Sweden also made headlines when officials removed 7-year-old Dominic Johansson from his parents as they sat on an airplane, ready to leave the country. The family was not charged with a crime, and the Swedish court admits that the family was taking care of their son as they thought best. In Sweden, however, the government plan trumps family decisions.
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Part 1 comment
ReplyDeleteIf you like you can post my comment on your blog asking more people to sign the petition for your son. We are praying for you!
Please pass on petition for Swedish homeschooled boy to be returned to his parents
Here is the verse I felt God prompt to add to this:
Proverbs 3:27 & 28 “Do not withhold good from those who deserve it, when it is in your power to act. Do not say to your neighbor, “Come back tomorrow”- when you now have it with you.”
Dear AIG, Amy Pak, Heather Hobar,Bob Jones Press, Carrie Austen, Debra Bell, Focus on the family and FOF Brio, (please other families write the groups above to see if they can contact other families to speak out about this,
I am writing you as I feel God has put on my heart to contact other home schooling families to encourage them to write in on behalf of this Swedish home schooling family. If we do not take action we may find these ideas soon spreading to additional countries. Most of my emails are no longer being received, and seen as spam, as I have sent too many. However the groups who did receive them, many responded with compassion. So I am asking if you could consider and pray about sending out this letter to your home schooling customers (perhaps letting them know you are doing so if God has also placed this family on your heart as well.) As if you forward this to them, their mailboxes will recognize you as not spam, and perhaps then many more will pray for and sign the petition that could influence those making decisions in Sweden, to allow this poor little boy to go home to his parents who he currently only sees for 1 hour every 5 weeks. He is their only child.
In Christ,
Darienne & Jeremy Block - home schooling our 3 children. onduckpond@msn.com
Dear fellow Christian homeschoolers,
Please circulate this email throughout your online support group and to all Christians you know via email. Let’s unite as the body of Christ to help this Christian homeschooling family.
Please pray and sign the Petition for this Swedish homeschooling family who did not get to see their only child this past Christmas. This family is now facing losing permanent custody of their son who just turned 7 this past fall. He was taken in June 2009, and they have extremely limited visiting time with him. Pray that he is returned soon. My heart breaks for this family and their little boy, but God's arm is not too short to save. Let's lift up our prayers and also take written action. Please take a minute, to sign the petition, in the first link, for their son to be sent home. The next 2 links tell this families‘ story. Let's do for this family what we hope others would do for each of our families, if we ever faced this situation. I will put a sample letter below links for use if you would also like ideas for leaving a comment in the petition, or to send a letter to one of the Swedish politicians listed in the articles.
Please Sign Petition Calling for Dominic to Go Home
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/return-dominic-johansson-to-his-parents
Their story below in links:
http://www.hslda.org/hs/international/Sweden/200912220.asp
And
http://www.hslda.org/docs/media/2009/200912220.asp
I believe over Dominic’s case we are being tested - how will we respond to obvious injustice against a home-schooling family? Then likewise the persecution will spread in other countries if people turn a blind eye. We must speak out, for this families sake, but also because it will come closer to home very soon if we do not. Think of your own child in the position of Dominic. We MUST speak out.
Pg 67-69 portions of “The Hiding Place” Corrie ten Boom’s story.
Part 3 of 3
ReplyDeleteSample letter below you can alter (other than quoted info) or format for more personal use.
“Dear governing bodies in Sweden (you can address specifically or make general),
Our hearts break to hear of 7 year old Dominic Johansson being separated from his obviously loving parents Christer & Annie Johansson. We deeply implore you to return Dominic to his parents, or to do all that you can to encourage those making decisions, or even to appoint more appropriate people to make decisions. It seems very apparent this family should not be separated, and surely this is evident to most people in your government. Please do everything in your power to re-unite this family.
As stated by HSLDA press release:
“Swedish press has reported that senior police officials in Sweden have criticized local police and social workers for their sensational actions. Press reports also suggest that the local social services may be caught in a trap of their own making. They must continue with their course of action or otherwise admit that they have disgracefully ruined a family and traumatized a child. Some Swedish newspapers also report that the pride and stereotyping exhibited by social workers in this case imply they are out to get this family. According to letters obtained by HSLDA, the most recent decision of the local social workers is that they will not be allowing Annie and Christer to visit with Dominic until after New Year’s Day. And then they will be permitted one-hour visits every fifth week.”
Please re-unite Dominic Johansson to his loving parents.
Sincerely,
Darienne & Jeremy Block from Canada
Parents to 3 wonderful children (10, 6 & 4) we cannot imagine ever being separated from
onduckpond@msn.com
Part 2 (of 3 parts)
ReplyDeletePg 67-69 portions of “The Hiding Place” Corrie ten Boom’s story.
