Barnevernet

The Child Welfare Service of Norway (Norwegian: Barnevernet) established by the Child Welfare Act of 1992[1] was created "to ensure that children and young people who live in conditions that can harm their health and development are given the necessary help and care at the right time" and "to help children and young people have a safe childhood"[2]

Support and assistance

The Child Welfare Service is responsible for implementing measures for children and their families in situations where there are special needs in relation to the home environment. Assistance may be provided as counseling, advisory services, and aid measures, including external support contacts, relief measures in the home, and access to day care.

Under the guidelines of Norway's Child Welfare Service, children are entitled to participate in decisions involving their personal welfare, and have the right to state their views in accordance with their age and level of maturity. This applies especially in cases where there are administrative and legal proceedings that will strongly affect the children's day-to-day lives.

Duties

The child welfare services are required to take action if measures implemented in the home environment are not sufficient to safeguard the child's needs. In such cases, the Child Welfare Service in consultation with the parents may place children under foster care, in a child welfare institution, or introduce specific parent-child measures. Removing a child from the home without parental consent requires a decision from the County Committee for Social Affairs on the basis of a recommendation submitted by the municipal authorities. The county committee is a government body with an autonomous position in relation to the ministry and the Office of the County Governor. Decisions taken by the county committee may only be overturned by the courts. The county committees are administered under the auspices of the Ministry of Children and Equality.

The municipal child welfare services are charged with monitoring the development of children who have been placed in care outside their homes as well as their parents.

Child welfare service employees are privy to a large amount of personal client information, and must comply with strict rules of confidentiality. However, information may be provided to other administrative agencies when this is necessary for carrying out child welfare service tasks.

The responsibilities and tasks of the child welfare authorities are stipulated in the Act relating to child welfare services. The overall responsibility for child welfare lies with the state through the Ministry of Children and Equality, while the administration of child welfare services is primarily carried out at the municipal level and through the Norwegian Directorate for Children, Youth and Family Affairs.

Criticism, and diplomatic incidents

Approximately 4000 people who were formerly taken into custody by Child Welfare Services have sought compensation for suffering and abuse while living in orphanages or child protection between 1945 and 1980. Of these, 2637 have received compensation, in total $220 million (2010).[3][4]

Bhattacharya children

The service has been severely criticized by the Government of India for taking away two children of an Indian couple who were working in Norway.[5][6] Berit Aarset, who heads Human Rights Alert, Norway, has called the incident "state kidnapping". She says, "This is not the first time such a thing is happening in Norway ...the legal system favours the Child Welfare Services and they do what they want all the time... quite often when a Norwegian is married to a non-Norwegian they also do the same thing; they also do this to asylum seekers and in almost every case they say one of the parents have a mental problem just to make their case strong ...that is what has happened in the Bhattacharya case too."[7] The case of the Bhattacharya children involved Norway's foreign minister (Jonas Gahr Støre) meeting with a special envoy from India in 2012.[8]

Rutkowski kidnappings

In two widely publicized cases, the Polish private investigator Krzysztof Rutkowski has helped children (a Russian-born boy and a Polish girl) escape Norwegian foster care and reunite with their parents.[9] Later Norwegian authorities claim for return of the children has been declined by Polish court as unjustified.[10]

Michalák case

In May 2011, the two sons of Eva Michaláková and husband who originate from the Czech Republic were removed by the Child Welfare Services due to suspicion of child sexual abuse by the father; allegations denied by the couple.[11] Michaláková has since divorced her husband and continues to reside in Norway.

Michaláková continues to pursue custody of her children through various channels, including the European Court of Human Rights where her complaint was rejected without prejudice for non-exhaustion of domestic remedies.[12] The case has been discussed by Miloš Zeman president of the Czech republic,[13] in the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic, and the foreign minister Lubomír Zaorálek has sent a diplomatic note to Oslo regarding the matter.[14] On January 20, 2015, the Norwegian Embassy in Prague published a press release explaining the Norwegian official diplomatic position on the Michalák case.[15] Several other politicians also got involved in efforts to get the children of Eva Michaláková back to their mother. The first Czech politician to do so was deputy Jitka Chalánková (TOP 09).[16] Since November 2014 also two Czech MEPs Tomáš Zdechovský and Petr Mach have got involved in this case.[17] Norway is not a party to the 1996 Hague Convention on Parental Responsibility and Protection of Children, however the government is in the process of its ratification.

