responding to Child Confiscation by Social Service Agencies
(9 May 2012, 20 September 2017)

Petition: Indians want government to guard against CPS
(October 2012)

Marianne Haslev Skånland:
Good news in India for the children in the Bhattacharya case
(10 January 2013)

“Finally I got justice, says mother of children in Norway”
A 10-year-old (YouTube) interview with the real mother, Sagarika Chakraborti
Note: This was an interim decision that the children were going to be with their mother Sagarika. In the later court case she got permanent custody.
(10 January 2013)

Jan Simonsen:
“Child protection case damages Norway’s reputation in the Czech Republic”
(The footnote in this article has interesting details about the Stavanger/India case.)
(November 2014)

Suranya Aiyar:
Mrs Chatterjee vs Norway: Child protection in its current form has failed
(March 2023)

Trine Overå Hansen, chief editor:
Barnevernet under lupen (Barnevernet under scrutiny)
Norge IDAG, 1 March 2023
(I can’t help but notice the difference between this article and the three articles below which “contain significant inaccuracies.” I understand that this news source, Norge IDAG, has an independent Christian orientation much different than most Norwegian publications. The editor of Norge IDAG has taken an interest in getting correct information about Barnevernet and knows a lot about the subject. -CR)


Examples of recent articles which, among other things, contain significant inaccuracies:

Norwegian CP case becomes Bollywood film: – Catastrophic consequences
“Norsk barnevernssak blir Bollywood-film: – Katastrofale konsekvenser”
VG, 25 february 2023

The fatal consequences are, of course, those envisaged for Norwegian trade and commerce, seen from the point of view of people who have, like our ‘Conservative Party’, never cared about these ‘finicky concerns about unsuccessful families and their unruly children’.

“Former child protection leader on Bollywood film: – This is not the story as it happened”
“Tidligere barnevernsleder om Bollywood-film: – Dette er ikke historien slik den skjedde”
Dagsavisen, 26 februar 2023

In this article, former CPS leader in Stavanger Gunnar Toresen is allowed to repeat all the false claims and add some more false ones. He says that Sagarika kidnapped the children, that there was agreement that the children could not live with their parents. And he says that he doesn’t know anything about how things have gone for the children from the time Sagarika kidnapped them. But in fact we know, and HE could get to know, but of course he does not want any info from sources who do not implicitly bow to what the CPS claims to be the truth.

If Toresen and Barnevernet do not know how the children have fared, it must be attributed to their own behavior and that of the Norwegian authorities through the case if they cannot just by a natural and friendly enquiry get those in the know to tell them the news that life together with their mother has been good for two children whom Barnevernet had been supposed to help, much better than when they were under the ‘care’ of Barnevernet.

Actually, Sagarika has been taking an active part in demonstrations against Barnevernet’s attacks on families from other nations too. Here a survey of several demonstrations in 2016, triggered by Barnevernet taking away 5 children from the (Norwegian-Romanian) family Bodnariu, and some photos from New Delhi and in Kolkata to support the Bodnarius:

Sagarika Chakraborti is there with the children, you see them on several photos, e.g. on the last photo, and some of the others, (e.g. the one with the big Norwegian flag and the people with posters, Sagarika in light blue jeans and a dark blue top, the children beside her).

“Father of the family in the child welfare case that becomes a film: – I am portrayed as the villain”
“Familiefar i barnevernsaken som blir film: – Jeg blir fremstilt som skurken”
Dagsavisen, 27 februar 2023

Here is Anurup Bhattacharya, who turned on his wife when she would not agree to sign a binding statement saying that she would not ever be entitled to go to court in India to get the children back or get any connection with them. He ‘dreams’ up an even newer version of the story, picturing him as the discriminated against father who has not been able to see his children for 10 years. – Several questions are then pertinent, among them why he acted as he did in 2012. Why did suddenly the Indian newspaper Hindu write that Sagarika was after all a psychiatric case and mentally handicapped? Has the father paid any child support for these 10 years, and was his brother paid as a ‘foster father’ by Stavanger Municipality or the Norwegian State for the year the children were living in his parents’ house? One of the things the court in Bengal apparently said when they awarded custody to Sagarika, was that their father’s brother, who had been appointed by Norway and by his free will was to be the children’s foster father, had failed in his duties to them.

—————————————–

My comments:

It appears that I have gone over a year without writing anything about the state of Child Welfare. I have always been interested in the welfare of children but my interest grew dramatically with a story out of Norway in 2016. After some research I became convinced that children were being stolen by the organization in Norway designated to help families. My opinion has only been solidified by story after story like the Bodnariu case in 2016. Since then the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has found the Norwegian state guilty of severe violation of human rights involving child welfare in cases that took years to be decided, and Norway has now been given status as a ‘habitual offender’ by the ECtHR.

This new movie is a great opportunity to bring the subject back to the fore. The truth is that little to no headway has been made against the sinister and embedded systems within many governments that cause stories like the one described above. Norway isn’t the only culprit. Since I’ve been watching this situation, Sweden, Great Britain, the United States and others have been guilty of similar crimes. The cases in Norway are so blatant that they are hard to ignore.

The good people in Norway continue to try to educate others about the situation so that changes can be made. They have had a difficult task because for every item published attempting to describe reality there are 20 others published that are like those mentioned at the end of Marianne’s links above along with glowing advertisements by adoption agencies.

Sadly, the great majority of these cases in Norway do not end well. After the children are taken from their parents, the Norwegian Child “Protection Services” (called the Barnevernet) does not look to worthy extended family members to take the children in for a period of time while any problems are resolved. If more than one child is taken, and it is usually the case when there is more than one child, the children are split up into different foster homes and the parents are given very little visitation, sometimes only a few hours a year. Much of the time the parents have to travel hours to see their children because they have been moved so far away.

