Many articles expected in the Sunday Guardian in India


We are looking forward to, hopefully, several articles about Western child protection which will, again hopefully!, enlighten the Indian public about the dark sides of child protection as carried out in Western countries.

Here comes an article which is introductory to a whole series:

Siddharth Tiwari:
Unfeeling U.S. agencies confiscate children from Indian parents
Legal experts, doctors, and investigative journalists alleged that the US child protection agencies were biased and used flawed techniques to detect abuse.
Sunday Guardian, New Delhi, 17 September 2017

"Suranya Aiyar, a New-Delhi based lawyer, who has been providing counsel and aid to Indian families in the US, Norway and other countries to help them get back their confiscated children, recently submitted a “Report on Indian and India-Origin Children Confiscated by the United States Child Protection Agencies” to the Ministry of External Affairs. Based on her extensive case study of 12 Indian families, who were falsely accused of child abuse, her report sheds light on the US agencies’ many biases and flawed methodology. The report wants a travel advisory to be issued to young Indian families moving to the US of possible confiscation of their children as, in most cases, the victim families are not aware of what might goad the child protection agencies to initiate action against them."

"... co-sleeping (baby sleeping in the same bed as parents), absence of adequate toys, lack of cribs, and even the child being noisy are all accounted to “poor or inappropriate parenting” and used to establish the “incapability of the parents to raise the child according to the US standards”."

"It took Kumar six months to prove his innocence and get back his son. Speaking to this newspaper, American lawyers and researchers claimed that if the defence is really strong it still takes six to seven months to get justice. In the case of loose defence, the process may extend to over a year, where the parents may even face the threat of their child being given up for adoption."

Articles in the internet edition of the Chicago Tribune around 15 years ago reported on the federal government of the USA in 1997 pressing for increased adoption of foster children. Eager compliance from social agencies may also have increased the taking of children into care.
Clinton Hails Illinois For Adoption Record
Chicago Tribune, 24 September 1999
U.s. Rewards State Adoption Efforts
Chicago Tribune, 24 September 1999
    It met some opposition in the Supreme Court of the state of Illinois:
Foster custody law is voided
Chicago Tribune, 21 September 2001
    but got a rosy success-description in 2003:
Heeding the call to adopt
Chicago Tribune, 20 October 2003

Another country going strongly and in accelerated tempo for very early forced adoption of children taken from their families, even straight from the maternity ward right after birth, is Britain. The story is, according to information from Britain at the time, this: There were numerous complaints that foster care was an unsatisfactory solution for a large number of children. At the same time it was found that children in foster care cost society too much. While Paul Yaw Boateng was Minister of State for Home Affairs in 1998 – 2001, legislation and practice were introduced awarding some kind of reward or award to social service offices which were active having foster children adopted away as soon as possible. Today in 2017, the practice seems very prevalent in British social work for children, cf many of Christopher Booker's articles:
British press discovers the child 'protection' racket?

"Several media reports have regularly accused the US state foster care of sexually and physically abusing children. While the US authorities claim to do a rigorous background check before registering a foster home, parents have often complained that their children have been returned to them with bruises and nutritional deficiency, caused by neglect."

"“The problems started when funds started flowing from Washington DC to the states for ensuring that no child is abused. Over the years, the entire industry has developed around it,” Susan Goldsmith, an investigative journalist from Oregon, told this newspaper. Susan has made a documentary called The Syndrome, showcasing the evidence that SBS is a mistaken theory and only ends up sending innocent parents to jail."

"Interestingly, according to Susan’s documentary, The Syndrome, the National Centre for Shaken Baby Syndrome, which sells teaching packages for parents, made a net profit of $2,372,627 from product sales between 2011 and 2013."

  

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Hjemmeside http://www.mhskanland.net

  

A series is scheduled:
Global Child Rights, and Wrongs

The Sunday Guardian writes:
In this series, entitled "Global Rights, and Wrongs, we will explore the global experience with modern child-related laws and policies through essays by academics, lawyers, writers and child experts from India and abroad.