Bodnariu family

Main article: Bodnariu case

In November 2015, a new case arose to public attention involving children of foreign nationals being removed from custody by Barnevernet. Marius and Ruth Bodnariu, a Romanian-Norwegian couple of Pentecostal faith are accused of using physical discipline against their children.[18]

This case regards an ongoing investigation.

References

  1. ↑ "Child Welfare Act of 1992". NO: Lov data.
  2. ↑ "Child Welfare Act Chapter 1 Purpose and Scope". NO: Lov data.
  3. ↑ "1,3 milliarder til barnevernsbarn" [1.3 billion to child care children] (in Norwegian). NRK. 14 April 2010.
  4. ↑ Pettersen, Karen-Sofie (2010). Kommunale oppreisningsordninger for tidligere barnevernsbarn: Resultater fra en kartleggingsstudie [Municipal redress schemes for former children in care: Results from a survey study] (PDF) (in Norwegian). Oslo. ISBN 978-82-8182-004-3.
  5. ↑ "Indian couple have children taken away by Norwegian social workers because they fed them with their hands". Daily Mail. 19 January 2012. Retrieved 24 January 2012.
  6. ↑ "India steps up pressure on Norway for release of NRI children". Indian Express. 23 January 2012. Retrieved 24 January 2012.
  7. ↑ "Norway custody row: Top 10 developments". NDTV. 23 February 2012. Retrieved 23 February 2012.
  8. ↑ Ervic, Kristian (12 February 2012). "Indisk spesialutsending møtte Støre om barnevernssak" [Indian envoy met Minister about child care] (in Norwegian). TV 2. Retrieved 27 December 2014.
  9. ↑ "Polish Rambo rescues kid from foster care". The Local. 9 November 2011. Retrieved 27 December 2014.
  10. ↑ "Polski sąd zdecydował: Nikola Rybka zostanie w Polsce". 12 December 2011. Retrieved 1 June 2015.
  11. ↑ Mæland, Kjetil (2014-12-21). "I Tsjekkia sier de: "Ikke dra til Norge. Der tar de barna dine"" (in Norwegian). Nettavisen.
  12. ↑ "Češka, které Norsko odebralo dvě děti, neuspěla ani ve Štrasburku" [Czech Republic, which Norway has collected two children, also failed in Strasbourg]. Z pravy (in Czech). CZ: Idnes. 4 November 2014. Retrieved 27 December 2014.
  13. ↑ "Jsem připraven intervenovat kvůli dětem v Norsku, uvedl prezident" [I am ready to intervene because of the children in Norway, said the president]. Z pravy (in Czech). CZ: Idnes. 4 December 2014. Retrieved 27 December 2014.
  14. ↑ "Vraťte odebrané děti do Česka, vyzve Zaorálek diplomatickou nótou Oslo" [Return the removed children to Czech Republic, Zaorálek will appeal to Oslo in a diplomatic note]. Z pravy (in Czech). CZ: Idnes. 18 December 2014. Retrieved 27 December 2014.
  15. ↑ "Child welfare in Norway and the Michalak boys". Norwegian Embassy. Prague. Retrieved 21 January 2015.
  16. ↑ "Chalánková (TOP 09): Jde o život dvou nevinných dětí, které nemohou vyrůstat se svojí matkou". Parlamentnilisty (in Czech). CZ. Retrieved 11 June 2015.
  17. ↑ "Čeští europoslanci zahájili sbírku na návrat českých dětí zadržovaných v Norsku". Reflex (in Czech). CZ. Retrieved 11 June 2015.
  18. ↑ "Do not use the word «persecution» lightly", Vårt Land.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Saturday, April 30, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.