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 Post subject: Re: BBC documentaries: Parents against the State. 2016, 2018
PostPosted: Sun Aug 19, 2018 12:30 pm 
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This is so far the Expert Commision investigating itself. It is by no means good enough.

The commision leader probably hopes to silence the critics by doing her own evaluation and stating that everything is in order?

It is quite ridiculous actually. A scandal has hit the Commision where it hurts, and they attempt to get away with it after reading through some reports done by the convicted?

The psychiatrist's work needs to be analyzed by completety independant individuals.

Nothing else should be accepted.


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 Post subject: Re: BBC documentaries: Parents against the State. 216, 2018
PostPosted: Tue Aug 21, 2018 9:29 am 
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Kari Killén (84) har forsket på omsorgssvikt siden 1960-tallet
Mangel på faglig forståelse i barnevernet svekker rettssikkerheten

(Kari Killén (84) has done research on care failure since the 1960s
Lack of professional understanding in Barnevernet weakens security under the law)
Aftenposten, 19 August 2018

Incredible lack of insight. Killén charges on in the same direction that she has always done, plus eagerness for more competence, more psychiatry, more inter-professional cooperation, more education about all sorts of care failure.

Just like previously, an absence of understanding children's connectedness to their parents. She also lacks, still, any realisation of her self having been a leader in bringing Norwegian Barnevern into the quagmire it is in, that which is being inflicted on people in our society today. On the contrary, she now eagerly lectures to child protection employees and other establishments, and is very popular as a lecturer in such circles. Those who believe that Barnevernet will now take a new direction due to the large amount of criticism and protests and scandalous cases being exposed, should take note.

This propaganda from Killén is furthered solidly by Aftenposten, with no misgivings. They support the authorities' continuation of child protection in the same way as before, with new family destructions and tragedies especially for the children, actions brought on them by people who think like Killén.

*

27 August 2018:
Cf  Some professional child experts – (1) Kari Killén

    

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 Post subject: Re: BBC documentaries: Parents against the State. 2016, 2018
PostPosted: Tue Aug 21, 2018 7:56 pm 
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Dømt psykiater slaktet stjernepsykologer
Foreldre mistet omsorgen i fem år

(Convicted psychiatrist slaughtered star psychologists
Parents lost care for five years)
I 2014 underkjente psykiateren rapporten som kunne ha gitt foreldrene barna tilbake. I april i år ble han dømt for overgrepsbilder av barn.
(In 2014 the psychiatrist set aside the report which could have given the children back to the parents. In April of this year he was convicted for abuse pictures of children.)
Dagbladet, 19 August 2018

What we see here, is a performance by psychologists/psychiatrists at odds with each other. But their "scientific" basis for giving such "evaluations" of families is equally lacking in any case. So here we have Hjermann and Raundalen having been set aside by **** (Name censored due to Norwegian authorities. -admin) examining their report in the Expert Commission on Children (ECC).

*


Jan Simonsen:
Barnepsykiater dømt i alvorlig pedofilisak, men får beholde eneomsorg for barn
(Child psychiatrist convicted in serious paedophilia case, but gets to keep sole custody for children)
Resett.no, 20 August 2018

The CPS case about psychiatrist **** (Name censored due to Norwegian authorities. -admin) children was of course run separately from the criminal case against him for downloading child pornography, but relevant matter from the CPS case and psychological assessments of him in connection with his relationship to his children were brought up in the criminal case and are referred in the judgment.

*


Tomáš Zdechovský:
BBC: Takový normální úchyl z Barnevernetu
zdechovsky.blog.idnes.cz, 16 August 2018

Google Translate is a bit unclear about the title, but it probably means "What a normal deviation from Barnevernet".

The first paragraph of the article translates (automatically) this way:
"How would you feel if you found out that the children were forcibly taken away for the sake of a convicted long-time pedophile, who, after a brief stay in prison, will immediately return to his children? That's what the British BBC asks in a new document."

The article seems to contain a couple of mistakes of fact and interpretation, but it is quite strong.
  
  

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 Post subject: Re: BBC documentaries: Parents against the State. 2016, 2018
PostPosted: Wed Aug 22, 2018 8:00 pm 
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 Excellent: BBC has put out the documentary on youtube themselves. So now there are, hopefully, several versions out, making it less probably that they all disappear from the web. 


Norway's Silent Scandal – BBC Newsnight
BBC Newsnight, 6 August 2018


"Norway's Silent Scandal
Subscribe to our channel here: https://goo.gl/31Q53F

In April this year, a highly respected Norwegian child psychiatrist was convicted of downloading thousands of images of child pornography. The psychiatrist had been used as an expert, until his arrest, by Norway's controversial child protection system and was involved in decisions about whether children should be removed from their parents. Campaigners in Norway have long accused the system of removing children from their parents without justification and now, despite the serious nature of this man's offence, the authorities are refusing to review the child protection cases he gave evidence in. For Our World, Tim Whewell has been to Norway to try to discover why child protection in one of the world's wealthiest countries appears to be in crisis. This programme video adult themes.

Newsnight is the BBC's flagship news and current affairs TV programme - with analysis, debate, exclusives, and robust interviews.

Website: https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsnight
Twitter: https://twitter.com/BBCNewsnight
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bbcnewsnight"


  

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 Post subject: Re: BBC documentaries: Parents against the State. 2016, 2018
PostPosted: Wed Aug 22, 2018 8:06 pm 
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Advertisements for the documentary has spread on an enormous number of websites. There are also some independent articles, although not many.