The true horror of occupation came over us only slowly. During the first year of German rule there were only minor attacks on Jews in Holland. A rock through the window of a Jewish-owned store. An ugly word scrawled on the wall of a synagogue. It was as though they were trying us, testing the temper of the country. How many Dutchmen would go along with them?
And the answer, to our shame, was many. The National Socialist Bond, the quisling organization of Holland, grew larger and bolder each month of occupation. Some joined the NSB simply for the benefits: more food, more clothing coupons, the best jobs and housing. But others became NSBers out of conviction. Nazism was a disease to which the Dutch too were susceptible, and those with an anti-Semitic bias fell sick of it first.
On our daily walk with Father and I saw the symptoms spread. A sign in a shop window: JEWS WILL NOT BE SERVED. At the entrance to a public park: NO JEWS. On the door of the library. In front of restaurants, theaters, even the concert hall....
A synagogue burned down and the fire trucks came. But only to keep the flames from spreading to the buildings on either side.
One noon as Father and I followed our familiar route, the sidewalks were bright with yellow stars sewn to coats and jacket fronts. Men, women, and children wore the six-pointed star with the word Jood (“Jew”) in the center. We were surprised, as we walked, at how many of the people we had passed each day were Jews.....
Worst were the disappearances. A watch, repaired and ready, hanging on its hook in the back of the shop, month after month. A house in Nollie’s block mysteriously deserted, grass growing in the rose garden. One day Mr. Kan’s shop up the street did not open. Father knocked on his door as we passed that noon, to see if someone were ill, but there was no answer. The shop remained shuttered, the windows above dark and silent for several weeks. Then, although the shop stayed closed, an NSB family moved into the apartment above.
We never knew whether these people had been spirited away by the Gestapo or gone into hiding before this could happen. Certainly public arrests, with no attempt to conceal what was happening, were becoming more frequent. One day as Father and I were returning from our walk we found the Grote Markt cordoned off by a double ring of police and soldiers. A truck was parked in front of the fish mart; into the back were climbing men, women, and children, all wearing the yellow star. There was no reason we could see why this particular place at this particular time had been chosen.
“Father! Those poor people!” I cried.
The police line opened, the truck moved through. We watched till it turned the corner.
“Those poor people,” Father echoed. But to my surprise I saw that he was looking at the soldiers now forming into ranks to march away. “I pity the poor Germans, Corrie. They have touched the apple of God’s eye.”
Sweden is known to be a ‘champion’ for human rights. That is why I believe Dominic’s family was chosen to persecute. If there is no good reason for Sweden to take away Dominic from his parents, only home schooling, then this becomes a sort of test, to our response, and the general public’s response to this injustice. Some may think if Sweden thinks home schooling is wrong, there must be a good reason it is wrong, since Sweden is known for human rights. We MUST speak out against this!
In Christ,
Darienne & Jeremy Block from Canada
onduckpond@msn.com
Dear Annie & Christer Johansson,
ReplyDeleteBelow are some of the email addresses for the organizations I mentioned. Some I have not heard back from, and some my emails will not go through to.
But I was thinking, perhaps if you and your wife were to email some of the groups below personally, and include my letter (the three parts) asking them to use it to ask other families to sign the petition for your son and speak out in other ways, as Dominic’s parents, your email to them may not be over-looked as mine seems to be. Perhaps they would be moved by personal email from you, to act more. If you did decide to do this I had missed one part in my 3 parts: it is to wake up others to the reality of spreading poor attitudes in some areas regarding home schooling. The part I forgot to include was small - just this:
U.S. Immigration recently opposed Asylum Decision for a German home schooling family in HSLDA article below:
http://www.hslda.org/hs/international/Germany/20103220.asp
And
http://www.hslda.org/hs/international/default.asp
I put it above the Corrie ten boom story, and just below the sentence: “We MUST speak out.”
Below are some of the email contact info for the groups I mentioned:
Dear AIG, Amy Pak( Amypak@homeschoolinthewoods.com ), Heather Hobar ( Debbie@mauelshagen.com ), Bob Jones Press ( Bjupinfo@bjupress.com ), Carrie Austin ( carmikeaustin@msn.com ), Debra Bell ( HSRC@DebraBell.com ), Focus on the family USA and FOF Brio - google then go to ’contact’ (please other families write the above groups and others to see if they can contact other concerned families to speak out about this to sign petition below, ect...),
I know you may not want to do this, and I am fine with that, but I wanted to offer you the idea. I just can’t imagine what you and your son are going through. We continue to pray. If you have emailed me, we may not have received it as our email is unreliable.
In Christ,
Darienne Block & family
When I was thinking of your family tonight, this is the verse that came to me:
ReplyDeleteProverbs 13:12
"Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life."
If (in faith, when) your son is returned to you, may this fullfilled longing be a tree of life to your family, that brings healing to the great sorrow, as parents and child, your hearts have endured.
In Christ,
Darienne Block & family