The first article:

Dr Nandita Chaudhary:
There's nothing universal about child-protection laws
Sunday Guardian, 23 September 2017

**
Dr Nandita Chaudhary is a Cultural Psychologist and Child Development expert who has worked in the University of Delhi for more than three decades, teaching about and researching issues related to children and family life in India; she has authored several academic and popular publications on these issues.
**

"This week, the Government invited comments from the public on whether India should accede to the Hague Convention on Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. This treaty would require us to forcibly deport children from their families to any foreign “person”, “institution” or “other body” claiming custodial rights to the child, without consideration, except on very restricted grounds, of whether this would be appropriate for the welfare, security or happiness of the child."

"The battle lines on child welfare between East and West are drawn by the modern ideal of child protection and child rights, which are based on a culturally specific Western understanding of childhood as the only favourable way of bringing up children. This position fails to recognise global diversity and the rights of families and children to their own ways of bringing up children that are deeply rooted in cultural history. The controversy over the Hague Convention reminds us once again that one-rule-for-all measures dictated by Western governments simply don’t work in child and family matters. These measures, though favoured by agencies such as UNICEF, are contested in the West as well."


Nandita Chaudhary's observations on the blindness of Western ideologies of childhood and families should be read by thinking people in the West too. Rumour has it that when the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child was worked out, it was heavily influenced by people such as Lisbet Palme, who was chairperson of UNICEF, and one of the leaders of Swedish, much criticised, radical ideas of child upbringing.

It is a very good thing people in India are protesting against their country join the Hague Convention. We should never have joined it ourselves. It further increases the powers of an official child protection agency (cps) and further makes parents helpless, when the conflict is not between a child's two parents but between parent or parents on the one side and a cps on the other.
Cf
Norway to implement the Hague convention on child abduction – unfortunate development for families targeted by the child protection authorities,
The Hague convention in Norway – changes in legislation now in place,
1996 Hague Convention enters into force in Norway

  

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Hjemmeside http://www.mhskanland.net

  

Morten Ørsal Johansen:
Norway’s child-confiscation policies are disastrous, unjust
The Sunday Guardian, 30 September 2017


"Here in Oppland county, I have got to know cases, have seen documents, and have heard recordings, which have made me wonder what kind of establishment the CWS are, what kind of people work there, what kind of municipalities let the CWS charge ahead in the way they want to."

"I was a witness in a case before the County Committee, the tribunal that oversees CWS cases. That was when it really became clear to me how erroneous this system is. Thirteen witnesses were heard, from the CWS, from the service for Child and Youth Psychiatry, the school, the health nurse, a mandated expert, and the family. Lillehammer CWS were alone in going for taking into care, the other twelve witnesses were against. The decision of the County Committee was that the child was to be taken into care!"

"In the autumn of last year, the CWS of Østre Toten municipality had four employees guarding the entrance to a house for seven hours, with the help of two police patrols. The reason was that the people living there knew a mother whose son had escaped from a foster home. No wonder Barnevernet in our Norwegian municipalities cost the tax payers billions every year when we see what resources they have access to. I also question the uncritical cooperation of the police in that kind of task, and their use of resources when they are able to man the driveway of a house for hours, on the day after a killing had taken place in the same municipality."

**

The Sunday Guardian writes:
About the article
This is the second installment in our ongoing series, Global Child Rights, & Wrongs. Indian readers will be aware of a number of high-profile cases of Indian children being confiscated from their parents by Norway's Child Welfare Services. The parents have claimed that abuse allegations against them were frivolous and culturally-biased, while the Norwegian authorities have refused to clarify the reasons for removing these children, citing confidentiality laws. In this article, Morten Ørsal Johansen – who, having already spent eight years as an MP, was re-elected on 11 September 2017 to the Norwegian Parliament, where he represents Oppland County – alleges systemic dysfunction in Norway's child welfare system. This piece was first published in Norwegian with the title "Barnevernet, en stat i staten? (Barnevernet, a State within the State?)", in the Norwegian newspaper GD (Gudbrandsdølen Dagningen). It is republished here with the author's permission.
These essays are being published in collaboration with lawyer and child rights critic Suranya Aiyar's website on international child protection agencies, http://www.saveyourchildren.in.