I have experienced one of these stories firsthand. Because I had been very active protesting these crimes on social media, a Norwegian mother and a friend of hers felt comfortable contacting me about her situation. She had just left a “Mother’s Home” in Norway where mothers are “observed” to determine if they are worthy to continue caring for their child. She was staying with her friend, a highly qualified nurse, and her family, until she could decide her next move in life. I still remember the day she called me on the phone and told me that her son had been taken from his crib by Barnevernet workers.

We were in shock. Not long after that the brave young mother decided that I should document her experience in spite of possible problems it might cause. She wanted the world to know about this evil thing that had happened to her. Over the next few months I wrote posts here describing what she was going through as she shared every important event with me over the phone. The entire series of posts was eventually shared here as well. They were shared in a post entitled: A Miracle in the Norwegian CPS? Following the young mother’s struggles is something I will never forget.

How can I forget about the American mother who had her son stolen from her almost 10 years ago? The child was a little underweight but well within any healthy metric one might conjure up. He enjoyed being breastfed and was a bit slow in taking to solid food. On a day in 2013, agents from Norway’s child protection services, along with officers from the Norway police force, stormed the mother’s home and forced her, her baby’s father and her son to go to a local hospital. Shortly thereafter, the mother had her parental rights taken from her and her son was taken into custody by Norwegian officials. The parents were granted a few visitation hours a week. After a year of visitations, she was told she could no longer see him. Almost 10 years later all the mother knows is that her son’s name has been changed multiple times just in case she tried to find him. She has no idea where he is. The incredible story can be found here: “Norway Took My Child”: Child Protective Services Takes Baby from American Mom.

It is still happening. Nothing has changed. In fact, some think that things are getting worse. Many are afraid to say anything. Some have taken their children and left Norway. I don’t blame them. Mothers are being watched. They are being watched by school officials, neighbors, church members, and many others. There is no question that some mothers could use a little assistance in rearing their children. There is no question that there is a very small minority of women who should not be mothers. But when children are taken from their parents for questionable and even trivial reasons, there will be a reckoning. One day, those who are guilty of such crimes will face a natural and spiritual reality. It is a reality as real as the stories I have shared here. It is the reality that those guilty of such crimes will reap what they have sown.

Chris Reimers






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Two New Convictions of Norway in the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in cases concerning child protection (Barnevern) and a similar case from my own “backyard”

November 28, 2021
The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France Photo by Guilhem Vellut

The 12th and 13th cases in the past three years finding the Norwegian Child Welfare Services guilty of human rights offenses were decided on November 25th. If you would like to see the details of the cases and the statements of the Court, you can find them here and here.

If you would like to see all thirteen decisions and a previous one, you can find them here. I am thankful to Professor Marianne Skanland for compiling this list of cases.

As the number of such cases begin to pile up, it seems that the Norwegian Child Welfare services are oblivious to such proceedings. This response is inexcusable.

I was told by a case worker in Norway years ago that I shouldn’t be so concerned about Norway but should look to the problems within the American Child Protection Services. He was correct that we have similar problems in the U.S. and I have focused on them in more than one post. Here is one important article that focuses on promoters of forced adoption in the U.S. At the same time, American parents seem to have a better chance not to lose their children forever. There is no question we have problems here that need resolution. In my neck of the woods, the CPS appears to attempt reunification of parents with their children in a good percentage of cases. I know that things are not as good in many places in the U.S. And we have had our own strange cases here in Garland County.

One of the strangest Norway style events here involved the Stanley family in January of 2015. You can click on this sentence, taken from one of the reports of the incident, to see the entire story:

“Suddenly the door opened … and there were six or eight of them, came in the door, marched in there,” Hal showed. “Fully armed Sheriff’s and people stood there and said we’re taking the children for 72 hours.”

All of the Stanley children were rightfully returned to the parents eventually.

Here is a report and video from five months after the Stanley children were taken.

This is the video from the report:

What is happening in Norway garnered worldwide protests in 2016. The same types of incidents have created protests in rural Arkansas and in many other places in America. “Childnapping” is happening in the U.S. Sweden, Denmark, and England are just a few of the other countries where this problem has gotten very real to parents who never suspected that their children would be taken from them. This is a “first world” problem that many in Norway argue has become an industry. Thus, the focus on Norway which has sociologists that argue that half of all parents are not able to care for their children as well as the government can.

An interesting new “front” on the war against human rights violations towards families is taking place in Poland. A group called Ordo Iuris Institute for Legal Culture has taken an active role in several social questions, among them helping families against such injustices. It is a Polish Catholic organization and think tank. Not a fan of Catholic theology, I am a big fan of those trying to help others escape the long reach of certain governmental agencies that are in the business of wrecking families.

Ordo luris states in one of it’s publications that:

“…not only parents from Poland are asking for help from our lawyers, but also Poles from Germany, Norway and Great Britain, where the actions of oppressive child welfare offices lead to real tragedies. We cannot allow similar tragedies to take place in Poland as well.”

Here is one of the recent cases published by Ordo luris:


“Apart from co-creating pro-family law, it is equally important to provide comprehensive legal assistance to parents whose children are unjustly taken away. Recently, the quick reaction of Ordo Iuris lawyers led to the return of nine wrongly taken children to their mother, Mrs Ewa Bryła.

The children were placed in foster care, because the probation officer, after four months of supervision, arbitrarily stated that the mother was allegedly unable to raise them. The local Commune Social Welfare Center, which has been supporting the family for two years, did not agree with this opinion. The head of the center emphasized that during the long-term cooperation with the family, he had not noticed any gross irregularities that would authorize state authorities to take the children away from their mother. Its employees pointed out that the separation of the family was extremely harmful to the children and exposed them to breaking family ties with their mother, which are extremely strong.

