Child welfare officials in Norway have been accused of taking immigrant children from their parents and sending them to be raised by Norwegian parents.
AP reports that immigrant parents, many of whom come to Norway from Lithuania and Turkey, have taken to the streets to protest the removal of thousands of small children, most of whom have been placed with Norwegian foster parents.
The figures suggest that of 6737 children taken into care in 2012, some 1,049 were immigrant children, or born to immigrant parents.
Immigrant children are three times more likely to be removed from their homes.
The authorities “insist they’re acting in the best interests of the children” with officials saying “children would never be removed from their families unless they were considered to be in danger.”
However, “cultural differences” have also been acknowledged by the Norwegian Minister for Children and Families, Solveig Horne, who agrees that immigrant families may have a different approach to child-rearing, letting children roam free, or get around barefoot, or eat certain foods with their hands.
Gunnar Toresen, head of the Child Protection Service in Stavanger, said:
“Very many people come from other cultures with no government intervening in their domestic affairs. Then they come to Norway and the government intervenes in the family and they have no experience with this. I understand that this is a very emotional situation.”