**

Referred to on facebook:
Hello folks! Here is Morten Orsal Johansen ...
Suranya Aiyar, on facebook, 1 October 2017

There is a sound-file / video that one can click into, with a 3 minute talk by Suranya Aiyar.

*

The same on youtube:
Norwegian MP tears into Barnevernet!
Suranya Aiyar, on youtube, 1 October 2017

*

On her own website Save Your Children, Aiyar writes about Morten Ørsal Johansen's article:
"Norwegian MP Tears Into Their Child Welfare System
Norwegian MP tears into Barnevernet!
Morten Orsal Johansen, a Norwegian Member of Parliament makes a searing critique of their child welfare services. This is a very credible voice from Norway, and we hope it makes everyone sit up and think. The full article was published yesterday, 1 October 2017, in The Sunday Guardian as part of their on-going series in collaboration with us called ‘Global Child Rights, and Wrongs’."


   

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Hjemmeside http://www.mhskanland.net

  

Some innuendoes here from a Norwegian publication / journalist about Suranya Aiyar being some kind of shady ignorant, on the edge of being a criminal harasser, the Sunday Guardian being some kind of suspicious publication, and Ørsal Johansen not quite knowing what he is/was doing:

Frp-politiker til frontalangrep på norsk barnevern i indisk avis: – Det har blitt en stat i staten (Progress Party politician with frontal attack on Norwegian CPS in Indian newspaper: – It has become a state within the state)
Filter Nyheter, 2 October 2017

Interestingly enough, we are told that:
"Filter Nyheter vet at statsråd Solveig Horne (Frp) i Barne- og likestillingsdepartementet er kjent med partikollegaens avisinnlegg i India, men hun ønsker likevel ikke å kommentere det. Også Barne-, ungdoms- og familiedirektoratet, som har ansvaret for det norske barnevernet, er kjent med innlegget. Mandag var det kontakt mellom direktoratet og departementet om saken, men heller ikke direktoratet vil uttale seg."
(Filter News knows that Minister Solveig Horne (Progress Party) in the Ministry of Children and Equality knows of her party colleague’s newspaper article in India, but still she does not want to comment on it. The Directorate of Children, Youth and Family, which has the responsibility for the Norwegian cps, also know of the article. On Monday there was contact between the Directorate and the Ministry about the matter, but the Directorate will not say anything either.)


The paper asks Suranya Aiyar whether she has been to Norway – and since she has not, then that no doubt stamps her as an excitable ignoramus?

The article has Solveig Horne again promising, as she so often does, that all will be well, (never mind what things are like in the meantime), with the upcoming new child protection law, and with Statens Helsetilsyn (the Norwegian Board of Health Supervision) going through "a selection" of cases. No mention of the fact of the Board of Health Supervision being the regular supervisor of Barnevernet, a few of whose cases they are now going to "inspect and analyse" and that this go-through has already taken a long long time to prepare and will go on for a long long time before it is finished (if ever).

  

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Hjemmeside http://www.mhskanland.net

  

As tragic as the child protection industry is, one still sometimes collapses in laughter: Another journalist, Lars Akerhaug, has discovered Morten Ørsal Johansen's article in the Sunday Guardian. Mr Akerhaug interviews a character called John Færseth, also a journalist, who has a few years back apparently written a philosophical book and several articles in which he "analyses" certain "groups" in Norway, finds that child protection protesters are central, and believes that they have ideas that the whole world is a conspiracy against them, implemented through Barnevernet. So he calls them "conspiracy theoreticians". (I believe I have seen myself called that as well! MHS)

Mr Akerhaug is a journalist with Minerva, which emanates from the conservative students at Oslo University, so he is interested in politics and world views too, apparently, and clearly admires Mr Færseth greatly.

When Mr Akerhaug discovers Ørsal Johansen's article, he interviews Mr Færseth first! Perhaps he brushes up on conspiracy theory. Then he interviews Ørsal Johansen.