Margaret Hennum:
Let the sleeping dog sleep? How Norway deals with the latest Paedophile scandal
Step up 4 Children's Rights, 17 August 2018

"In the documentary, Whewell asks the former Children’s Ombudsman (2004 – 2012) Reidar Hjermann if he thinks the delight in seeing children being abused may have had an impact on **** (Name censored due to Norwegian authorities. -admin) work. „It may and it may not,“ Hjermann answers, without knowing the identity of the convicted expert, but very well informed about his work relations with Barnevernet.
    Then he shows no more concern about the matter. Not until he is confronted with **** (Name censored due to Norwegian authorities. -admin) overruling one of Hjermann’s own reports, which makes him personally affected. He then starts to consider it, that it might be a good idea to look at the cases where **** (Name censored due to Norwegian authorities. -admin) has been involved after all?!"


"[Thore] Langfeldt turns rather jovial when asked to comment on Tim Whewell documentary trip: 'When you phoned me, I said: my god what is he doing? He is coming over here to talk about such a case which is a normal case in Norway; we have lots of them! I think that there are more cases of people being convicted that have been working with children. If you should take all those cases up…. It will be hundreds and hundreds of people, and I think the system would collapse. Let the sleeping dog sleep.' "

*


Norway Allows Convicted Child Pornography Addict to Keep Custody of Kids While Separating Loving Families
The Christian Post, 10 August 2018

  

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 Post subject: Re: BBC documentaries: Parents against the State. 2016, 2018
PostPosted: Fri Aug 24, 2018 7:04 pm 
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Linda Hofstad Helleland:
Som statsråd vil jeg ikke kommentere enkeltsaker.
Jeg skal sørge for et barnevern som er der for barna, ikke kommentere enkeltsaker

(As a government minister for I will not comment on individual cases.
I am here to see to it that there is a Barnevern which is there for the children, not to comment on individual cases.)
Jeg har ikke anledning til å gå inn i enkeltsaker. Det handler ikke om likegyldighet.
(I do not have the possibility of going into individual cases. It is not about indifference.)
Aftenposten, 21 / 22 August 2018


I see. No individual cases, no concrete facts from the real world. But when the Minister will not go into individual questions in idividual cases, then she takes no responsibility for what the system all the time leads to.

Free from responsibility. Repudiation of responsibility.

Helleland's article repeats again and again all the statements we are used to, about how everything is good, how much better everything shall nevertheless become, how much money is poured into it. It is like hearing a doll talk. It is in no way informative, just stubborn. We have heard all of it for years – for myself at least from 1994.

*

A video made by Rune Fardal; he discusses Linda Helleland's article. 

Rune Fardal:
Barnevernet kritiseres sønder og sammen, politikere er tause!
(Barnevernet is criticised like nobody's business, politicians are silent.)
Focus on Family & Human Rights in Norway, Family Channel, 22 August 2018

  
  

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 Post subject: Re: BBC documentaries: Parents against the State. 2016, 2018
PostPosted: Sat Aug 25, 2018 8:09 am 
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Linda Merete Skarnes, sosionom og barnevernsleder i Enebakk:
(LMS, qualified social worker and cps leader in Enebakk municipality)
Barnevernet trenger barneministeren
(The cps needs the Minister for children)
Østlandets Blad, 23 August 2018


"BBC lager en dokumentarrekke om det norske barnevernet. Vi må ikke tro det er god reklame. Til det virker kunnskapen om det norske vernet av barn altfor mangelfull ute i verden. Det lages historier som minner om de mest søkte konspirasjonsteorier."
(The BBC makes a documentary series about Norwegian Barnevernet. We should not think it is good advertisement. The insight into the Norwegian protection of children found out in the world seems far too insufficient for that. Stories are constructed which are reminiscent of the most far-fetched conspiration theories.)

From my point of view, hearing that the BBC is going to make a whole series of codumentaries about little Norway's Barnevernet sounds exceedingly encouraging! I didn't know! (Wonder where she takes her information from.) So far there have been two, over two years. But it is good to hear that it is enough to upset cps workers.

The problem for this cps leader is really not that the BBC's programs from 2016 and 2018 "construct stories". Quite the contrary: the stories exist and they are real. That is why the upset and protest over a cps which carries out forcible dissolution of families are not likely to cease.

Apart from the central questions, the ideas turn up again in Skarnes' article of cps protesters and people who themselves have been subjected to cps destruction as having some kind of 'conspiracy theories'. Quaint ideas, cf the curious fantasies displayed here, here and (in Norwegian) in this thread. Is cps leader Skarnes an adherent of this circle of people, perhaps?


"Etter det jeg kjenner til har ikke Helleland selv jobbet i barnevernet, og det er derfor ikke å forvente at hun har alle svarene, ..."
(As far as I know, Helleland has not worked in the cps herself, and can therefore not be expected to know all the answers, ...)

But Helleland has expressed opinions about Barnevernet even many years ago, and has continued along the same lines of thinking. She absolutely knows enough about the version of Barnevernet which Skarnes wants to be spread around abroad too.


".... men det som er forunderlig er at det virker ikke som hun har rådgivere som kan hjelpe henne med gode svar heller. Ett eksempel på et slikt godt svar presenterer Reidar Hjermann i Dagbladet den 7. august. Som han skriver; vanskeligere er det ikke."
(... but it is curious that she does not seem to have advisors who can help her with good answers either. One example of such a good answer is presented by Reidar Hjermann in Dagbladet on 7 August. As he says: It is not much more difficult than this.)

Well, will such a general program statement convince everybody abroad when concrete questions are brushed aside?


"En annen mulig årsak, som Bunkholdt, Einarsson og Storø er inne på i Aftenposten 16. august, er at regjeringen rett og slett mangler en politikk på dette området."
(Another possible reason, touched on by Bunkholdt, Einarsson and Storø in Aftenposten on 16 August, is that the government simply lacks policy in this area.)

