Erik Stand, May 14th 2015
In April the Lithuanian talk show ‘An hour with Ruta’ on the independent LNK channel focused on the Norwegian Child Protection Services (CPS). Giving attention to the Norwegian CPS is a good idea, as Norway is notorious for taking children away from their families without judicial security.
The way in which the acts of the Norwegian authorities were explained during the talk show is unfortunately fit to make one smell more than one rat. The program interviewed Neringa Ozolina, a Lithuanian based in Ålesund, Norway. According to the article, she has become an authority in the Baltic state on Norway’s child protection regime.
“The birth rate is the lowest in Norway”, Ozolina is quoted telling the host Ruta Mikelkeviciute. “Inbreeding in Norway is the greatest in the world, and the same is true of the percentage of children born with Down syndrome and other birth defects.” So, the reason why Norwegian authorities take away so many children, is that it is done in order to combat inbreeding.
This ‘explanation’ is worse than a bad joke. When it comes to birth rate, numbers from the CIA World Factbook 2013 show that the birth rate is lower in all the three Baltic countries, especially in Lithuania, than in Norway. Besides, Norway is not dependent on stealing immigrants’ children in order to combat inbreeding. The immigrants and their children are already in the country and a wave of immigrants leaving the country has not been a problem.
There are also other more plausible explanations for why Norwegian authorities act like they do. One is the economical interests. There are many people who profit on CPS cases: lawyers, foster parents, institutions and psychological experts.
So why present meaningless explanations when presenting a serious topic? Is the purpose to divert attention by making fools of oneself? Whatever the purpose might be, explanations like these are not helpful in opposing Norwegian authorities. An hour with Ruta could have made a real good programme on the Norwegian CPS by presenting existing documentation on what is done in Norwegian CPS cases. This could have been made extra detrimental to Norwegian authorities by following up with presenting other shady condition in today’s Norwegian society. One could, for example, have asked why this exposure have not been followed up in Norwegian media.
Instead, An hour with Ruta chooses something that is no more helpful to the fight against abuse of power in Norway (and other countries) than what we know from other media.
Another comment that includes the ‘explanations’ given by Neringa Ozolina can be read here.
Fampo 