Each one of us is surreptitiously convinced that our belief system is the right one and that others should fall in line with it.
The Child Protective Services of America knows that Indians mete out corporal punishment to their children and try to educate them against it by compulsorily sending them to parenting classes, counseling etc. instead of snatching their children in the first instance. Norwegian Government may not be aware of Indian practices and culture/ sub-culture...
but that doesn't matter.
We have to obey the law of the land whereever we are... I, for one, believe that such actions of governments in developed countries are backed by in-depth research and are built on very solid foundations of child-abuse/ neglect studies leading to positive results.
This author knows a Keralite couple, imprisoned in a foreign country on allegations of neglect leading to the sad death of a child though all who know the couple will agree that they are exceptionally good, responsible parents, quite innocent of what happened.
I'm writing this with the intent of arousing consciousness about child rearing and supervision, especially when we are in a foreign country. In the case cited, the parents have to do what they have to do in order to get the children back; no amount of sympathy will alter the situation... its a sad scenario, though.
Thank you.
On Thu, Jan 19, 2012 at 6:56 AM, Shibu Thomas Varughese
Indian couple have children taken away by Norwegian social workers because they were feeding them by hand
Authorities also complained that the parents should not be sleeping in the same bed as their infants
By David Gerges
Last updated at 4:38 PM on 18th January 2012
An Indian couple have had their children taken away by Norwegian social workers because they were feeding them with their hands and sleeping in the same bed as them.
Anurup and Sagarika Bhattacharya lost custody of their three-year-old son and one-year-old daughter eight months ago after authorities branded their behaviour inappropriate.
The drastic measure led to intervention from the Indian government who contacted Norwegian authorities in an a desperate attempt to return the children.
Parents Anurup, right and his wife Sagarika Bhattacharya had their three-year-old son, pictured, and one-year-old daughter taken away
Norwegian Child Protection Services removed the youngsters from their home in May, 2011, leaving their parents horrified with the outcome of the report.
Father Anurup told Indian television channel NDTV: 'They told me ‘why are you sleeping with the children in the same bed?’.
'(I told them) this is also a purely cultural issue. We never leave the children in another room and say goodnight to them.'
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Anurup added: 'Feeding a child with the hand is normal in Indian tradition and when the mother is feeding with a spoon there could be phases when she was overfeeding the child.
'They said it was force feeding. These are basically cultural differences.'
Authorities complained that Anurup, should not have been sleeping in the same bed as his eldest child.
Their one-year-old daughter is currently staying with a separate family to her brother's temporary carers
Mrs Bhattacharya said: 'My son was sleeping with my husband. They said he should sleep separately from your son.'
The parents have been told that they can only see their children twice a year, for an hour during each visit until the kids turn 18 when they will no longer be bound by the current restrictions under current Norwegian law.
Despite the Indian government's intervention, Norwegian officials are refusing to meet the request for any further explanation.
Authorities complained that mother Sagarika should not have been feeding her children with her hands
Norway's Child Protective Service has come under much scrutiny in the past for excessive behaviour in their handling of child cruelty.
Lawyer Svein Kjetil Lode Svendsen said: 'There has been a report in UN in 2005 which criticized Norway for taking too many children in public care.
'The amount was 12,500 children and Norway is a small country.'
With the Bhattacharyas' visas set to expire in March, they have revealed that they will be forced to stay against their will until the return of their infants.