No, the government is not without a child protection policy, it keeps pushing its policy in the wrong direction.

"Barnevernet i Norge er antagelig best i verden, og dette skulle jeg ønske vi kunne være kollektivt stolte av. Selvfølgelig har vi fortsatt en vei å gå her også, men det må være lov å feire underveis."
(Norwegian cps is probably the best in the world, and I wish we could be collectively proud of it. Of course, we still have some way to go here too, but we must be allowed to celebrate on the way.)

So we see where the citizens of Enebakk can find their municipality's child protection service. Do they celebrate each individual taking-into-care? Their leader, anyway, believes that parents are "frustrerte, irriterte og sinte foreldre ..." (frustrated, irritated and angry parents ...). These are strongly pejorative terms in the present context. She does not mention that many, both children and parents who are exposed to the 'measures' of the cps, are broken-hearted and desperately unhappy, and that the likelihood of death, for example through suicide, is many times as high for them.


Skarnes says that "Barn og ungdom forteller om omsorgssvikt, vold og overgrep – og de blir trodd! Heldigvis." (Children and young people tell (us) about care failure, violence and abuse – and they are believed! Fortunately.) She says nothing about any action on the part of the cps when children and young people tell them about care failure, violence and abuse in Barnevernet's care.

    

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 Post subject: Re: BBC documentaries: Parents against the State. 2016, 2018
PostPosted: Sun Aug 26, 2018 3:32 pm 
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The case in criminal court against the child psychiatrist will run in the appeal court


Dømt barnepsykiater får ny runde om mildere straff
(Convicted child psychiatrist gets a new round in court about a milder sentence)
Dagbladet, 23 August 2018


"The appeal board in Borgarting Appeal Court has accepted for new trial the appeal from the child psychiatrist who was in Oslo District Court in April of this year convicted of for over 20 years having downloaded large quantities of material depicting abuse of children.
    The child psychiatrist, who was for several years a member of the state's supervisory Expert Commission on Children, appeals the sentence – not the question of guilt."


It is a good thing that the appeal regarding the sentence is appealed. Whether the punishment will then be milder, stricter or the same, the new trial will raise new interest and concern over how the child professions relate to their own colleagues and how the justice system assess them. People will be able to draw comparisons with how our justice system considers families being demolished by force by Barnevernet and the courts.

*

Here as well:

The Criminal Child Psychiatrist **** (Name censored due to Norwegian authorities. -admin) attempts to reduce his Punishment
Christian Coalition World, 24 August 2018

  

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 Post subject: Re: BBC documentaries: Parents against the State. 2016, 2018
PostPosted: Sun Aug 26, 2018 4:29 pm 
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MH Skånland wrote:
     

Linda Hofstad Helleland:
Som statsråd vil jeg ikke kommentere enkeltsaker.
Jeg skal sørge for et barnevern som er der for barna, ikke kommentere enkeltsaker

(As a government minister I will not comment on individual cases.
I am here to see to it that there is a Barnevern which is there for the children, not to comment on individual cases.)
Jeg har ikke anledning til å gå inn i enkeltsaker. Det handler ikke om likegyldighet.
(I do not have the possibility of going into individual cases. It is not about indifference.)
Aftenposten, 21 / 22 August 2018  


The Norwegian Minister of Family and Children also states the following:
"The CPS in Norway is good. During the years from 2013 to 2017 the number of positions in the municipalities connected to CPS had risen more than 23 percent, meaning 1149 positions. CPS-workers make a considerable effort to give children and their families a better life. Eighty percent of the families who received help while the child lives at home are satisfied, and the public`s faith in the CPS is on the rise."


In other words, the Minister speaks like the central leaders of the CPS itself (Bufdir). The cat has been let out of the sack. The Minister exposes that she also has not understood much.

The funny part is that she seems to be referring to a survey published some years ago. A survey in which the the scientific quality was at least questionable.

Earlier on, we have shown on this forum how surveys ordered and paid by Bufdir usually are heavily biased and of seemingly low scientific quality.


New Bufdir Survey 2016 (Norwegian)

Bufdir-report: Eight out of ten satisfied?

There are leading questions. There is avoidance of important questions. Surveys performed by the CPS workers themselves. The interviewed hand-picked by the CPS workers themselves. Not to mention the fact that the people that are questioned might very well be downright terrrified, fearing that the CPS is going to take away their children.

It is really like holding a knife to someones throat asking if they are happy. Because the CPS is in the deepest sense always giving the same message to families: We are going to give you as much help as we possibly can! And if we do not succed we are going to destroy you!

And then in a mild and sympathetic voice: "How satisfied are you with the CPS measures?"

Most families understand the stakes.

I myself was horrified and traumatized those couple of years when the CPS were either sending petitions or offering measures. Measures that we accepted because we behind our brave faces were crushed, frightened and helplessly under the power of the CPS. Is it a mystery that some people will say that the CPS are fantastic under such circumstances?

These kind of surveys just show the typical lack of ethics that the CPS has. The CPS never minds putting ultimate pressure on families. They can do it while they do surveys, or while they monitor families who know very well that they are about to lose their children.

Isn`t it hilarious? The CPS simultaneously says that it would be unethical to do surveys where they try to find out if the measures work. At the same time they can push families to the extreme, really threatening to devastate their lives.

Anyway, surveys like these are like headings in Sunday newspapers. They become truths no matter how meaningless the content might be.

It is really quite typical, although regrettable, that a minister makes her statements
backed by surveys and information supplied by the system itself.

Her article is also mocking all the "surveys" she can read on the web, authored by the many who have been marked or destroyed by the CPS, and who try to be whistle-blowers on social media. They make brave and desperate attempts to alert people like Helleland about what is really happening.