Also, the doctor looking after the children did not say that they were neglected. On the other hand, the medical staff ensured that minors were guaranteed appropriate care. The local police pointed out that there were no interventions at Ewa’s house, no Blue Card procedure was initiated, and there was no addiction problem. In the family, there was only a problem with meeting the children’s compulsory schooling. However, Ewa, in cooperation with the family assistant and social workers, worked to overcome the emerging difficulties. The mother provided her children with the right conditions, encouraged them to learn, helped with homework and taught them good behavior.“


The goal here is to keep people apprised of the issue to a degree that puts this subject beyond the suspicion that this is some conspiracy theory. The problem is real. It does not get the coverage it should because of all of the other societal problems facing us in our times.

Chris Reimers


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NORWAY VIOLATES PARENTAL RIGHTS…AGAIN!

March 24, 2020

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in Strasbourg, France
Photo by Guilhem Vellut

On March 10th, two important child welfare case decisions were made by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). Unanimous convictions were made in both cases, clearly and strongly denouncing Norwegian authorities.

In each case, Norway was found in violation of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Article 8 of the Convention describes the right to respect for private and family life. It states:

“1. Everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life, his home and his correspondence.
2. There shall be no interference by a public authority with the exercise of this right except such as is in accordance with the law and is necessary in a democratic society in the interests of national security, public safety or the economic well-being of the country, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, or for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others.” (Guide on Article 8)

EHtCR judges found that Norwegian officials were guilty of unexcused and unbridled intrusion into normal family life in the March 10th decisions. These same officials/authorities were found guilty of being “responsible for a situation of family breakdown.”

In the case of HERNEHULT v. NORWAY, the Court noted a recent case where precedent had been clearly declared:

“61. The general principles applicable to cases involving child welfare measures, including measures such as those at issue in the present case, are well-established in the Court’s case-law, and were recently extensively set out in the case of Strand Lobben and Others v. Norway.”

Back in September (10 September 2019), in the case of STRAND LOBBEN AND OTHERS v. NORWAY, the ECtHR judges in Strasbourg found Norway in violation of Article 8 by a vote of thirteen to four.

In the second case decided on March 10th, PEDERSEN AND OTHERS v. NORWAY, the Court also referred to the Strand Lobben case:

“39. Other relevant material relating to domestic and international law is referred to in the Court’s recent judgment in the case of Strand Lobben and Others v. Norway.”

The citation of previous litigation in both HERNEHULT v. NORWAY and PEDERSEN AND OTHERS v. NORWAY explains how the Court came to its united condemnation.

The two cases have several similarities. One is that the wives in each case were not born in Norway. Hernehult’s wife is a Romanian national, and Pedersen’s wife comes from the Philippines.

Each case originated in an application against the Kingdom of Norway lodged with the ECtHR under Article 34 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. Hernehult applied in March of 2016 and the Pedersens applied in August of 2015. The Hernehult settlement was 26,893 U.S. dollars for non-pecuniary damage, and the Pedersen settlement was 37,637 U.S. dollars for non-pecuniary damage and 10,216 U.S. dollars for costs and expenses.

Over 20 similar cases are slated to be decided by the EHtCR in the coming months. No one knows how many more applications against the Kingdom of Norway are forthcoming.

Editorial

How many more decisions like this will have to be made before the Norwegian Child Welfare Services, otherwise known as the Barnevernet, will begin to see that the world is waking up to its crimes? I am pleased by these wise decisions of the ECtHR. It is obvious that they can now see through all of the miasma belched into our habitat by the Barnevernet and Norwegian officials. I’m not aware of anyone who is satisfied with the settlements made, but these recent decisions are steps in the right direction certainly. The ECtHR’s references to the Lobben case in the March 10 decisions reveal recent, positive movement. The court is clear…it is using “well-established” “case law” for its decisions. I am very thankful and yet…

How can any reparations repay someone for a child stolen?

In the Pedersen case, paragraph 68 of the ECtHR judgment speaks for itself:

68. The Court emphasizes that to the extent that these decisions implied that the authorities had given up reunification of the child and the natural parents as the ultimate goal, the conclusion that placement must be considered to be long-term should only have been drawn after careful consideration and also taking account of the authorities’ positive duty to take measures to facilitate family reunion. However, in this case the decision to impose a very strict visiting regime cemented the situation at the very outset, making it highly probably that the child would become attached to the foster parents and alienated from the natural parents, thus precluding any realistic possibility of eventual reunification. Indeed, this is precisely what happened in the present case. In this respect, the Court recalls that where the authorities are responsible for a situation of family breakdown because they have failed in their obligation to take measures to facilitate family reunification, they may not base a decision to authorize adoption on the grounds of the absence of bonds between the parents and the child (see Strand Lobben and Others, cited above, § 208).
You can read the details of the case and the court’s decision HERE.

In, 2013, Mr. Dan Mikael Hernehult moved to Norway with his wife and three boys and before the year was out (November 4th) the child welfare service issued emergency care orders for all three children in accordance with section 4-6 of the Child Welfare Act. (You can download a PDF copy of the Child Welfare act here.) They were placed in emergency foster homes the same day. The sad account does not stop there. You can read the details of the case and the court’s decision HERE.

Many in Norway have been hoping and praying for the type of decision made in the Hernehult case. In it, the Norwegian authorities were convicted of wrongfully taking two of the boys into care in the first place. This is an opening salvo of, hopefully, many more decisions like it.

Professor Marianne Haslev Skånland is the one who referred me to Paragraph 68 in the Pedersen case and she was particularly pleased with the decision in the Hernehult case. She writes:

“The judgments have made things increasingly clear, up to now, when they write so clearly that they (the ECtHR judges) both condemn the taking into care of two of the children, AND the failure to return them.”

She also states:

“I am really most of all glad of the judgments from February 2020 which I found against Russia and Romania. Not because I am glad to see that in those countries, too, they have social services which more or less frequently make enemies of parents and seem to delight in disrupting family bonds. But because I see a trend in what the ECtHR is doing: They now seem wide awake to the fact that they have a duty to carry out here: help combat a very destructive trend – the trend of believing that biological parents are of no importance to their children and that the social services can provide children with better conditions and satisfactory ’stimulation’! That is pure, speculative psychobabble – quackery, and all experience disproves it.”