Lars Akerhaug:
Frp-representant: – Barnevernet er en stat i staten (Progress Party representative – The CPS is a state within the state)
Minervanett, 3 October 2017

"I en kronikk i den indiske avisen Sunday Guardian kommer stortingsrepresentant Morten Ørsal Johansen (Frp) fra Oppland med kraftig kritikk av det norske barnevernet. Teksten ble opprinnelig publisert på norsk i Gudbrandsdalen Dagningen (GD)."
(In an opinion article in the Indian newspaper Sunday Guardian, parliamentary representative Morten Ørsal Johansen (Progress Party) from Oppland voices hard criticism of the Norwegian child protection agency Barnevernet. The text was originally published in Norwegian in Gudbrandsdølen Dagningen (GD).)

"John Færseth gav i 2013 ut boken «KonspiraNorge» og har skrevet artikler om hvordan miljøer som er kritiske til barnevernet, ofte sprer konspirasjonsteorier. Færseth mener uttalelsene til Ørsal Johansen er problematiske.
    – Det ser for meg ut som om han knytter seg opp mot en retorikk om barnevernet som motivert av et ønske om å oppløse familien som enhet, eventuelt tjene penger på å overta flest mulig barn. Dette er en retorikk som er vanlig i konspirasjonslandskapet, da særlig den delen som mener at Norge har diktatoriske trekk. Det er spesielt interessant at han kaller det «en stat i staten», altså at de er ute av kontroll."
(In 2013, John Færseth published the book "KonspiraNorge" (ConspiraNorway) and he has written articles about how milieus critical to Barnevernet often disseminate conspiratorial theories. Færseth thinks that Ørsal Johansen's statements are problematic.
    – To me it seems that he ties himself to a rhetoric about Barnevernet as motivated by a wish to dissolve the family as a unit, possibly making money out of taking over as many children as possible. This is a usual rhetoric in the conspiracy landscape, especially the part that holds Norway to have dictatorial tendencies. It is especially interesting that he calls it "a state within the state", meaning that they are out of control.)

Færseth also thinks that it would have been "natural" for Ørsal Johansen to take up any concern in one of the weekly question sessions in Parliament or to speak directly with the Minister. (Both safe, formalistic ways of having nothing happen except a bit of talk, of course, something John Færseth no doubt knows.)


Then Akerhaug tries "conspiracies", he too – he tries it on Ørsal Johansen, but doesn't have much luck:

"Morten Ørsal Johansen reagerer sterkt på kritikken fra Færseth.
    – Det er han som sprer konspirasjonsteorier, så fagligheten her gir jeg ikke fem flate øre for. Hvis man er uenig i noe får man argumentere, ikke gå ut og si at noe er en konspirasjonsteori, sier han til Minerva."
(Morten Ørsal Johansen reacts strongly to Færseth's criticism, saying:
– He is the one spreading conspiracy theories, so I don't give tuppence for this expertise. If one disagrees with something one must give arguments, not go around saying something is a conspiracy theory, he says to Minerva.)

"Stortingsrepresentanten fra Oppland sier han har tatt opp sin bekymring for barnevernets arbeid med statsråd Solveig Horne.
    – Det er en grunn til at departementet nå har satt i gang et arbeid hvor de skal gå gjennom et antall barnevernsaker. Jeg vet ikke hvor mange henvendelser jeg har fått som går på konkrete enkeltsaker. Det er klart at noe av dette ikke er reelt, men det er også masse saker som faktisk er problematiske."
(The MP from Oppland says he has taken up his worry with Minister Solveig Horne.
    – There is a reason why the Ministry has now started work in which they will go through a number of child protection cases. I have lost count of how many people have come to me with concrete individual cases. Certainly some of this is not real, but there are masses of cases which are in fact problematic.)