Her message to them is clear:

She doesn`t care.

Thanks for your clarity, Helleland!


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 Post subject: Re: BBC documentaries: Parents against the State. 2016, 2018
PostPosted: Mon Aug 27, 2018 2:29 pm 
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A central person in child protection, Andersland, tries to turn the discussion in other directions


Geir Kjell Andersland, child rights jurist and politician for the party Venstre:
Grip initiativet, barneminister!
Linda Hofstad Helleland (H) må skarpt tilbakevise kritikken som bare er mot offentlig innblanding i familielivet.
(Grab the initiative, Child Minister!
Linda Hofstad Helleland (the Conservative Party) must firmly reject the criticism which only goes against public interference in family life)

Bergens Tidende, 24 August 2018


Geir Kjell Andersland is very well known as leader of the County Board of Hordaland and Sogn og Fjordane counties, and as regional director of Buetat region West. His views always onesidedly support the child protection system and is dismissive of families. Likewise in this article. It gives a good illustration of what families who are forcibly demolished by Barnevernet, the county boards and the courts are up against when they try to give a voice to their distress and despair.

*

"Barnevernet i Norge er nylig blitt hengt ut i en tv-reportasje, signert den anerkjente reporteren Tim Whewell i respekterte BBC.
    BBC-programmet fremstår som svært ensidig, men norske myndigheter var forespurt om en kommentar. Dessverre ble det takket nei til denne unike sjansen til å gi en helhetlig presentasjon av norsk barnevern for et stort og internasjonalt publikum. Avslaget førte til at programmet fikk den infame tittelen «Norway’s Silent Scandal»."

(Norwegian Barnevernet has recently been exposed in a new tv documentary, signed the highly recognised reporter Tim Whewell in respected BBC.
    The BBC program is of a very one-sided character, but Norwegian authorities were asked for a comment. Unfortunately they said no to this unique chance to gi a comprehensive presentation of Norwegian CPS for a large and international public. The refusal led to the program being given the infamour title of "Norway's Silent Scandal".)


As early as this in his article, Andersland's understanding is already considerably twisted:

(a) Does he believe that the program was intended to give Norwegian authorities a platform to boast about principles, not having to give a reply about the concrete matters which BBC's journalist wanted to ask the Minister? Apparently so.

(b) "Expose" (literally 'henge ut' means 'to hang out in public view') and "infamous"? Andersland seems a bit heated. Well, CPS people keep complaining that they are being "exposed". At the same time, they are proud of what they do – that which the critics write and speak about, and which is nothing they do in their private lives but belongs to their job in public employ. Why, then, is a description of this the same as "exposing" them and it?

(c) The BBC documentary being one-sided in showing two CPS cases and a criminal court case from the families' side this time, should be balanced not only against the Minister's refusal to answer questions, but also against the endless series of reports and documentary programs and articles which Norwegian media give us, quite uncritical of the CPS. Andersland's own article is no exception in its helpfulness to the official view, and we notice he has had no trouble getting it published in the largest newspaper on the west coast, Bergens Tidende.
    It furthermore seems strikingly one-sided of Andersland to avoid even mentioning the central theme in the BBC documentary: the fact that a child psychiatrist who has been very active as an expert in lots of CPS cases and as an evaluator of the expertise of others, has now been convicted of having for 20 years enjoyed himself watching illegal child abuse pictures and videos of a crass nature, and the fact that this naturally raises questions about the kind of expertise found in the CPS professions.

*

We find the kind of derailing of criticism og the CPS in Andersland's demand for more competence, more proficiendy:
"Så krevende som barnevernets oppgave er blitt, særlig i lys av de multikulturelle utfordringer, er det behov for ny og dypere kompetanse blant de ansatte."
(The task of the CPS has become so demanding, especially in the light of multi-cultural challenges, that there is a need for new and deeper competence among the employees.)

This is a standard answer from our authorities to every criticism of how CPS work is carried out in practice.
    No, the criticisable actions of Barnevernet are not due to Norway now having an influx of immigrants from other cultures. The criticisable actions have always been there, right back to when child protection was first organised: in the 1890s (they were called "vergerådene" – 'protection committees'). Andersland also praises the these committees quite one-sidedly, regardless of their less than untouchable history:
"Norge fikk verdens første barnevernlov, vergerådsloven, vedtatt i 1896. Den gjorde Norge til en barnerettslig pioner.", "... Norges stolte fortid på feltet ...".
(Norway had the world's first child protection law, the law of "vergerådene", passed in 1896. It made Norway into a pioneer of child rights. ..... Norway's proud past in this field... )

And no, more education and training in the same direction as we have at present will of course not be any remedy. The same goes for the elevation of the county boards to become – or shall we say "be called" – courts.

*

Andersland brings forward Killén as an authority whose judgment can be trusted: "Ferske uttalelser fra «grand old lady» i norsk barnevernsundervisning, Kari Killèn, om «manglende faglig forståelse i systemet» gir grunn til reell bekymring."
(Recent opinions from the "grand old lady" in child protection teaching, Kari Killén, about "deficient professional understanding in the system" gives us reason for real concern.)

A far from trivial part of what is wrong in the CPS in Norway today, stems precisely from Killén's "professional understanding", which the system will again have in the lead (cf Some professional child experts – (1) Kari Killén).

*

"Også FNs barnekomité har kommet med bekymringer, blant annet om Norges høye antall omsorgsovertagelser, samt hvordan akuttvedtak gjennomføres. Denne kritikken er mer alvorlig enn innslaget i BBC."
(The UN's children's committee, too, has voiced concern, among other things over Norway's high number of takings-into-care, and about how emergency takings-into-care are carried through. This criticism is more serious than the item in the BBC.)