Marianne’s description of Barnevernet philosophies as “speculative psychobabble” fits my understanding perfectly. She has broad knowledge of child welfare services inside and outside of her home country of Norway. HERE, on her homepage, you can see links to the Norwegian cases leading up to and including those mentioned in this post.

With all of the challenges families face in our time, the last concern should be about government entities separating loving families. Many countries are having similar problems. It is important that we become aware of the philosophies of child welfare in all countries.

I appreciate those who have worked so hard to create awareness about this important issue and I congratulate those who have spent years fighting to see that these cases made their way to court.

Chris Reimers

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In Norway, if one of your children tells one lie there is a chance the police will arrive with a “Child Protection” agent, the children will be taken, and the entire family will be broken up indefinitely

January 15, 2020

American children Nikita (10), Elizabeth (7) and Brigita (11) were forcefully removed from their loving parents Natalya Shutakova and Zygys Aleksandavicius on May, 20th 2019. The evil will of the Barnevernet (Norway’s “Child Welfare Service”) has been accomplished. The children are now split between three different foster parents.

My understanding is that Brigita complained about her parents at school. She was unhappy about a disagreement she had with her parents. The authorities were contacted and the children were removed from their parents. Since the incident, Brigita has stated that she lied because she was upset with her parents. Her admission is not good enough to make a difference in Norway. She and her siblings are indefinitely separated from their parents and each other except for a few visits of a few hours each year.

“There was no court proceeding, no investigation, no due process, or assistance given to the family prior to the taking of the children. The children desperately want to come home but the Norwegian authorities won’t release them. Their main concern is the family is perceived to have not a good enough routine. No violence, no abuse, no drugs, just a subjective assessment that the family didn’t reach the standard expected of them.”

This is all standard procedure in Norway.

A fairly recent article asks: “Should your kid be taken away if they don’t like fish-balls? Norway says so” (Click on this title to see the article.)
The article starts with this family’s story and provides additional details of the horrific problem in Norway.
The article also references Marianne Skanland’s (a linguistics professor who has appeared in a few cases as a child language expert) compiled list of 71 reasons that child welfare services have used to make its case. (Click here to see it.)
I believe Marianne to be one of the best educated Norwegians on this subject. I’ve been fortunate to have her comment here from time to time. Here is one grouping of Marianne’s comments which have been translated into English on her website. (Click Here)

Nothing has changed in Norway. Worldwide protests against such behavior have made a difference in only one case that I’m aware of. Foreign government complaints have gone unheeded and some foreign governments haven’t done enough to address the problem. (The U.S. is one of these.) Reprimands of human rights violations at the European Court of Human Rights have been hopeful but have caused no real positive change within the country. The hope is that the number of cases being presented to the ECHR will eventually cause Norwegian officials to see the tragic error of their ways and force them to create an entirely new system built on common sense child rearing instead of “psycho-babble” (as Marianne would call it.)

I have hope for Norway because I know that prayer is powerful. I have hope for Norway because of some of the wonderful people I’ve met through my advocacy.

Chris Reimers

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The Strasbourg Offensive…December 7th, 2019

December 3, 2019


Tor Åge Berglid is a man on a mission with a team of other like-minded people making protests all over the world. He is a Norwegian who has been very active in the attempt to publicize the horrible actions of his country’s “Child Protection Service.” Called the Barnevernet, the Norwegian CPS is government funded (like those of most countries), and it can be very cruel. It is not unusual for the Barnevernet to steal children from their parents in Norway.

Tor’s main goal is to unite people and he believes that “the focus is to lift other people up and tell them that their voices are important, to join into this question about what constitutes family life. Is God’s idea of family life better than the state’s attempt to do a better job?”

Recently, Tor and others represented those who are sick and tired of families being destroyed by the Barnevernet. In a national T.V. debate, he went head to head with the Norwegian Minister for Children and two other “important” Norwegian officials. Many, including me, were pleased with his effort.
Here is a short clip in Norwegian where one can get a sense of Tor’s passion:

Unfortunately, too many people in Norway are afraid to speak out. The percentage of those unaware of the problem is hard to figure since the government propaganda machine constantly spews out words of wonder about its child care system among other things. Advertisements encouraging people to become foster parents make the job look easy and lucrative. The propaganda drowns out the voices attempting to share the reality of the situation.

After having the recent privilege of speaking to and messaging Tor, I informed him that I would do my best to share my views on these developments as a Christian. John 1:5 states: “The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.” In this verse, the light is referring to Jesus Christ. According to the Bible (the book of Acts) “there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

Knowing these truths, and that Christianity once held great influence in Norway, it is sad to “hear” mostly silence from “Christian” leaders and pastors in response to such tragic human rights offences.

God is a righteous entity who loves his creation. He is an advocate for the helpless and hurting. One day, all the cruelty that man has dished out will be exposed. Those who have asked for forgiveness will have been forgiven. Those who “did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind..” (Romans 1:28)

Tor’s statement is evidence that there are people in Norway who know what is happening and still care. They want transparency. I am in contact with others like him. They are still in the fight. They have not given up in spite of the fact that the current against them is strong.

Norway’s recent record at the The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR or ECtHR) is not good. They have been spanked more than once for human rights violations. More cases are currently pending at the court in Strasbourg, France.

What is Norway’s response? It appears that a new batch of laws dealing with “the Welfare of Children” is being worked on. My current understanding (from what I believe to be very good sources) is that the new laws will only make things worse.

I have come to the same conclusion as Steven Bennett, the British writer who published “Stolen Childhood: The truth about Norway’s child welfare system.” Steven, a Christian, believes that the system needs to be completely dismantled and restarted with new founding principles that really stand for the rights of every child.

See book description HERE.

