Barnevernet, the Norwegian Child Protective Service, has recently received massive complaints regarding which protestors describe as “legal kidnapping”. In Norway, if Barnevernet finds that a child is in a very damaging and unhealthy environment, they can lawfully remove that child out of the environment and place them into foster care. The reason why this has caught huge international coverage, is because non-native Norwegians residing in Norway have had their children taken away from their families. Protestors are lining up in the thousands, from over 30 different countries. In such a large and sensitive case, it might be difficult to get all the right facts on the table and differentiate what is true or not. Is the Norwegian Barnevernet …show more content…
Barnevernet can lawfully remove children from a family if they believe the environment is damaging to the children, and would physically or mentally harm them. The protestors believe Barnevernet is abusing their power, and removing children from perfectly good homes and tearing up their families. • Why was Barnevernet allowed to lawfully remove children from their homes? The Norwegian “Barneloven” (the Children’s Law) describes the mission which Barnevernet goes by. According to this law, Barnevernet has a duty to look after the children’s best interest in family conflicts. Unless the conditions are very poor and would have a severe negative effect on the children’s development, Barnevernet cannot remove them from their homes (Lovdata, 2016). • Why was the Children’s Law established? Norway is a country where looking after the physical and mental health of children is tremendously important. An example of this is how it is illegal in Norway to inflict any sort of deliberate pain on children as a way of punishment. This behavior is considered abusive and punishable by law. Both physical and psychological punishment is heavily frowned down upon, as they are commonly believed to heavily influence the development for children for the worse. For reasons such as these, Norway arranged laws to prevent this behavior and protect the