Is Andersland trying to trivialise what the BBC documentary showed, I wonder? He holds a firm belief in the system possessing complete insight into what is good for children and is competent to force it through – other opinions are a "threat":

"Samtidig må [statsråd Helleland] skarpt tilbakevise den delen av kritikken som bare er mot offentlig innblanding i familielivet, og derved en trussel mot barns beste."
(At the same time, [Minister Helleland] must firmly reject the criticism which only goes against public interference in family life, and which is thereby a threat to the child's best interest.)

    

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 Post subject: Re: BBC documentaries: Parents against the State. 2016, 2018
PostPosted: Tue Aug 28, 2018 8:24 am 
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A short piece, only three little paragraphs, which it would be tempting to copy in its entirety, because they all contain arguments which hit the bull's eye:


Taust om tausheit
(Silent about silence)
By Marit Johanne Bruset, psychology specialist and professional child expert
Aftenposten, 26 August 2018

"Eit hovudpoeng i BBC-dokumentaren «Norways Silent Scandal» er norske medium, inkludert Aftenposten som Ben McPherson har tilknyting til, sin tausheit om den dømde barne- og ungdomspsykiaterens rolle i barnevernet. Kvifor stillast ingen spørsmål om grunnen til dette?"
(A focus in the BBC documentary "Norway's Silent Scandal" is the silence of Norwegian media, including Aftenposten, which Ben McPherson is connected to. Silence about the role of the convicted child and youth psychiatrist in Barnevernet. Why are there no questions about the reason for this?)

"Den dømde sakkunnige var ein aktiv deltakar i debatten med stor fagleg tillit i det politiske miljøet og overfor fagetatane. Argumentasjonen som nedtona betydinga av biologiske band, fekk gjennomslag hos mange."
(The convicted expert was an active participant in the debate, benefiting from great confidence given to him in political circles and in the professional establishments. The argumentation which toned down the importance of biological ties was approved by many.)
  
  

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 Post subject: Re: BBC documentaries: Parents against the State. 2016, 2018
PostPosted: Wed Aug 29, 2018 8:51 pm 
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Wonderfully revealing about official Norway!


Vigdis Bunkholdt, Jona Hafdis Einarsson og Jan Storø :
Det handler ikke om en enkeltsak, men om politikk
(It is not about individual cases, it is about politics)
Aftenposten, 26 August 2018


The authors refer to their article of 16 August, cf Three workers for the system defending it, and to Helleland's answer of 22 August (comment here).

Now they say:

"Vi har alle tre arbeidet i barnevernet et helt yrkesliv innen ulike forvaltningsnivåer. Vi vet meget godt hvordan arbeidsfordelingen i barnevernet er, og at statsråden ikke skal uttale seg i enkeltsaker. Å bruke spalteplass på dette er derfor en lite relevant reaksjon på våre påpekninger.
    Vårt poeng var å peke på at departementet ikke burde latt en slik gyllen mulighet gå fra seg til å fortelle generelt om barnevernet."

(All three of us have worked in the CPS for a whole professional life on different organisatorial levels. We know full well what the division of labour in the CPS is like, and that the Government Minister is not to comment on individual cases. To take up space about this in the newspaper is therefore hardly a relevant reaction to what we pointed out.
    Our point was to emphasise that the Ministry should not have let such a golden opportunity to tell (them) about Barnevernet in general, pass them by.)

"Dette er i tråd med de anbefalinger som direktoratet gir til kommunene i sin veileder «Gode råd om mediekontakt». ...... Kommunene oppfordres til å møte konkrete forespørsler om en sak med generell informasjon slik at kommunen kan [du] få ut viktig informasjon til offentligheten om det arbeidet som gjøres for å ivareta barns beste."
(This is in agreement with the recommendations given by the directorate to the municipalities in their advisor "Good advice about media contact". .... The municipalities are asked to meet concrete questions about a case with general information, so that the municipality can spread important information to the public about the work being done to take care of children's best interest.)


I think most Norwegians will recall a folk tale, famous among us, about this way of responding to questions. Wasn't it something about

A: "God morning, my good man!"
B: "Axe handle."

?

And now, here it is, actually set out by our authorities as a rule to follow, and it is proclaimed in Bufdir's guide to the municipalities:
"... møte konkrete forespørsler om en sak med generell informasjon ..."
(.... meet concrete questions about a case with general information ...)

It is very illuminating! I mean, what a blessing to have it presented in this clear way, both that the Ministry and its directorate Bufdir think this is an excellent way of communicating and entering into a dialogue, and that these three writers, who work in the CPS system: Bunkholdt, Einarsson and Storø, also think so.

– So we know where we are. We must hope that this governmental way of promoting Norwegian excellence is well publicised abroad: the fact that an official advisor exists which says that this is the way it is and this is the way it should be. So that all who want to communicate with official Norway about specific problems knows that they can save themselves the trouble of asking.

Oh well, it is typically Norwegian to be excellent, as she said – a certain mother of the nation who was a prime minister here!

  

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 Post subject: Re: BBC documentaries: Parents against the State. 2016, 2018
PostPosted: Thu Aug 30, 2018 6:06 am 
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Linda Merete Skarnes, sosionom og barnevernsleder:
Hellelands fraser om barnevern
(Helleland's clichés about child protection)
Aftenposten, 26 August 2018


Another contribution from Skarnes, saying much the same as she said to Østlandets Blad, essentially the same Bunkholdt, Einarsson and Storø say, although Skarnes is even vaguer. They agree that the minister should not comment on individual cases. Skarnes, however, thinks that

"..... bommer Helleland i sitt forsøk på forsvar og forklaring.
    Det som derimot forventes, er at hun på generelt grunnlag står opp for barnevernet, og at hun er en tydelig talsperson for de mest vanskeligstilte barnas rettigheter.
.....
    Selvfølgeligheter og tomme ord er ikke det barnevernet trenger. Vi trenger en som tør å ta bladet fra munnen og våger å stå i stormen sammen med oss."