"– Ikke konspirasjonsteorier
Frp-veteranen sier at han i teksten viser til opplysninger hentet fra lydopptak og utsagn fra en rådmann i en norsk kommune.
    – Dette er ikke konspirasjonsteorier.
    – Har politikerne lyttet for lite til de som er svært kritiske til barnevernet?
    – Vi er veldig lite lydhøre til alt som har med kritikk av offentlige etater. Vi gjemmer oss ofte bak at dette er kommunens ansvar. Barnevernet har en veldig spesiell rolle i samfunnet.
    – I disse anti-barnevernmiljøene finnes det også de som sprer konspirasjonsteorier og hat?
    – Det er er klart, det er en del av disse gruppene som sprer holdninger som jeg ikke har noe til overs for og som kommer med trusler mot barnevernsansatte."
(Not conspiray theories
The Progress Party veteran says that in the article he refers to information from a tape recording and statements made by the head administrator in a Norwegian municipality.
    – These are not conspiracy theories.
    – Haven't the politicians listened enough to those who are very critical of Barnevernet?
    – We are very reluctant to listen to everything having to do with criticism of public establishments. We often hide behind this being the responsibility of the municipality. Barnevernet has a very special role in society.
    – In these anti-cps groups there are also those who spread conspiracy theories and hatred?
    – Certainly, some of these groups communicate attitudes for which I have no sympathy, and voice threats against cps employees.)

*

Mr Akerhaug's article also has a section on what Minister Solveig Horne says about the bright future.
  
A formulation such as "The Progress Party veteran says that in the article he refers to information from a tape recording and statements made by the head administrator... " on the part of journalist Lars Akerhaug might perhaps indicate that he has not taken the trouble of reading Ørsal Johansen's article? Been busy with important questions of conspiracy theory all day, perhaps? Neither he nor Mr Færseth interested in going into the realities of Barnevernet outside of ideas in their own heads?

*

  

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Hjemmeside http://www.mhskanland.net

  

Another posting of Morten Ørsal Johansen's article:
Norway’s child-confiscation policies are disastrous and unjust
Norway, Give Us Back the Children You Stole, 2 October 2017

  

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Hjemmeside http://www.mhskanland.net

  

Question asked in Stortinget (Parliament) in 2011:

Written question from Morten Ørsal Johansen (Progress Party) to the Minister of Justice, passed to the Minister of children, equality and inclusion Tora Aasland and answered by her
Stortinget, 9 February / 11 February 2011

Morten Ørsal Johansen (FrP): Mener statsråden det vil være hensiktsmessig å skjerpe ansvaret som hviler på den enkelte ansatte og på barnevernet som etat, og vil statsråden se på muligheten for endringer i lovverket der den enkelte ansatte i barnevernet må stå til ansvar for sine feilgrep?
(Does the Minister think it would be appropriate to sharpen the responsibility of each employee and on Barnevernet as a service, and will the Minister examine the possibility of legislative changes so that each employee in Barnevernet is held responsible for errors he/she commits?)

  

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Hjemmeside http://www.mhskanland.net

  

Morten Ørsal Johansen's article being published in India has reached NRK (the Norwegian national broadcasting co). The emphasis given by the the NRK journalist, not to mention the statements from the officials he interviews, give an apt illustration of how Norwegian society bury their heads in the sand regarding Barnevern.

Frp-politiker med krasse anklager mot norsk barnevern i indisk avis
(Progress Party politician with sharp charges against Norwegian child protection in Indian newspaper)
Stortingsrepresentant Morten Ørsal Johansen skrev en kronikk i en lokalavis med sterk kritikk av barnevernet i Oppland. Han synes det er helt greit at den nå er trykket på engelsk i India.
(Member of Parliament Morten Ørsal Johansen wrote an article in a local paper voicing strong criticism of the CPS in Oppland county. He thinks it is quite all right that it has now been printet in English in India.)
NRK Norge, 4 October 2017


The article says much the same that the article in Filter Nyheter says.

The journalist interviews the head administrator of Gran municipality:
"– Enkeltsaker har alltid flere sider. På grunn av taushetsplikten har vi ikke mulighet til å kommentere eksempelet slik at det blir belyst fra flere sider, sier rådmann Lars Ole Saugnes i Gran kommune.
    – Generelt er jeg bekymret for det norske barnevernets omdømme i utlandet. India er ikke det første landet som omtaler det norske barnevernet, sier Saugnes til NRK."
(– Individual cases always have several sides to them. Because of obligation to confidentiality, we do not have the possibility of commenting on the example so that light is thrown on it from different angles, says head administrator Lars Ole Saugnes in Gran municipality.
    – In general, I am worried about the reputation of the Norwegian CPS abroad. India is not the first country to talk about Norwegian Barnevernet, says Saugnes to NRK.)

