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Thread: Norway starts adopting out 5 children seized from Christian parents

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    Norway starts adopting out 5 children seized from Christian parents

    -Norwegian child services have begun the adoption process for five children who were seized from a Romanian Pentecostal family in November after concerns were expressed about the parents' Christian faith, the family says.

    As previously reported by The Christian Post, the five children of Ruth and Marius Bodnariu were seized by the Barnevernet (Norway's child services agency) on Nov. 16 after the principal of the middle school their two oldest daughters attend cited concerns about the children's religious upbringing and how the parents were teaching their kids that God punishes sin.

    Although the principal only asked the Barnevernet to offer the family counseling services and never requested that the children be removed from the home, the agency removed all five kids from their parents custody on the claim that the children were being physically abused.

    The children, including a nursing infant son, have now been placed in three separate foster homes while their parents have been given extremely limited visitation rights. Although both parents can see their infant son twice a week, only Ruth can visit with her two oldest sons once per week while neither parent can visit their daughters.

    During an interview with The Christian Post, Daniel Bodnariu, Marius' brother, explained that his brother and sister-in-law have never mistreated or abused their children and only give them "light punishments" that cause little pain when their children behaved poorly.

    Bodnariu explained that while the agency hasn't found medical or physical evidence showing the children have been abused, the agency is relying on testimony from the children. And he questions whether Barnevernet has used unethical means to coax statements from the children.

    "They said it was the belief of the parents, the Christian belief, and they said this creates a handicap in children because they are telling children that God punishes sin, and this is wrong in their point of view," Bodnariu said. "In the [formal] accusations, they didn't mention the religious aspect, only make the case on abuse, even though there is no evidence."

    Bodnariu added that the children were removed from their parents' custody before the agency had performed background checks on the parents or interviewed neighbors and friends.

    After the family's appeal of the Barnevernet's removal of their children was denied in late November, a Barnevernet representative told the family on Dec. 15 that the agency would like to evaluate Ruth and Marius to determine what kind of people they are.

    Although the agency said the evaluation would not be conducted until February, the family was also informed that the Barnevernet has already begun the process to have their children adopted by other families.

    "There are a lot of people who need to adopt kids in Norway," Bodnariu said. "They don't give birth to child and there are a lot of people in Norway who want to adopt..."

    http://www.christianpost.com/news/no...rocess-153771/

  2. #2
    Administrator fuego's Avatar
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    and, it's coming

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    Senior Member peace's Avatar
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    I have never heard of it but if the child service was involved it was probably not because the family is Christian. Many Romani people who come to Norway (and there are many) live under terrible conditions, sleeping rough, begging in the streets etc. and you can only imagine how such children live ... what about schooling etc.

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    Senior Member Colonel's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by peace View Post
    I have never heard of it but if the child service was involved it was probably not because the family is Christian. Many Romani people who come to Norway (and there are many) live under terrible conditions, sleeping rough, begging in the streets etc. and you can only imagine how such children live ... what about schooling etc.
    These were apparently not of that kind :

    https://www.facebook.com/Norway-Retu...15965/?fref=nf

    If the given reason was alleged child abuse and not Christian beliefs then the article is very much a matter of taking the family's side and simply presenting that. We don't know all the details.

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    Senior Member peace's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Colonel View Post
    These were apparently not of that kind :

    https://www.facebook.com/Norway-Retu...15965/?fref=nf

    If the given reason was alleged child abuse and not Christian beliefs then the article is very much a matter of taking the family's side and simply presenting that. We don't know all the details.
    Sounds really bad. I haven't been able to find out more about the details.

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    Senior Member Colonel's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by peace View Post
    Sounds really bad. I haven't been able to find out more about the details.
    It is probably related to the law against smacking children, that we also have in Norway. It is quite possible that this particular couple are extremely stern and use corporal punishment to a large extent (them punishing the children in God's place whenever they perceive them as sinful, for instance). Just because they are Romanian Pentecostals does not necessarily imply that they are not child abusers. They could be child abusers hiding behind religious conventions, for instance.

    At least the authorities apparently sent the children back home, according to the link I posted.

    The fact that it is hard to find anything about this in Norwegian media indicates that the case has most probably been blown out of proportion by non-Norwegian sites, which seems to happen a lot. It is easy to create sensationalism out of local conditions that the writers and their audiences typically don't understand.

  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by Colonel View Post
    At least the authorities apparently sent the children back home, according to the link I posted...
    Where are you seeing that? I can't find any mention of it.

    ...and what exactly is this 'Barnevernet' that they keep mentioning?

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    Senior Member Colonel's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by krystian View Post
    Where are you seeing that? I can't find any mention of it.

    ...and what exactly is this 'Barnevernet' that they keep mentioning?
    It seems I misinterpreted their sentence.

    Barnevernet means "Child protection agency" and is a government institution

  10. #10
    From reading that facebook link it seems its not uncommon for Norway to do these things, there were other examples cited including this:


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