It can be argued that the first institution created by God was the family. Norway, though a recent focus for very good reason, is a reflection of what is happening to the family in much of the world. It appears that evil forces are out to destroy that which God has created. One need look no further than recent laws passed by the Supreme Court of the country where this blog originates, America. The family has been redefined to mean just about whatever someone wants it to be. Sadly, this problem is increasing throughout Europe and the current beachhead there is now in Strasbourg, France at the EHRC, where the cases brought forward will test humanity in the consideration of how much power the state should have in family life.

I agree with Tor and Gro Hillestad Thune (who wrote the forward to Steven Bennett’s book) that the state should let the parents do the parenting unless intervention is absolutely necessary, and even then with caution.

I admire people who are willing to stand up for those suffering at the hands of those with unbridled power. May God bless Tor and those like him who have invested in the lives of families.

Please pray for those who are involved in organizing and raising awareness that the family is in crisis in much of the world. You may not be able to make it to an event but your prayers can be very powerful. We saw evidence of that in the Worldwide protests that took place in 2016.

“…let justice roll down like waters And righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” (Amos 5:24)

Chris Reimers

This video is only the tip of the iceberg:

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What is the Barnevernet?

January 18, 2018

NOTE: 2 OF THE 3 EXPERTS SPEAK IN ENGLISH, THE FIRST IN NORWEGIAN WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES

For the past couple of years, this blog has been involved in helping bring awareness to an evil system of “Child Protection Services” in Norway called the Barnevernet.

Sadly, many of the intellectuals in Norway are silent. More difficult to believe, the vast majority of the Christians and Christian leaders are silent. Since these two say little, of course, the vast majority of the media does nothing. Here are a few highly educated Norwegians who understand well what is happening in their country and they are not afraid to talk about it. There is a similar problem in the U.S. but we still have due process for the most part. If parts of the U.S. CPS system ever becomes as much of an industry as the Barnevernet (and some might argue that certain offices already have), I hope a much better percentage of intellectuals come forward in the U.S. than we have seen in Norway.

Lastly, but happily, I am able to note that one of the people so involved in trying to help people see the truth has made more than several comments on this blog. Professor Marianne H. Skanland, featured in this short video, is as well aware of the problem as anyone. After hearing many people speak about the situation in Norway, I feel she has the best view of the situation that I have heard. I have learned a lot from her.

I wish the people of Norway the best. In the video, Marianne notes two positive things that have happened to help those affected cruelly by the Barnevernet. The first is the internet. I wholeheartedly agree with her. This issue is getting quite a good amount of attention online. The second is international protests that have put pressure on Norwegian leaders. Sadly, this has waned in the streets of other countries, but there has been a noticeable increase in social media activity. It has been slow to develop but more people are learning of this problem daily.

Marianne has always warned me that this is a worldwide problem, not just something happening in Norway. She has referred me to more than one good book on “psychology” in America. The book that I read was authored by an American where “the author exposes the misguided beliefs and shoddy practices used by most psychotherapists. He examines the pop psych beliefs and explores the debilitating effects they have on everyone.” (Quote from the Amazon ad) The Entire title of the book summarizes its point nicely: House of Cards, Psychology and Psychotherapy built on Myth.

Photo at Amazon Books

People in all nations need to be vigilant. Our children’s lives, thus our future, is at stake. Even if this wasn’t a “future” problem, we must be kind enough to treat our children with the dignity and understanding they deserve.

Chris Reimers

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Breastfeeding not allowed? The case of Amy J.

December 21, 2017

Bjorn Korf and Amy Jakobsen
Photo by Jo Hoffman

Written by Björn Korf

Amy J. is an American citizen who lives in Norway. In July 2013 her worst nightmare began. Without any warning, the Norwegian Child Welfare Services known as ‘Barnevernet’ accompanied by police knocked at her door, saying that her 19-month-old son Tyler had to be taken to a hospital for an examination immediately.

What happened? In the weeks leading up to the taking of Tyler, the young mother was increasingly concerned about the growth curve of her 18-month-old son. Tyler did not yet want to move to more solid food but instead continued to prefer breastmilk. Tyler was Amy’s first child, so she lacked the experience to know that children can develop quite individually. But, being a concerned mother, Amy even took Tyler for medical check-ups three times a month in order to monitor the growth process very closely. Then, came the summer. Amy went on a vacation with Tyler to America for two weeks and visited friends and relatives.

But, as soon as they returned back to Norway, the child welfare service, together with the police came to her house, saying that Tyler must be examined immediately in a hospital. Amy found out later that someone had alerted the youth welfare office in order to maliciously harm her. Being completely overwhelmed by the situation Amy agreed to go to a hospital with them. Also, Kevin M., the Norwegian father of the child came along. At the hospital a doctor diagnosed Tyler as “slightly underweight.” The boy would have had to weigh 10 kg, the doctor said. But Tyler weighed only 9.6 kg, which is actually not a reason for a concern according to the weight charts. The doctor also criticized that Amy was still breastfeeding her son.

Instead of offering advice to improve the nursing, the employees of the child welfare office now wanted to intervene on the basis of the medical diagnosis and remove the child from the mother. This led to a verbal confrontation which the father filmed with his smartphone. It’s a scene that can now be found on Youtube. “When will I see my son again?” Asked Kevin M. “We cannot tell you that yet,” replied one of the employees of the child welfare office. Finally, Kevin was ejected from the hospital as the argument got louder and louder.

What followed next was like a scene from a Hollywood movie. Kevin went back to the hospital and put on a doctor’s outfit. In disguise, he was able to go to room where his little son Tyler was taken in the meantime. He took his son unnoticed, left the building in a hurry, and drove around the area aimlessly, knowing that these might be the last moments with his son. Finally, he was stopped by several police cars. One police officer on the roadside even threw a big stone at the car, which nearly hit his child.

