Erik Strand, July 23rd, 2014
In this article in Bygdeposten, a local newspaper in Buskerud county, a grandmother tells about her experience with the CPS in the middle part of Buskerud – the area which Bygdeposten covers. For the grandchild’s best she choses to be anonymous.
After the child was taken from her son, the family has applied to take care of the child. The papers from the court state that the family has got ressources. Her daughter – the grandchild’s aunt – is a certified foster mother who has passed a PRIDE course. The aunt applied to take care of the child, but was denied to do so. According to the article, the reason was that the CPS doubted whether she was strong enough to say no to her brother when needed. The case was decided in county court, and the child’s father lost. The child is now in a foster home.
The grandmother says that one week before the case was deciden by the court, the child was moved from an emergency home to a foster home.
After the CPS took over the care for the child, tha father has contact with the child only four times a year (according to the grandmother) under supervision. This is also the only opportunity for the grandparents to meet their grandchild, as they have got no independent right to meet the child.
During this spring the grandmother unexpectedly met her grandchild at the local grocery (the girl lives in a foster home not which is not in the vincinity.
The grandmother says: – I could see that she was shocked, but I went straight towards her and gave her a hug. Then I proposed that we should go to the kiosk and buy icecream. The grandmother observed that the person who folowed the child, did not like the situation, but she chose to focus on her grandchild. Later on, the grandmother has been instructed by the case handler to only say ‘hi’ and pass on when she meets her grandchild.
– I will never accept that. What do these people know about psychology? How can it be the child’s best that the child is not met by her grandmother in a proper way?
Fampo 