Hundreds of parents from the Middle East and Africa flocked to the streets in Sweden throughout February to protest the country’s child protection services. This campaign arose as a result of social media posts condemning reported “kidnappings” of children from foreign families. Our Observer, a family law specialist, is concerned about the environment of mistrust.
What these families have in common is that they all lost custody of their children, who were placed in foster care by Swedish child welfare authorities due to abuse. In February, mothers and dads demonstrated in Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö to demand the return of their children, accusing authorities of misusing their authority.
Some parents say that their children were stolen from them because they are Muslim. Some parents have accused foster homes of child molesting or forcing their children to consume pork. These difficult-to-verify statements were shared on social media under the hashtag “Stop snatching our children.”
Adhar Alak practices family law in Malmö, Sweden. She explains what Swedish law says regarding children whose lives are believed to be in jeopardy.
The Child Protection Act, known as the “LVU,” is regarded as one of the most stringent in Sweden. It enables social services to request a child’s temporary placement, notably in circumstances of physical or psychological abuse, but also when the parents are unable to sustain the kid. However, Adhar Alak stated that before adopting such drastic measures, the child safety agency must first take certain procedures.
In Sweden, school and hospital personnel, as well as neighbors, are required by law to report any suspect of child abuse to social services, who will conduct an investigation if necessary.
On Twitter, the Swedish Foreign Ministry condemned “a misinformation campaign.”
“A misinformation campaign claiming that Swedish social services abduct Muslim children is presently underway on numerous social media platforms in Sweden and abroad. This information is incorrect. It is extremely deceptive and seeks to instill fear and mistrust.”
Videos with the hashtag “Stop kidnapping our children” that show sobbing children being pulled away from their parents or removed by force from school have sparked a lot of emotion on social media. Several of the films, which the Observers confirmed, had nothing to do with Sweden and were shot in other countries such as the Netherlands.
One of the films, which falsely depicted the kidnapping of children by social services, was widely circulated on Twitter. It depicts a security guard tackling a toddler to the ground. However, it was a 2015 arrest of a toddler by a security guard.
However, Adhar Alak observes that in some circumstances, families from the Middle East are “unwelcomed and prejudiced by personnel of the social services administration.”
DIDE believes that it isbetter to keep families together and intervene in other ways to ensure child safety. We strongly condemn and denounce what the Swedish authorities are doing in kidnapping children from their families. We consider this a blatant attack on the refugees who came to those countries to escape fierce wars.