Kevin was then detained for one night for attempted child abduction. He was released the next day, because a judge realized that Kevin was the biological father and he still had parental rights. However, little Tyler remained in the care of the Norwegian child welfare office. For the time being the parents still had the right to visit and occasionally see Tyler – in a police station behind double-locked doors. But, a year later the visitation rights were cancelled. The authorities saw a potential abduction risk as Amy is an American citizen and they didn’t want her to take Tyler to America. In the following court trials this was also the main argument for removing parental rights from both her and Kevin. On September 22, 2014, Amy saw her son for the last time. Up to now both she and Kevin don’t know where Tyler is and how he is doing.

In order to hide the child’s new whereabouts, the authorities changed Tyler’s name twice. At the age of four years old, Tyler already had three different names. And, why did this happen? The Norwegian Child Welfare Services stated that they acted only in the Child’s best interest. But, how can such traumatic experiences serve the best interests of a child at such a young age? Especially, in the first years of life, the love and affection of the biological mother are known to be of great importance for the healthy development of a child.

Meanwhile, Amy has gone through all legal options in Norway to get her son back. In the spring of 2016, the case was rejected by the Norwegian Supreme Court. But, Amy doesn’t want to give up. Through a Christian initiative in Vienna / Austria, Amy was able to get in contact with international lawyers. They looked at her case documents, discovered Human Rights violations and helped her to file the case to the European Court of Human Rights. Also, the Christian initiative in Vienna showed further interest in the case. They launched a campaign on Facebook in order to raise awareness for Amy. They challenged people to post a selfie of themselves holding a poster which stated, “Norway, return Tyler to Amy”.

It is still uncertain how the case of Amy J. will end up. Once again, a family in Norway was torn apart for no good reason. Once again, a child in Norway was sentenced to extreme traumatic experiences. And again, we are supposed to believe that it served the welfare of the child. After the many worldwide protests and media reports, the government in Norway has repeatedly stated that it wants to look more closely into their child care system. But, so far Norway clearly fails to implement anything.

– – – – – –

Written by Björn Korf

Björn comes originally from Germany. He is a radio station manager for a private Christian Radio broadcaster in Vienna / Austria. He is married to Hee-Jung from South Korea and they have two Children.

My comment: Amy’s is one of the three cases I am following in “Recent Accounts of Children Taken” at the top of this blog. Her story is bizarre yet, she is not unlike so many others in Norway.
I have known Bjorn for awhile now. I respect his continued efforts to help families like Amy’s.

CR

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OSLO DEMONSTRATION AGAINST CHILD WELFARE VIOLATIONS OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND PROFESSIONALISM

August 15, 2017

Photo from Steven Bennett’s Facebook Page

This Saturday, a very important event will take place. Norwegians from all over Norway, including folks from other countries, will be protesting the evil deeds of a “Child Protection Service” gone horribly wrong in Norway.

Organizers are hoping for the biggest demonstration on this issue ever in Norway’s history. If recent social media is any indication, organizers will accomplish this goal.

Political Elections will be held in Norway in September and this event will be noticed. I am Facebook friends with more than one of the event speakers and I am requesting that anyone who reads this will pray that the event is a huge success.

I would like to thank my FB friend, Bjo Ern, for providing me with the following itinerary. May God bless those who are willing to speak up against the evils of a country-sponsored child kidnapping organization.

Chris Reimers

(If there are clips of this event in English, I will publish them here as they come in.)

PROGRAM (preliminary)

– 11.00 Start of promenade at “Tigeren”. Meet up on time
– 11.30 Arrival at the Parliament
– 12.00 Welcome by the arbitration committee

– 12.10 Rune Fardal: Damage due to traumatization, psychology of power.
– 12.20 Ken Joar
– 12.30 Oddvar Espegard: The research tells us enough.
– 12.40 Tor Åge Berglid: The fight for better child welfare and the road ahead.

12.50 SONG: Sky full of stars. (Link below)

– 13.00 Nina Søviknes: About family centers, mothers’ home
– 13.10 Jelena Gullick, About grandparents’ participation.
– 13.20
– 13.30 Inez Isabel Arnesen: Free legal aid, politician engagement

13.40 SONG: Let the children be set free (Link below)

– 13.50 Naci Akkøk
– 14.00 Marius Reikerås: Human rights (If he is in Norway at the time)
– 14.10 Tomáš Zdechovský (?)
– 14.20 Lill May Vestly: Love, biology and strong parental rights – new family policy and new family protection. Political Spokeswoman for the Party The Christians regarding family.

14.30 SONG:

– 14.40 Stian Hordjik
– 14.50
– 15.00

– 15.10 Termination by the organizers

ORGANIZATION:

Responsible for Transport / Rigging:
– Dariusz Cz Pakosz, Natalia Kozłowsk, Øyvind

Responsible for music systems / scene:
– May Lund

Responsible for Appeals:
– Rune Fardal

Responsible for media contact
– Tor Åge Berglid, Rune Fardal

Singer (Learn these until 19 August):

A sky full of stars

Let the children be set free

Update: Here is one of the speeches (if you have facebook) from Oslo:

<a href="http://https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Ffamiliekanalennorge%2Fvideos%2F693929500805377%2F&show_text=0&width=560“>Tor Age Berglid

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Norwegian Officials Steal Another Baby From His Loving Parents

July 19, 2017

Photo from Steven Bennet’s Facebook page


By Steven Bennett

Norwegian couple, Sylvia (44) and Trond Rikard Ensby (40) thought that they would get some help when they stayed at a mother’s home in Norway, but instead, Norway’s Child Welfare System, barnevernet took away their precious baby boy, because he didn’t pass the baby IQ test.

The parents are a wonderful couple – AND ARE NOT criminals! There have a wonderful family around them as well, including Ruth, a heart broken grandmother who so dearly misses her only grandchild.

The court of appeal has now ruled that this mother and father will not see their precious baby boy again and their son has now been put up for adoption, without any of his relatives being considered.

There’s absolutely nothing in Sylvia’s history that says she had been diagnosed as mentally retarded. This is serious negligence in the system.