(.... Helleland misses in her attempt to defend and explain.
    What is expected is, on the other hand, is for her to stand up for Barnevernet on a general basis, and to be an explicit spokesperson for the rights of the children who are in the most difficult position.
......
    Platitudes and empty words are not what Barnevernet needs. We need someone who has the courage not to mince matters and who dares to stand in the storm with us.)

*

Not mince matters - - Should Helleland tell the CPS critics or the BBC off, and demand "silence" to every bit of criticism, instead of just babbling irrelevantly into the air?

In what Skarnes says, we actually perceive the dilemma of the CPS workers, albeit that Skarnes herself does not see it: What can the Ministry and they themselves say which is not just hot air, when they are not to be concrete? How will they "stand up for Barnevernet" and be "explicit", if they are not to come up with the well-known clichés? If they are to respond to every concrete question about cases where children have not suffered "care failure, violence and abuse" from their parents (which Skarnes expresses that she believes they have, in her article in Østlandets Blad), but from the CPS industry?

    

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 Post subject: Re: BBC documentaries: Parents against the State. 2016, 2018
PostPosted: Fri Aug 31, 2018 5:29 pm 
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Now one of the families in the BBC documentary has got all their children back.

Får barna hjem etter 1810 dager  (Get the children home after 1810 days)
https://www.dagbladet.no/nyheter/far-ba ... r/70152163

I get so tired when I read this story. Because it is an old story over again. Parents accused of violence. But police found no proof of that.

It doesn't matter. The CPS has other criteria on regarding the proof material, the municipality CPS leader says. (- Det ligger andre beviskrav til grunn i en barnevernssak enn i en straffesak.) What she is really saying is that the CPS do their own investigation, interrogation and assessment, and make their own conclusions. And frankly that pure speculation is really enough to pick up the biggest tools in the box.

Something many of us already know.

It was the same with me. "We do not think your acknowledgement of performing violence towards your children goes deep enough", two female CPS workers told me. And then they sent me off to a psychologist to help me acknowledge. I was not violent enough to involve the police, obviously.

The only thing I acknowledged was that these psychologists were negotiating a financial deal with the municipality and did not seem interested in any other approach than the one presented by the CPS by letter and phone.

The parents in the article did nothing wrong towards their children.

The hysteria is however, that the Norwegian system truly believes that these 1810 days are justified if the children in any way were exposed to mild physical punishment. And they also find it justified if they had suspicion of such. And there is no sign of regret when it is now confirmed that the children have not been exposed to violence.

Shouldn't one expect that a self-claimed child-loving system would show some kind of grief when it is finally concluded that five years was taken from this family without a good reason? Or at least some self-reflection?

That is the sickness in all of this. There is no proportionality between the problem to be solved and the means to solve it. It is the actions of the CPS that traumatize the children, and therefore this whole thing is surreal and unbelieveable for parents and children involved.

And this article just gives a glimpse of all the meaningless suffering that the CPS causes in families.

And it also explains why there is an ever broadening movement to end the destructive actions of the Norwegian CPS.


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 Post subject: Re: BBC documentaries: Parents against the State. 2016, 2018
PostPosted: Tue Sep 04, 2018 6:01 pm 
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Linda Hofstad Helleland (the Conservative Party), the Minister of Children and Equality, being interviewed.

(Note: The translations are mine. MHS)


– Norsk barnevern går foran.
Andre land vil komme etter oss.

(– Norwegian child protection is ahead.
Other countries will follow us.)

Aftenposten, 29 August 2018

The interview article is incredibly revealing, it is so very clear – clear enough, hopefully, to bring an end to the faithful confidence to our authorities' will and ability to put matters right in Barnevernet, if we can only show them, in a friendly way, that there are some mistakes which should be put right and then everything will be fine. – There are some good comments in subsequent issues of Aftenposten. I will post by and by.

The interview is worth bying the paper! Unfortunately the internet version is reserved for subscribers, except for a couple of sentences.


"– Jeg viker ikke en tomme når det gjelder norsk barnevern. Norge er et foregangsland når det gjelder å beskytte barn mot vold og overgrep, sier (barneminister) Linda Hofstad Helleland (H)."
(I am not going to give an inch when it comes to Norwegian child protection. Norway is a pioneer country when it is about protecting children against violence and abuse, says (children's minister) Linda Hofstad Helleland (the Conservative Party).)

Nice to have it stated in such indisputable terms how irate the Minister is towards families shom she lets the CPS Barnevernet demolish with their violence and abuse.

*

"Helleland mener historien vil vise at Norge har rett, selv om det kommer mye kritikk fra tunge aktører både nasjonalt og internasjonalt."
(Helleland holds that history will show Norway to be right, even if there is a lot of criticism from heavy participants both nationally and internationally.)

The countries carrying out "protection" of children in the same way, will quite likely experience the same inferno of children and families being harmed and deprived of freedom which is taking place already not only in Norway but in the Western world. Good to see Helleland being so clear about what we will be exporting.

*

Aftenposten's journalist:
"Men hva sier du til kritikken som har kommet om at barn tas fra foreldre på sviktende grunnlag?"
(But what do you say to the criticism that has come about children being taken from parents on an untenable basis?)

Helleland:
"– Jeg ønsker debatten velkommen, men synes ikke at man ut fra enkeltmeneskers handlinger skal kunne dømme et helt system og lovverk. Det blir for enkelt, sier barneministeren."
(– I welcome the debate, but I don't think one should judge a whole system and legislation based on the actions of single individuals. That is too facile, says the children's minister.)

