Social-service agents grab child from school

Hustled off in truck to prevent meeting human-rights lawyer

Annie and Dominic Johansson

Social-services agents in Sweden have swooped down on an elementary school to grab a 9-year-old boy and take him out of class so he would not meet an internationally known human-rights attorney working on the family’s custody dispute with the state, according to the attorney and parents.

Government officials then canceled a scheduled telephone conversation between the child, Domenic Johansson, and his parents, Christer and Annie, because of “what happened today at the school.”

The incident developed today in Gotland, Sweden, where the Johansson family has been at odds with local government and school officials over their efforts to homeschool Domenic, and other issues, for more than a year.

It was not quite a year ago when police boarded a jetliner awaiting departure from Sweden to India, Annie’s home country to which the family was moving, and took Domenic into custody.

Since then, he’s been in court-approved state custody while his parents have been allowed short visits once every five weeks, with occasional telephone contacts.

The family had reported a ray of sunlight in their case recently when Ruby Harrold-Claesson, the president of the Nordic Committee for Human Rights, was assigned by the local courts to their case.

Court officials had picked a local attorney to represent the family, but Christer Johansson rejected him out of hand. The court, in a move that surprised advocates for the family, appointed Harrold-Claesson, who specializes in cases in which children have been taken by state or other government officials.

Ruby Harrold-Claesson

The conflict developed when she arrived on a plane today, met the parents, and then wanted to see the school environment where government officials had placed Domenic.

The lawyer reported the situation to the Home School Legal Defense Association, which has been working on the Johansson case. The organization has posted information about the case on its site, and there also is a Facebook page dealing with dispute.

She reported the Johanssons met her at the airport, “and we drove to see Domenic at the school.

“We found his classroom but he wasn’t there. He was at a yoga class, the teacher said. So we decided we would wait outside the school during the 20 min[utes]s or so that she said he would be away,” the lawyer confirmed.

“When we went back to Domenic’s classroom, the headmaster and his teacher met us. We asked for Domenic, but he still hadn’t returned. The headmaster, whom Christer has known since childhood, informed us that he had called the social worker and she told him that we were not allowed to see Domenic. We informed him that we just wanted to say hello to Domenic, then we would leave. He told us that if we insisted he would have to call the [social services] and she would call the police, so we insisted,” the report continued.

“The headmaster invited us outside but we lingered outside Domenic’s classroom. Then I noticed that the teacher was on the phone and she tried to hide behind the door so we wouldn’t see what she was doing. I realized immediately that she was calling someone vital,” she wrote.

“We accompanied the headmaster outside and talked a little. He wanted more details about the case, but he said that he had received strict orders from the [social services]. We told him that he has a duty to act according to his conscience and that everyone has to face the consequences of his decisions.”

She continued, “The headmaster received a call and stepped aside to receive it. Christer went to the car to fetch his camera. The headmaster informed us that the [social services agent] Gunvor Allqvie would be coming to talk to us. When Christer returned with his camera he informed us that his parents, who were waiting on the parking lot, had told him that a truck had driven to the school and Domenic was taken out by the back door. His grandmother said hello to Domenic, but he was quickly shoved into the truck and driven away by the foster parents,” the lawyer said.

Hours later, Christer Johansson got an e-mail from social services agent Caroline Palmqvist saying, “After what happened today at the school, we have decided that you will not be allowed to talk with Domenic in the phone this evening.”

Mike Donnelly, a staff attorney for the HSLDA, called it a “petty power play” and said it demonstrates “the kind of gross disregard these social services agents have for basic human dignity.”

Read the rest of this article and some interesting links here:

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=152697

Please see below contacts for the Swedish and the Indian Embassies in New Zealand and Australia.

May 12 meeting with Swedish Social Services

to determine Domenic’s fate

—May 12th is looming! That is the day the Swedish Social Services board has rescheduled their meeting to where they are supposed to determine Domenic’s fate. If you’ve not emailed your letters to them, please do so ASAP. Go here: http://www.hslda.org/hs/international/Sweden/201005060.asp or if you want to send your email as a mass mailing rather than individually, use these addresses. We’ve confirmed they all work: gustaf.hoffstedt@gotland.se; kjboberg@hotmail.com; sonia.landin@gotland.se; lindvall.ola@telia.com; stora.vikers@telia.com; gunilla.wigren.dahlin@moderat.se; egil.lyngstad@telia.com; b-lindahl@swipnet.se; ann.gardell@telia.com; 2solbbrsj@tjelvar.org; rolle.o@hotmail.com; hamax@telia.com; lars.akerlund@tjelvar.org

Facebook

—Since our last email, we’ve added 167 new members to the group. If you’ve not done so already, please take a moment to invite everyone you know to join Domenic’s group. Facebook has provided an extremely easy way to do this. Simply visit Domenic’s group and look to the left, just under his photo is a list where you will see an option to “Invite People to Join.” If you click on that link, a box will pop up with all your Facebook friends and from there it is very easy to shoot out the invitation to everyone. Additionally, at the bottom of the box, they provide a place for you to add the email addresses of friends and family who are not on Facebook.

Friends of Domenic webpage

—-And don’t forget, we have another avenue for those who do not want to join Facebook. Point those folks to the Friends of Domenic webpage using this link: http://friendsofdomenic.blogspot.com/ Be sure to read the Because They Loved… page on the new site.

Please keep pressing on in your efforts for Domenic

—-Please do not lose your fever for Domenic. Please continue to press on for him and know that efforts on Domenic’s behalf are efforts for the many other children who have been spirited away unjustly by Social Services.

Social Services

—-Additionally, please realize we have nothing against Social Services when they are serving children who are in desperate need. We stand against Social Services when it runs amok, as it has in Domenic’s case, and unfortunately in the case of too many others!

Please visit this website

http://friendsofdomenic.blogspot.com/

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HSLDA encourages its members to communicate their concerns to the Swedish Ambassador. We hope that his influence may help correct an injustice and also pave the way for better laws for homeschoolers in Sweden

HSLDA thanks its members and friends for their ongoing support. It’s when all homeschoolers join together that we are most effective advocating for homeschool freedom in America and abroad.

Read the HSLDA article: “Sweden—the Next Germany for Homeschoolers?” http://www.hslda.org/hs/international/Sweden/200909160.asp

Indian Representation in New Zealand

General Inquries: hicomind@hicomind.org.nz

Mr. Kunal Roy

First Secretary (Acting High Commissioner)

04-4724851

pshc@hicomind.org.nz
counsellor@hicomind.org.nz