And, this is just one sick example that shows how Norway’s Child Welfare System, barnevernet is truly an evil, remorseless, oppressive, dysfunctional, child and family destroying system of terror!
Trond Rikard Ensby commented:

“Even though we were prepared, it was a shock to get the verdict, for us it is incomprehensible. The first few days after the sentence, I felt completely empty. The entire experience has been very tough, but we’ve been in it.”

Sylvia and Trond Rikard Ensby’s lawyer, Marie Sølverud is working on an appeal to the Supreme Court, and if necessary, they will proceed to the European Court of Human Rights. “We have nothing to lose and we must try all possibilities for our son’s sake.”

The couple’s lawyer, Marie Sølverud also states:
“It’s a very serious, sad and wrong judgment. The case will be appealed. I think it is hard to say anything about how the Supreme Court is going to deal with the matter. If it’s necessary, we will appeal to the ECHR (European Court of Human Rights).”

In the lawyer’s opinion, she strongly responded to the fact that the court did not take into account the reports of two expert psychologists, who believe the child should be returned to the parents.
Welcome to the Brave New World of Norway!
__________________________

My thoughts:

First, I would like to thank Steven Bennett for his unending battle to educate all of us about the evil Barnevernet (Norwegian Child Welfare Services). Steven is a Christian who lives in Austria and has become one of the best authorities on this subject outside of Norway.

Second, As events like this happen in Norway on a daily basis, I can’t say I’m surprised. Each new case, however, makes the Norwegian situation more horrific. As Steven has noted, this is evil, plain and simple.

Third, I saw Norwegian Prime Minister, Erna Solberg, standing behind President Trump at the recent G-20 summit. It was a little over a year ago that an online protest about the Barnevernet ended up on Ms. Solberg’s FB page. Hundreds of complaints were “voiced” and continued to pour in until the post was completely deleted. It was a conversation that got a bit heated but it should have been allowed to remain as many articulated their feelings about the NCWS. The Leaders of Norway know the problem. It remains to be seen if enough Norwegians and pressure from outside of Norway will be able to end these evil decisions.

Last, I wish my Norwegian friends to know that they are in my prayers. The two Norwegian situations that I have followed here, Ken’s and Amy’s, remain unresolved. Both stories are tragic and are representative of so many other sad stories coming out of a country that is supposed to be “one of the happiest places to live.” For those of you who followed Nadia and Caspian’s story here, they are doing very well and Caspian is thriving in the presence of his loving mother.

Chris Reimers

SOURCE (The story as it appears on Steven Bennett’s Facebook page)

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A Christmas Wish

December 3, 2016

a-christmas-wish

by Ragna Heffermehl:

To Norway from Iraq. Here, her 5 children are taken away

“Forgive them, because they don’t know what they do.”

I peek into the hallway of the woman who lost all her kids to the Norwegian Child Protection Service, called “Barnevernet”, just before our National Day, 17th of May last year. Their shoes are still there, labels with their names ironed on the inside. “She probably can’t bear to remove them,” I’m thinking. Silently I ask myself how much too small those shoes will be, when – or if – the children are allowed to come home.

One after one, the children have stood alone in court, court case after court case, and asked to come home. This mother is the last trace of family they’ve got here, as she is a widow who has escaped from Iraq. All of the siblings, except two, were put in different locations. All the time since they were removed, they have cried and pled. They have offered Barnevernet money. They have drawn faces covered with tears. Barnevernet reports that the children are “crying, but mostly when they see their mother.”

And the mother loves her children. That is even confirmed by Barnevernet, and by the judges in court. However, they express doubt whether she is able to give her children “emotional support,” a professional term which is accepted without question by the judges, and which bends them towards their tragic conclusion: the mother is not fit. Nobody seems to think that “love” and “emotional support” are related in some way. Love is obviously not given much credit.

Norwegian Standard, abbreviated NS

There’s a new documentary about Barnevernet in the making, called Norwegian Standard. The abbreviation is NS – which was also the name that the Norwegian Nazi party during the war, “Nasjonal Samling”, went under. So I’m tempted to search for similarities between the Norwegian system and the Nazi regime. What I find is the lack of love. Love means nothing. Intellectual and professional constructions legitimize brutal violations by the bureaucrats, who are merely “doing their job.” Is it unpleasant to remove children from their families? Sure. At least until you get used to it.

“I understand that you miss your children,” the employee from Barnevernet purrs to the devastated mother, “but the children are very well taken care of. Two of them are living together in a huge, modern house. They are successful at school. Their new parents are not working, so they can take care of the children all the time.”

What a poor relief to the mother, that the new parents don’t need to work for a living, and that they have such a nice, big house.

Barnevernet seems to have a preference for people with high socio-economic status when it comes to choosing who are suited as parents for the children of the Norwegian state. This mother, like so many others, has been accused of being too poor.

Another alternative favoured by Barnevernet is to select foster parents for whom they create good economic conditions by paying them rather generously. To aspiring foster parents, Barnevernet is a most lucrative opportunity. In several cases, foster parents have been paid for their new “needs” such as an extra car, or renovation of their house, with the new child as leverage. They’re also granted the use of extra, temporary step-in foster parents, who take care of the child during holidays.

More tempting still is the offer of the equivalent of a full salary, so that one foster parent can stay home and ensure good care of the child.

The economic advantages of being a foster parent are heavily advertised by the state, regardless of the fact that it may attract people with other motives than to love a child like their own. The state is in desperate need of foster homes. On average, the state removes 5 children from their parents every day – in one of the smallest countries in the world.

The Norwegian professor Tove Stang-Dahl has done research on the history of Barnevernet. Her conclusion is this: “In an uninterrupted line from the end of the 18th century and right until this day, the explicit goal of Barnevernet has been to weaken the power and freedom of the family. The premise has been the same the whole time: to exert social control over the groups in society who are, at any point in time, seen as a threat against social order.”