He may not be wrong claiming that other countries came with criticism before India, but India was certainly among the early ones, and the sustained reactions from official India were more vigorous than anything I can remember from earlier.

"– Jeg kan ikke kommentere enkeltsaker i tjenesten, eller sitater på hva som skal ha vært sagt av saksbehandlere, sier barnevernsleder Espen Lilleberg i Land barnevernstjeneste.
    – Land barnevern er godt i gang med å lukke avvik og bedre kvaliteten i arbeidet. Debatten om kvalitet i norsk barnevern er viktig, men bør føres på en ryddig og konstruktiv måte, sier Lilleberg til NRK."
(– I cannot comment on individual cases in the service, or quotes of what is supposed to have been said by case workers, says CPS leader Espen Lilleberg in Land CPS.
   –  Land CPS is well under way closing the discrepancies and raising the quality of the work. The debate about quality in Norwegian CPS is important, but it should be handled in a proper and constructive way, says Lilleberg to NRK.)

"Påstandene om at barnevernstjenesten i Valdres ikke følger barnevernsloven er feil, og tatt ut av sammenheng, har virksomhetsleder Pål Andreassen i Nord-Aurdal kommune tidligere svart til Gudbrandsdølen Dagningen."
(The allegations about the CPS in Valdres not acting in accordance with the law is wrong, and has been taken out of context, is what establishment leader Pål Andreassen in Nord-Aurdal municipality has previously answered the newspaper Gudbrandsdølen Dagningen.)

NRK also interviews Kai-Morten Terning, who is the Minister's next-in-command.
"Statssekretæren sier norske myndigheter har vært opptatt av å rette opp feil om det norske barnevernet i flere land."
(The undersecretary of state says that Norwegian authorities have been busy/concerned to correct mistakes about Norwegian CPS in several countries.)

Goodness, he answers as he always does, making out that there is nothing wrong with Norwegian CPS, it is just the foreigners who have got it wrong and do not understand, however much Norwegian officials explain it to them!

Then Terning seems to try to suggest that Ørsal Johansen's article is just about some little local problems, no doubt of little interest to Indian readers:
"– Jeg mener at det hadde vært en fordel om det ble opplyst i kronikken som sto på trykk i India at dette dreide seg om lokale forhold og utfordringer i noen kommuner i Oppland. Det hadde absolutt vært en fordel."
( – I hold that it would have been an advantage if it had been stated in the article which was printed in India that this is about local conditions and challenges in some municipalities in Oppland. That would absolutely have been an advantage.)

"– Jeg har stor forståelse for at barnevernssaker skaper mye engasjement, men det er utrolig viktig for norske myndigheter å korrigere når det kommer feilaktige opplysninger om hvordan det norske barnevernet arbeider og når noen for eksempel påstår at foreldre i barnevernssaker i Norge ikke har rettsvern. Det er påstander som vi er nødt til å korrigere utenlands blant annet gjennom våre ambassader"
(– I have a great understunding that CPS cases create a lot of interest, but it is incredibly important for Norwegian authorities to correct things when erroneous information is presented about how Norwegian CPS works and when someone for instance claims that parents in CPS cases in Norway have no protection from the law. These are allegations which we have to correct abroad, among other things through our embassies.)


Hm – what must foreign nations think of this country and its people – our public employees and leaders denying everything in a helpless manner and speaking as if we were all in kindergarten?

   

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Hjemmeside http://www.mhskanland.net

The journalist is giving the impression that this is a norwegian politician ruining the reputation of the norwegian CPS abroad. The department official stresses that this is just a local case from a municipality and not typical for norwegian CPS in general.

Both state and media are in complete denial in Norway. Children in Norway are taken away from their parents for "child-protection"-reasons and mostly not because of violence, abuse and neglect as one should think.

Child-protection reasons are lack of eye-contact, lack of emotional care, dysfunctional interaction, lack of stimulation, lack of parental skills and so on. But who can measure these values with some degree of certainty? No-one of course. But the CPS believe that they can assess these values; and worst of all; they act on their findings. Founded on their imaginary special skills they separate children and parents, causing tragedies all over the country.

