Reply to Norway's child protective service and Indian immigrants

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[quote=Anonymous]I was struck by a story I read in the Indian press last weekend, which hasn't been covered here. The issues are personal to so many of us in this forum that I wanted to make you aware of it because there are bound to be similar cases in the U.S. Anurup and Sagarika Bhattacharya are Indian citizens living in Norway, where Anurup is a geologist for Halliburton. Almost 9 months ago, Norwegian child protection authorities took the couple's children--a 4-month-old girl (who was breastfeeding) and a 2-year-old boy--and placed them in separate foster homes, declaring that the parents could not see them until they were 18 years old. The agency, known as Barnevernet, cited several reasons for taking the children, including that they were fed by hand and shared a bed with their parents, both of which are standard cultural practice in India. Newspaper accounts say other reasons included that the children wore ill-fitting clothes, did not have sufficient space to play, and were not emotionally attached to their parents. At least one newspaper account said that Sagarika was suffering from post-partum depression.

The children, like their parents, are Indian citizens. This all adds up to a frightening case of government overreaching, particularly in the case of immigrants (I've yet to see an explanation of why the Norwegian government didn't consult the Indian embassy in Oslo before taking such draconian action). India's president and foreign ministry got involved, and although the two countries have reached an agreement, the Bhattacharyas have yet to see their children.

For more info, you can Google "Norway Indian child" or you can visit a new community page on Facebook (you do NOT need to be on Facebook to view the page and read the links):

http://www.facebook.com/ImmigrantFamiliesChildProtectiveServices

Thanks very much for indulging a long post. [/quote]

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