The dark depths of our human mind

Last year, the mother had hoped to celebrate Christmas with her children. Barnevernet refused, and told her to deliver her gifts at their office, for professional distribution to each child. This Christmas, she has lost any hope of seeing her children. Barnevernet won’t give her more than what the judges said: 4 times a year, 1.5 hour each time, supervised. That means there has to be an observer from Barnevernet, who can’t leave the mother and child alone at any moment – not even in the bathroom. An interpreter is also there, to translate everything they say to each other.

To the victims, it may seem like Barnevernet, with its unlimited power to destroy the lives of individuals, experiences a subtle joy in doing exactly that. Unfortunately, I believe it’s a human trait. The famous Stanford experiment illustrates this. 21 mentally healthy persons were randomly given roles as “prisoners” or “guards,” and placed in a prison-like locale. The guards were instructed to “keep order,” nothing else – and psychologists were to observe what happened. The experiment was meant to last 2 weeks, but had to be stopped after 6 days, because of how the guards abused the prisoners, harassing them psychologically and forcing them to do humiliating things. By the end of the 6 days, a third of the guards were believed to have developed sadistic traits.

In our human minds, the same psychological mechanisms are latent. And they will flourish if the power structure allows them to.

Norwegian law on children – breeding ground for abuse

It heads the wrong way. Before, the law said that children should live with their biological parents, if possible. In 2012, this law was reformulated. Now, they have the “right” to grow up with people who can provide the best conditions materially and mentally. The children are to be “good and productive citizens, for the nation’s best,” the law says. This sentence reminds me of Nazi perfectionism. It can justify almost any abduction from parents with lower socio-economic status. We have to ask which values are the most important: the love of the parents, or the development of “productive citizens?”

A Christmas Wish

“Forgive them, for they don’t know what they do.”

I’m writing Christmas cards. Thinking of my friends, and my enemies, and of the ones whom it might be time to forgive. And I think of my new friend from abroad, who’s sticking to me as if clutching at a straw. Because I’m Norwegian, probably. But who am I against Barnevernet? The people there have developed a very thick shell. In a system where cruel decisions are a part of their everyday job, they will not bend to any appeal for empathy. They don’t listen to anybody – not even doctors, nurses, or psychologists who sometimes very openly disagree with their decisions to separate a family, based on their own observations of that family. I’m really nothing more than a straw in this field, a field ravaged by storms of prejudices and by a past most of us are ignorant of.

Can one really forgive, without the other party admitting and changing anything? It seems that for politicians and for Barnevernet it is difficult to admit that something has gone wrong. They seldom talk about the pain inflicted upon children and parents. I’ve rarely seen anything coming close to a real debate, without all the justifications for Barnevernet being brought up again and again. When in reality, no one disagrees that in some serious cases, children should be taken away and be given another home.

This is being used to overshadow all those children who maybe needed some help, but absolutely not of that kind. Now, they’re being traumatized for life – for absolutely no other good reason than to protect the one who made the wrong decision in the first place. What about all their calls and crying for their true home and parents, without anybody paying attention to it? The brutality of these acts – and the numbers of them – are rarely mentioned. Some lawyers have estimated those cases to represent around 80% of all the children being forcibly displaced.

So, I’m not ready to forgive Barnevernet yet. The snow that fell last year, is still falling down – and nothing seems to change things, as long as we have a trust-based system where the employees from Barnevernet can do what they want. They can command the police to take a child any time. Even if they make a wrong decision, it still can take months and years before the children are returned to their family – if ever.

Instead of forgiveness, I have a Christmas wish. I wish that people would open their eyes to what’s happening. The actions of the Norwegian Barnevernet will forever be remembered by the rest of the world, as our acts, my acts. Every Norwegian should understand how easily one can lose a child to the Norwegian state – and try to care a little bit about how they want this country to be.

This is my Christmas wish, so that I might regain some pride in my country. All the time since the 17th of May celebration last year, I have only been ashamed. During the celebration at our school, my daughter told me the news about the girl in her class being removed. I went to look for the mother in the crowd, while two girls talked in the microphone of how lucky we are in Norway. “Not many countries have as fair and humane laws as Norway,” they said. But I know of no country where the mother has less of a right to express love and to care for what comes from her own womb.

I have a life which the immigrant woman would have done anything to get: I’ll celebrate Christmas, happy to be with my children. As it is for any other parent, there have been incidents or errors that could have separated us forever, had they been judged by the wrong person.

But my red-coloured tablecloth, delicious food, my decorations and Christmas-red curtains can’t match the memory of the pale red shoes in the home of a woman who is not taking part in our celebration. The red shoes will always be lying there, in my consciousness, empty of children’s feet.

Ragna Heffermehl

Ragna Heffermehl

Editor commentary and request:

The true author of this true account is pictured here. I would like to thank Ragna Heffermehl for sharing this important story with the world. I would also like to thank Professor Marianne H. Skånland for supporting Ragna’s efforts to have this excellent piece shared with as many people as possible. When I think of the great gift of salvation that God has gifted to man this Christmas, I will think of how His Holy Spirit uses people. I will think of Norwegians like Ragna and Marianne.

I think that Professor Skånland has a wonderful thought: “If any of your readers would like to send a Christmas greeting to this Iraqi lady, they could send it to you and you could forward it to Ragna, who will print it out and give it to this mother.”

Is there a better gift than words of encouragement and offers of prayer for a mother who has had all of her children taken from her? I rarely ask for comments and I am making an exception in this post. Please comment here and share your thoughts with this mother who will, once again, be spending Christmas alone. I will make sure they get forwarded along.

Chris Reimers

The Norwegian version, slightly shorter, has been published in the Christian newspaper Norge IDAG

Thanks to my Romanian/American brother in Christ, Octavian Curpas, the English version has also been published in at least three other locations:

http://www.thearizonatelegraph.com/world/norway/christmas-wish-norway-iraq-5-children-taken-away/

http://www.mioritausa.news/social/christmas-wish-norway-iraq-5-children-taken-away/

https://dininimapentrutine.wordpress.com/2016/12/03/to-norway-from-iraq-here-her-5-children-are-taken-away/

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