VĂ€rlden idag

The 7 year old Domenic were taken from his parents in late June because they wanted to home school him. Dominic is still not reunited with his family; his mother Annie is critically ill (trauma) and his father Christer is going through sleepless nights fighting for justice for his family.

Since the blog entry on September 16 many people from all over the world have protested to Swedish authorities and many have emailed Christer & Annie Johansson words of encouragement. Thanks! Christer has expressed his sincere gratitude; he is deeply touched and strengthened by the support and the prayers. Here are a few examples of international reactions on this case.

Sam Ericsson, President of Advocates International, a network of 30 000 lawyers in over 100 countries, calls this a case of “State-napping”: “This is Statism with a vengeance. The State and their social service workers have total power to violate the most fundamental rights - parents caring for their children.”

The world’s largest home school advocacy organization, Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA)   has 87,000 member families in 36 countries.  They have filed letters with Swedish authorities on Gotland (where the Johansson’s live), as well as with Swedish ambassadors and government ministers. J Michael Smith, president of HSLDA writes:

Our current information, if accurate, indicates that the Swedish authorities have seriously breached the Johansson family’s fundamental human rights.  We understand that Swedish law permits parents to educate their children at home and that the local school board is responsible for overseeing the process of notification.  However, it appears that in this case, the local school board ignored normal procedure, did not meet with the family to assist them in pursuing home education, and instead fined them and referred the matter to the local court. 

Our information indicates that the court declared the fines to be unnecessary, and the judge did not prohibit the family from leaving Sweden although he knew that they were planning to relocate to India on or about June 25th, 2009. Despite the court and your agency’s knowledge and implied approval of the planned relocation, your agency seized Dominic, and it appears that the primary motivation was opposition to him being homeschooled.

* Please continue to encourage Christer & Annie, Den hÀr e-postadressen Àr skyddad frÄn spam bots, du mÄste ha Javascript aktiverat för att visa den .

* Email protests to Ms. Marika Gardell, Individ- och familjeomsorgen, 621 81 Visby, Sweden: Den hÀr e-postadressen Àr skyddad frÄn spam bots, du mÄste ha Javascript aktiverat för att visa den .