Brinda Karat’s scathing attack on Barnevernet, which she names the «Child Snatching Agency – CSA» «The point is that as far as the Norwegian CSA authorities are concerned, this is business as usual. There has been absolutely no change in their approach in the last four years.
The ominous statement in response to the expressed official concern of the Minister that «the case will be dealt with according to laws in Norway» is also the same as it was then.
In fact, the CSA of Norway acts as a law unto itself. Its record of child snatching, its utterly arbitrary and subjective assessments of parents, its opaque methods of functioning in the name of confidentiality and its conflict of interest in the financial sphere have been a matter of protest in Norway, in many countries such as Russia, Czechoslovakia, Turkey, whose citizens have been similarly affected. The role of the CSA in violation of human rights has been a subject matter of debate and condemnation in the European Union Parliament.
Look at the facts brought out by MPs, journalists and activists in Norway. Jan Simonsen, a former MP in Norway, stated that according to the records of the Ministry of Children, Youth and Family Affairs, in the year 2014, 1,665 children were taken forcibly from their parents involuntarily» – that is, on an average, three to four children a day. While Norwegian citizens were also affected, children of foreigners were disproportionately represented in the number of children taken away. Tomas Zdechovsky, an MP in the EU, brought up the case of a Czech woman who was deprived of her two sons and, for four years, has been not allowed to meet them. The children’s grandparents were also banned from meeting them on grounds that it will lead to «stress» for the children. In view of several other such cases, the issue is now on the agenda of one of the legal committee working groups.
Norwegian academic Professor Marianne Skanland, who has been tracking the activities of the CSA, has brought out startling data on the conflict of interest between the welfare of the child and the financial benefits for CSA and its network of foster homes. According to her, a foster family is paid around 50,000 euros per child per year apart from leave benefits and paid holidays. A social worker who evaluates the «fitness» of biological parents who have been reported to the CSA can also apply to be a foster parent, which is a clear area of conflict of interest. The method of «reporting» against parents is also absolutely opaque and even anonymous complaints, which could be motivated by other considerations including racism and xenophobia, are entertained by the CSA. According to Simonsen, the 20 most frequent reasons listed by the Directorate of the CYF Ministry in Norway include «the child looks eagerly at strangers and smiles which means that it is not attached to its mother»; «the baby turns its face the wrong way when the father washes it»; «grandmother visiting children wants to embrace them and it had to be stopped as it will create an unwanted attachment.» »
About the Author:
Suranya Aiyar is a 41 year-old Indian housewife. She has two children, aged 6 and 3 years. Her husband is a corporate lawyer. Before quitting her career to take care of her children, Suranya Aiyar was a lawyer. She started her practice in 1998 as a litigator in the Delhi High Court and Supreme Court. In the year 2004, she shifted to corporate law, joining the firm J. Sagar Associates. She was a partner at J. Sagar Associates of three years standing when she left in 2010 to become a stay at home mother. Suranya Aiyar was educated in India, England and America. She obtained a BA Honours degree in Mathematics from St Stephen‘s College, Delhi University in year 1995. In 1997, she obtained a BA Honours degree in law from Oxford University, England, where she studied on a Radhakrishnan Scholarship. She completed her studies in 1998, with an LL.M from New York University, USA. Since 2012, Suranya Aiyar has been writing and critiquing Westernstyle child protection laws as advocated in India by UNICEF and Save the Children. On a pro bono basis she has given support and advice to Indian families facing confiscation of their children abroad by child protection authorities. She also writes and illustrates children‘s books.
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