Really, too "facile"? It is probably rather too complicated for the Minister to have to face the fact that individual cases say a lot about the system and the legislation, and the courts' and Bufdir's and Barnevernet's practice – all of it stuff for which Helleland bears a strong responsibility? In addition, she carries some responsibility in each individual case, actually, a responsibility to see to it that the tragedies are brought to a stop.

Norway has equipped its power-invested people with the curious notion that one is not responsible for correcting what is wrong in individual cases, mistaken actions which are a result of the system functioning, whether or not the system was meant to function like that.

– My thoughts go to things like the Dreyfus case. Should it be of no concern to the French government and power elite of the time because they had "decided" that the justice system was wonderful? We remember that grave faults and lies were revealed both in the first and in the second court case.
"Evidence came to light in 1896—primarily through an investigation instigated by Georges Picquart, head of counter-espionage—identifying a French Army major named Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy as the real culprit. After high-ranking military officials suppressed the new evidence, a military court unanimously acquitted Esterhazy after a trial lasting only two days. The Army then accused Dreyfus with additional charges based on falsified documents. Word of the military court's framing of Dreyfus and of an attempted cover-up began to spread, chiefly owing to J'Accuse…!, a vehement open letter published in a Paris newspaper in January 1898 by writer Émile Zola. Activists put pressure on the government to reopen the case."

*

[Helleland] "trekker frem mange angrep fra utenlandsk hold der man har tatt tak i en enkeltsak som blir presentert bare fra foreldrenes synspunkt, uten at man får vite hva som ligger til grunn for omsorgsovertagelsen."
([Helleland] She gives as an example [the] many attacks from foreign sources, in which a single case has been pulled out, presented only from the point of view of the parents, while one is not told what is the basis for the taking into care.)


And why "is one not told"?
Answer: Because the Norwegian mainstream press, true to the authorities, will not print facts but support the secrecy advocated and enforced by the authorities. The families have the documents, including the allegations of Barnevernet, and are in their full right to publish and make their cases known with their true content including what the actions of Barnevernet towards children and parents are. Now that we are so fortunate as to have the internet, the standard media come up with repeated attempts to denigrate the CPS victims, throwing suspicion on their accounts in social media and even have them made illegal.

If the CPS question is ever to be put wirht, the Norwegian public will have to stop believing trustfully in everything a politically correct newspaper prints, and must seek as much information as they can from the concerned families. There are more than enough of them to make the truth rather obvious.

*

"–Vi som lager og utarbeider loven, og barnevernsansatte som hver dag gjør en fantastisk jobb for sårbare barn, vet at det alltid kan skje feil. Vi prøver alt vi kan å forbedre tjenesten, systemet og omsorgen vi gir til barna og gjennomgår enkeltsaker for å redusere risiko for svikt."
(– We who make and work out the law, and child protection employees who every day do a fantastic job for vulnerable children, know that mistakes are always possible. We try all we can to improve the service, the system and the care we give to children, and we go through individual cases in order to reduce the possibility of failure.)

She trivialises to her heart's content, carefully avoiding doing the most important thing of all: acknowledge that first of all they must try to rectify whatever can be amended in the present catastrophes. Children who are in the power of Barnevernet must be set free and allowed to go back home to their families.

On average about 5 children flee Barnevernet's "care" every day. The first place Barnevernet sends the police to look for them is in the parents' home, and from there they are again taken by force.

*

To Aftenposten's question of whether she regrets having said no to meeting with the BBC's journalist, she replies e.g.:
" – Jeg vil ikke finne meg i å se på at man dømmer norsk barnevern ut fra grove feil som enkeltpersoner gjør. Det må de stå til rette for selv."
(– I will not put up with watching people judge Norwegian child protection on the basis of grave mistakes made by single individuals. For those they must answer themselves.)
and
"Mitt hovedanliggende er ikke hva som er best for BBC, men hensynet til barnets beste."
(My main objective is not what is best for the BBC, but the consideration for what is best for the child.)

The child psychiatrist concerned will probably have to answer to some degree for abuse pictures and films. But not towards the families to whose destruction he has contributed materially. To try to re-establish a reasonable life for them, parents and children, is the task of our authorities. Among other things they must be fully open towards the children about the authorities' own guilt for their tragedy – it has not been caused by the parents.

At this point in the interview, Helleland's self-control seems shaky and her answers ridiculous. It is not so often that government ministers show this degree of irritation towards the media. She trots out the old fairy tale of possessing the right interpretation of "the child's best interest"? What is that supposed to mean? Is she on the verge of not being able to win through with the usual child protection phrases?

*

"– Det er bare i 18 prosent av sakene det settes inn omsorgstiltak med tvang, påpeker hun."
(– Only in 18 per cent of the cases, forced care measures are being employed, she emphasises.)

Well, on Bufdir's page
Vel, på Bufdirs side "Barnevernsstatistikk" (child protection statistics) we find something else. Bufdir has sections in English on its website, but I cannot find this particular information on it anywhere, so I translate from the Norwegian page:

"60 % av barn og unge med hjelp fra barnevernet mottok hjelpetiltak i hjemmet
For flertallet av barna og familiene som kommer i kontakt med barnevernet, er det tilstrekkelig med hjelpetiltak i hjemmet. Formålet med å sette i verk hjelpetiltak er å bidra til positiv endring hos barnet eller i familien. Ved utgangen av 2016 fikk 23 452 barn og unge i alderen 0–22 år hjelpetiltak i hjemmet. Dette utgjorde 60 % av barna med barnevernstiltak ved utgangen av 2016."