That is a big problem, and the government does not want to face it.

  

Morten Ørsal Johansens anklager mot barnevernet endte opp i India
(Morten Ørsal Johansen's charges against Barnevernet ended up in India)
Oppland Arbeiderblad, 5 October 2017

The article is a rather straight resume of the article on NRK's website, pretty neutral. But the title – hehe – certainly gives the impression that

1) MØJ's article has reached the end of its dispersal.
    That is hardly a fact, but the conventional press in Norway don't know that, of course, and
2) The "end station" India is a sort of "back of beyond", something like the Falkland Islands?
    That is hardly a fact either. The Sunday Guardian has some circulation, on paper as well as on the web, and MØJ's article got into their "Most read" list on the internet (the right-hand column here: SundayGuardianLive) within just a few hours after it was published last Sunday. Since then it has wandered upwards and yesterday it was no 1 on the list. It is in second place right now. (The place reflects the number of readings of each article.)
8 October, 8 a.m. European time (India is three and a half hours ahead of us): It is number 1 again. Today, there is a new article about child protection policy in Sunday Guardian, one by Nandita Rao, cf below; we hope it reaches the Most Read list.

  

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Hjemmeside http://www.mhskanland.net

  

Positive article, which recapitulates much of the information in Morten Ørsal's article about what cps offices do (in contradistinction to the journalists referred to above who seem hardly to have bothered about the contents of what Ørsal Johansen writes):

Barnevernet – Et monster i pene klær
(Barnevernet – A monster in handsome clothing)
Til frontalangrep på Barnevernet i indisk avis
(Frontal attack on Barnevernet in Indian newspaper)
247Avisen, 5 October 2017

"Stortingsrepresentant Morten Ørsal Johansen, Fremskrittspartiet, går til frontalangrep på det norske barnevernet i en artikkel i den indiske engelskspråklige avisen Sunday Guardian. «I løpet av mitt politiske liv har jeg oppnådd grundig innsikt i barnevernet og nær kontakt med mange av familiene som er berørt av byrået. Jeg vil gå så langt som å si at de har blitt rammet av katastrofe,» skriver han blant annet. Selv etter fire år med Fremskrittspartistatsråd i Barnedepartementet mener han at Barnevernet fortsatt er «en stat i staten»"
(Member of Parliament Morten Ørsal Johansen, of the Progress Party, goes to frontal attack on the Norwegian child protection agency Barnevernet in an article in the Indian English-language newspaper Sunday Guardian. He writes for example: "In the course of my political life, I have gained thorough insight into Barnevernet and close contact with many of the families affected by the agency. I will go as far as to say that they have been struck by a catastrophe". Even after four years with a Progress Party Minister in the Ministry of Children, he thinks Barnevernet is still "a state within the state".)


The article concludes:
"Morten Ørsal Johansen er nylig blitt gjenvalgt for en ny periode på Stortinget, og lover i sin artikkel at kampen for et bedre Barnevern skal bli en sak han vil jobbe mye med i disse årene. I India har det vært stor interesse for det norske Barnevernet på grunn av flere saker som har rammet indiske foreldre bosatt i Norge. Flere sentrale indiske politikere og samfunnstopper har uttalt seg kritisk mot det norske Barnevernet, blant dem den tidligere oljeministeren."
(Morten Ørsal Johansen was recently re-elected to Stortinget [Parliament] for a new period [4 years], and he promises in his article that the fight for a better Barnevern shall be something he will work with a lot in the coming years. In India, there has been great interest in Norwegian child protection because of several cases in which Indian parents living in Norway have been affected. Several central Indian politicians and prominent people in Indian society have voiced criticism of Norwegian Barnevernet, among them a former oil Minister.)

