Important article about Barnevernet by Norwegian politician Morten Ørsal Johansen


This article, giving several concrete examples of how child protection services (CPS) Barnevernet act inappropriately in concrete cases, was first published in Norwegian as a letter to the editor in the newspaper GD (Gudbrandsdølen Dagningen), shortly before the parliamentary election in Norway on 11 September 2017. The author is a politician representing Oppland county in the Norwegian parliament Stortinget, and his examples were all drawn from this county.

Morten Ørsal Johansen:
Barnevernet, en stat i staten?  (Barnevernet, a state within the state?)
GD (Gudbrandsdølen Dagningen), 6 September 2017

The article has apparently also appeared in the paper Avisa Valdres, where I think it went under the radar of my google search, but it was followed by a protesting article by two local politicians – Valdres being one of the districts whose cps actions were criticised by Ørsal Johansen:

Randi Lill Pedersen and Berit Synnøve Øygard:
Snakk om ansvarsfråskriving frå Frp! (What a repudiation of liability on the part of Frp [the Progress Party] !)
Avisa Valdres, 8 September 2017

This again drew a reader's comment below the article asking where they thought the liability lay.

*

Mr Ørsal Johansen kindly consented to his article being published also on my website, and to it being translated into English and being freely published elsewhere.

Morten Ørsal Johansen:
Barnevernet, en stat i staten?
MHS's home page, 7 September 2017

Morten Ørsal Johansen:
Norwegian child protection Barnevernet (CWS), a state within the state?
MHS's home page, 1 October 2017

The English edition being published after the election, and Mr Ørsal Johansen having been re-elected, the last sentence of the article was by agreement changed.

*

The Indian newspaper Sunday Guardian had just started running a series of articles about international child protection, in collaboration with housewife and lawyer Suranya Aiyar (cf "About Me" here), and ran Ørsal Johansen's article as the second in their series on paper and on the web, choosing a title with "bite":

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

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.

The article drew a large number of readers, quickly climbing on the paper's "Most Read" list, staying as no 1 there for about 3 days of the week of publication until the next week's publishing takes over.
    The Sunday Guardian publication was also linked to on Suranya Aiyar's website:
Norwegian MP Tears Into Their Child Welfare System

*

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’."

*

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

  
  

_________________
Hjemmeside http://www.mhskanland.net

  

Predictably, the interest of the conventional Norwegian media people was low. A couple of websites quickly brought articles about this publicising about Norwegian Barnevernet internationally. Their journalists took no interest in the content of Ørsal Johansen's article but were eager to "find out" that he had been silly and ignorant and had done something wrong in letting his article be published abroad. The journalists tried to link this to what they consider to be some kind of madness, and illustrate it by pointing to the Czech president characterising Norwegian cps as equivalent to the Nazi Lebensborn programme (cf Rock hard criticism ...), or to an idea of cps critics and victims being some sort of "organisation" with "conspiracy" ideas:

**

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).

**


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?

**

 
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?

**

A comment from "familien-er-samlet" (the family is together) to the NRK article:

"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."

   

_________________
Hjemmeside http://www.mhskanland.net

  

It is not the first time Morten Ørsal Johansen has tried to bring about some reform of Barnevernet.

  
Question asked in Stortinget (Parliament) in 2011:

Skriftleg spørsmål fra Morten Ørsal Johansen (FrP) til justisministeren
Dokument nr. 15:868 (2010-2011)
Innlevert: 09.02.2011
Sendt: 11.02.2011
Rette vedkommende: Barne-, likestillings- og inkluderingsministeren
Svart på: 18.02.2011 av barne-, likestillings- og inkluderingsminister Tora Aasland
(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?)

  

_________________
Hjemmeside http://www.mhskanland.net

  

An article in a regional newspaper based in Ørsal Johansen's county Oppland:

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, Balance the law ....; we hope it reaches the Most Read list.


**


Here is a completely sane, positive article, which recapitulates much of the information in Morten Ørsal Johansen'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). The website 247Avisen is rather new; 247 means "twentyfour seven", of course with the meaning "always on the job".

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.)


**


An excellent article, on the website Fokus på Barnevernet (Focus on Barnevernet), run by a group of victims and critics of Barnevernet. The article supports 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 - - - !

  

_________________
Hjemmeside http://www.mhskanland.net

    

Morten Ørsal Johansen's article in America:


The first posting I have seen is here; the Sunday Guardian is the first link given in a posting of 4 October:
Some more fresh new articles on Barnevernet
Jasper, on Delight in Truth, 4 October 2017
 
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), is a great helper posting links to relevant articles about Barnevernet.
    The American website Delight in Truth is run from California. It is very valuable for cps critics. The editor has published a large number of articles critical of especially Norwegian child protection, starting with the Bodnariu case in 2015.

*

Ørsal Johansen's article in full:
Norwegian Child Protection Barnevernet (CWS), a State Within the State?
Wings of the Wind, Chris Reimers' blog, 9 October 2017

From there the article spread further, with a link back to Wings of the Wind:

Norwegian Child Protection Barnevernet (CWS), a State Within the State?
Armonia Magazine – USA, 10 October 2017

Norwegian Child Protection Barnevernet (CWS), a State Within the State?
Ciprian Barsan, 10 October 2017

These three are from the "Bible belt" in the United States, people who were also very active helping the Bodnariu case get international publicity. The latter two are run by Romanian-Americans.