(60% of children and families with help from Barnevernet receive help measures in the home
For the majority of children and families who come into contact with Barnevernet, help measures in the home are sufficient. The purpose of starting help is to contribute to a positive change in the child or in the family. At the end of 2016 23,452 children and young between the ages of 0 and 22 received help in the home. This was 60% of children with help measures from the CPS at the end of 2016.)


"40 % av barn og unge med hjelp fra barnevernet var plassert utenfor hjemmet
Plassering av barn og unge utenfor hjemmet er bare aktuelt dersom barnevernets hjelpetiltak ikke er tilstrekkelig for å sikre barnet en forsvarlig omsorgssituasjon. Ved utgangen av 2016 var 15 820 barn og unge plassert utenfor hjemmet av barneverntjenesten. Disse utgjorde 40 % av barn og unge med tiltak fra barnevernet. Dette er en økning på 6 prosentpoeng fra 2003, da 34 % var plassert utenfor hjemmet."

(40 % of children and young with help from Barnevernet were placed outside the home
Placement of children and young outside the home is only considered if Barnevernet’s help measures are not sufficient to secure an acceptable care situation for the child. By the end of 2016, 15,820 children and you were placed outside the home by the Barnevernet service. These were 40% of children and young with measures from Barnevernet. This is an increase of 6% from 2003, when 34% were placed outside the home.)


Well well, there are plenty of statistics in this field, prevalence and incidence and new CPS children and averages and comparisons with other years and other countries. By and large such figures are unimportant; the important thing is to put a stop to the unreliable and sometimes plain untrue arguments and contentions used by the CPS to take children into forced care, even if it only happened in a single case!
    But about just these numbers from Bufdir, 40 and 60 per cent, I really believe they would need some clarification in comparison to Helleland's 18 per cent. – It is not only in extreme, rare cases that children are deprived of their parents and their home? In 40 per cent of the cases in which the CPS is active?

*

"– Det bekymrer meg at debatten i det offentlige rom preges av et hatforhold til barnevernet, og at barnevernsansatte blir utsatt for hets og trakassering, sier Helleland,"
(– It worries me that the debate in the public sphere is characterised by a hate-relationship to Barnevernet, and that Barnevern employees are being subjected to smear campaigns and harassment, says Helleland,)

She is not worried, then, for all the families who have been forcibly demolished by Barnevernet and other authorities cooperating with them.
    Indeed, the ones to have had hatred and harassment directed against them are first and foremost the parents and children over which Barnevernet wants power.

*

Helleland's strong statements about the system which she will not deviate an inch from, seem curious when she says:
"– Vi er opptatt av å gi foreldre større medvirkning og bedre muligheter til å bli hørt i sakene. Vi ønsker så langt det lar seg gjøre at barn blir boende hos sine biologiske foreldre, understreker hun."
(– We are concerned to give parents greater participation and better possibilities of being heard in the cases. We want, as far as possible, for children to stay with their biological parents, she underlines. )

Everybody who has observed Barnevernet for a long time knows that this is exactly what Barnevernet and every minister for children have fought against, tooth and nail, all through the years. It is not difficult to give authority and sensible power back to parents. One just has to stop Barnevernet from implementing their senseless fantasies about parents as the most dangerous there is for children. Reality is the opposite.

And then Helleland wants an "improvement of competence", more education, more of the same. But she thinks Barnevernet is so good already? And she wants to "invitere til et bredt anlagt debattmøte for å få innspill fra flere grupper" (issue an invitation to a broadly planned debate meeting in order to get suggestions from more groups).

Hmm, which groups? The state-financed NGOs? And why these eternal "debates" from which they "learn", but never learn enough to arrive at the road of common sense?

The Minister, who will absolutely not discuss individual cases, also says "vi .... gjennomgår enkeltsaker for å redusere risiko for svikt" (we go through individual cases in order to reduce the possibility of failure). I suppose this is a reference to the scrutinising of 100 cases which they very reluctantly consented to do and which is to drag on for several years? But they do not scrutinise in order to put right the miscarriages of justice found in so many such cases. No, it is the vague, general idea of being able to be more perfect in future case-handling.

*

Is this the top:

"– Et viktig spørsmål vi diskuterer, er hvordan prinsippene om rett til familieliv og barnets rett til beskyttelse skal veies opp mot hverandre. Regjeringen har ikke konkludert i dette spørsmålet, men jeg vurderer å ta inn i loven en ytterligere tydeliggjøring av barnets rett til beskyttelse."
(– An important question we are discussing, is how the principles of the right to family life and the child's right to protection are to be balanced against each other. The government has not concluded on this question, but I am considering taking into the text of the law an additionally clear formulation about the child's right to protection.)

They should not be balanced against each other. They are in the large, large majority of cases one and the same thing. Cases where this is not so should be handled by the police, and sufficient legislation exists already.

But now we know, indisputably. Linda Hofstad Helleland sees parents and home first and foremost as an arena of violence and abuse, and she wages war to "protect" children even more absolutely against their home.

That violence and abuse should be thought to be the, or a, major reason given by Barnevernet for taking children into care, we know to be untrue. Again the figures given vary, but such cases are in a decided minority. The study Norwegian Child Welfare Services: A Successful Program for Protecting and Supporting Vulnerable Children and Parents? gives figures for major reasons for CPS interference in 2008: violence in the home 4.1% (it is not said clearly whether this includes or means violence against other persons than the children), and 3.1% for the sum of physical, mental and sexual abuse. To these relatively low figures we must add that it is known from quite a few cases that not all of Barnevernet's accusations of violence and abuse are true.

This deliberate misrepresentation: Helleland's twisting of the content of CPS cases into seeming to be generally about violent and abusive actions carried out by parents against their children, dominates the interview. It is Norway's great tragedy. Helleland is a tragedy for Norway.

   

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