  
  

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Hjemmeside http://www.mhskanland.net

  

Jasper, who is not Norwegian but who reads Norwegian articles about Barnevernet very energetically (I think he said he uses Google Translate or the like), and who is a great helper posting links to relevant articles about Barnevernet, has posted a helpful link to Morten Ørsal Johansen's article in the Sunday Guardian on the American website Delight in Truth, in a comment to an article about Amy and Tyler's case:

Some more fresh new articles on Barnevernet
Jasper, on Delight in Truth, 4 October 2017

  

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Hjemmeside http://www.mhskanland.net

  

A posting on the American website Wings of the Wind, belonging to Chris Reimers in Arkansas, about the first article in Sunday Guardian mentioned above, and with very good comments by Chris:

Unfeeling U.S. Agencies Confiscate Children from Indian Parents
Wings of the Wind, 3 October 2017

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Hjemmeside http://www.mhskanland.net

  

An excellent article, supportive of Morten Ørsal Johansen's clear accounts of realities:

Jane-Mette Kile:
Trues til taushet?
(To be pressured into silence?)
Fokus på Barnevernet, 5 October 2017

"Skal man latterliggjøres og kalles konspirasjonsteoretiker dersom man kritiserer barnevernssystemet her i landet?
    Hvem er tjent med at loven ikke følges og at barneverntjenestene rundt omkring i landet ikke arbeider for at barn tilbakeføres?"
(Is one to be ridiculed and be called a "conspiracy theoritician" if one criticises the system of child protection in this country?
    Who benefits when the law is disobeyed and the child protection services around the country do not work to bring children back to their families?)

"Vi gleder oss over at Morten Ørsal Johansen har skrevet sitt leserinnlegg som faktisk har blitt gjenstand for debatt, og vi støtter opp under det han skriver.
    Kritikken flommer, og det kan virke som at hans innlegg som også er publisert i Sunday Guardian Live har fått enkelte systemlojale journalister til å reagere.
http://www.sundayguardianlive.com/lifestyle/11055-norway-s-child-confiscation-policies-are-disastrous-unjust"
(We are glad that Morten Ørsal Johansen has written his letter to the editor, which has actually caused some debate, and we support what he writes.
    Criticism abounds, and it seems that his article, which has also been published in Sunday Guardian Live, has caused some system-loyal journalists to react.)

The author refers to the article in Minerva (cf above) and says:
"Det er altså slik man møtes av systemlojale journalister når man forteller om situasjonen" –
(This, then, is the way we are met by journalists loyal to the system when we tell them about the situation -)

"Vi setter pris på at det finnes politikere som våger å fortelle en usminket sannhet på denne måten"
(We are appreciative that politicians exist who dare to describe an unvarnished truth in this way).

There is an illustrative picture at the top of the article – the three well-known monkeys: no see, no hear, no speak - - - !


  

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Hjemmeside http://www.mhskanland.net

 

Nandita Rao:
Balance the law with social reality for better child welfare
The issue of child rights and welfare can’t be resolved by giving overriding legislative powers to state institutions. Rather, it’s time we reconsidered the role of the state when it comes to the life of a child.
Sunday Guardian, 7 October 2017

The third article in Sunday Guardian's series.

"How long does a human offspring need a parent or a family for? Till 18, till 21 till 25? Or is it till the day they die?
I think it’s till the day we die.
    I remember my 70-year-old mother distraught beyond belief when my 92-year-old grandmother passed away. I am orphaned, she said! Can an adult be orphaned, I thought? Can a 70-year-old be a child? And the answer was—yes."

"It is for the first time in the year 2000 with the amendment of the Juvenile Justice Act that the state in India stepped into the lives of families. ....
.....
    As a family lawyer, and in my capacity as the Additional Standing Council for the State of Delhi, I have observed that both Child Welfare Committees and courts endorse keeping the child with the family as the first option. The decisions are normally to reinforce the family rather then to separate the child from the family. However, unfortunately, there is no mandate in the law to suggest that this should be the first option. It is merely the current social conditioning of the decision-makers.
    I have also observed that often teenage children who run away from home, within weeks of staying at a state-run institution, choose to return to their parents, and are allowed and encouraged to do so. Acknowledging that often the problems are not irreconcilable, but circumstantial."


This article places Norwegian and other Western child protection practice in clear relief. We must hope that India sees the dangers in time.

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The article is also on SaveYourChildren, under the title:
The Global Child Rights Model in India

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Anti-CPS speech by Nandita Rao
Suranya Aiyar, on youtube, 1 February 2016

  

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Hjemmeside http://www.mhskanland.net