Chris Reimers wrote a very pertinent comment to the article under his publishing of it on Wings of the Wind, and has allowed me to copy it in full:

"FINALLY!!! A Norwegian politician with the pluck to tell it like it is.

A week ago, I received an email informing me of this article and giving me permission to print it. My understanding is that while it has gotten a good deal of notice in Norway and as far away as India, the propaganda machine at the Barnevernet (The Norwegian Child Welfare Services) is in full overdrive. No comments are being made by those responsible for the honest description of the situation by Mr. Johansen and for all appearances the Norwegian CPS services continue to “thrive” in “The best place to live in the world.”

Hopefully, Mr. Johansen’s article will have a much greater effect than leaving notes of protest at Prime Minister Erna Solberg’s Facebook page. There, concerned citizens have left comments en masse about this awful situation only to have the entire conversation deleted. The families who have experienced the “help” described by Mr. Johansen must feel like those who have left an individual comment for Ms. Solberg. The comment is lost among thousands. The difference is, in truth, the difference between having your child(ren) stolen and being ignored on social media.

“Norway is a parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy.” “Today the King’s duties are mainly representative and ceremonial. When the Constitution states that: ‘the executive power is vested in the King’, this now means that it is vested in the Government.” Thus, Harald V won’t be pulling a sword from a stone or anvil “à la manière de” Arthur on this issue anytime soon. It’s going to take more men like Johansen to make a difference.

One has to question democratic freedoms in such a society. When it comes to child welfare policies, Norway is very dictatorial and requires almost complete subservience to the state. This is much more totalitarian in nature than anything free.

I know some wonderful people in Norway. I pray that they find a way to vote in more men like Mr. Johansen. This evil has gone on far too long.

Chris Reimers"

**

Chris Reimers lives in Hot Springs in Arkansas. He took the initiative and managed a demonstration back on 16 April 2016:

Hot Springs:    About 50 protesters in Hot Springs, Arkansas, USA
Video – Chris Reimers' speech
Video – Josh Mogova's video, posted on Chris Reimers' blog (long video, including the speech in the park)
Video – Chris Reimers' speech on youtube
Group in Hot Springs joins world wide protest of Barnevernet (Norway's CPS) video
Arkansas Herald, 16 April 2016

Demonstrations abroad against Norwegian child protection (CPS) – Barnevernet

A humoristic moment: When I some days ago summarised for Chris Reimers the nonsense about cps protesters being "conspiracy theoreticians" which came from Mr Akerhaug and Mr Færseth, Chris mailed me back: "Please add me to the list of 'conspiracy theoreticians' ".  –  So there!

In a mail, Chris also makes an encouraging remark about the policy of making the world aware of what is going on, i.e of publicity:
"If some guy living in the woods in Arkansas knows about the corrupt BV, then it is possible for the whole world to know."
   !


  

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Hjemmeside http://www.mhskanland.net

   

The local paper Avisa Valdres in the valley of Valdres has caught on to the fact that criticism against their CPS in Ørsal Johansen's article, cf here and here, has been published in India:

Kritikk mot barnevernet i Valdres hamna i indisk avis
(Criticism against the CPS in Valdres ended up in Indian newspaper)
Avisa Valdres, 16 October 2017

The article is only accessible to subscribers. The content is probably about the same
Artikkelen kan kun leses av abonnenter. Innholdet er sannsynligvis omtrent det samme as in Oppland Arbeiderblad, which collaborates with Avisa Valdres.

  

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Hjemmeside http://www.mhskanland.net

  

Here is a calm, to-the-point article:

Fortsatt internasjonalt søkelys på Barnevernet (Still international focus on Barnevernet)
Frie Ord, 16 October 2017

"Kritikken mot Norge har vært reist både i utenlandske nasjonalforsamlinger som i Tsjekkia og Romania, og i Europaparlamentet og Europarådet. Og den er ikke stilnet."
(Criticism against Norway has been raised both in parliaments as in the Czech Republic and Romania, and in the European Parliament and the Council of Europe. And it has not ceased.)

"I disse dager har den engelskspråklige indiske avisen Sunday Guardian en artikkelserie om [det norske*] barnevernet. Blant de som har bidratt er Fremskrittspartiets stortingsrepresentant Morten Ørsal Johansen. «I løpet av mitt politiske liv har jeg oppnådd grundig innsikt i barnevernet og nær kontakt med mange av familiene som er berørt. 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»."
(Just now the English-language Indian newspaper Sunday Guardian is bringing out a series of articles about cps agncies. Among those who have contributed is parliament member Morten Ørsal Johansen (Progress Party). He writes: "In the course of my political life I have obtained thorough insight into Barnevernet and close contact with many of the families who are affected by the agency. I will go as far as to say they have been struck by disaster." Even after 4 years with the Progress Party in charge of the Ministry of Children and Equality, he thinks Barnevernet is still "a state within the state".)
  

*  I have taken the liberty of putting "det norske" (the Norwegian) in brackets and omit it in the translation, because the Sunday Guardian series is about child protection agencies in many countries, not only about Norway. This is just a slight misunderstanding in the present article.
 MH Skånland 
  

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Hjemmeside http://www.mhskanland.net