Nightmare soon to end?: Court vindicates Swedish homeschooling parents in state kidnapping case

A Swedish homseschooling couple may shortly be reunited with their son after a prolonged separation, after a Swedish court has judged that the couple did not act irresponsibly by removing their children from the public school system.

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Swedish homeschooling leader flees country following alleged persecution

leader in the Swedish homeschooling movement has fled the country, saying, “the safety of my family could no longer be guaranteed.”

Jonas Himmelstrand, who is president of the Swedish Association for Home Education (ROHUS), says that the government of the town of Uppsala was “threatening” him, according to a press release published by the organization on the Swedish public relations website MyNewsDesk.com.

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Swedish authorities threaten to completely revoke parental rights of homeschooling couple

STOCKHOLM, October 12, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Swedish authorities that seized a seven-year-old boy from his family because the parents chose to homeschool him are threatening the parents with permanent loss of their child and a complete termination of their parental rights.

Swedish police snatched Domenic Johansson, son of Christer and Annie Johansson, in June 2009 from an airplane bound for India, Annie’s homeland. The main reason for the seizure was that Domenic was homeschooled. Since then Domenic’s entire family has been denied virtually any contact with their son.
Domenic Johannson with his parents.

Domenic, now 9 years old, has been held in state foster care for more than 24 months.

In June 2010, the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) and the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) filed a joint application on behalf of the Johansson family at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) and have been working to support the family since shortly after Domenic’s seizure.

“The United States Supreme Court has called the termination of parental rights the family court equivalent of the death penalty,” stated Michael Donnelly, Director of International Relations at the Home School Legal Defense Association.

“The government shouldn’t abduct and imprison children simply because it doesn’t like homeschooling. That’s bad enough. But now the state is going even further by attempting to get the parents out of the way altogether,” said ADF Legal Counsel Roger Kiska. “This simply cannot stand. We will do everything in our power to help reunite this family.”

Both ADF and HSLDA are currently asking for letters to be written to Swedish officials and embassies in an attempt to renew attention to the family’s case and to encourage Swedish officials to release Domenic back to his family.

Prime Minister of Sweden Fredrik Reinfeldt
Mailing Address: Rosenbad 4, SE-103 33 Stockholm
Phone: +46 8 405 10 00
Email via website here.

Swedish Embassy in Ottawa
Ambassador to Canada Ingrid Iremark
377 Dalhousie St.
Ottawa, Ontario
Phone: 613-244-8200
Fax: 613-241-2277
Email: sweden.ottawa@foreign.ministry.se

Swedish Embassy in Washington DC
Ambassador Jonas Hafström
2900 K Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20007
Phone: (202) 467-2600
Fax: (202) 467-2699
Email: ambassaden.washington@foreign.ministry.se

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How many Swedes does it take to change a lightbulb?

Poor, poor Sweden is in the news and looking foolish - again. It can’t even keep up with its own motto (“For Sweden—with the times”). For, if Sweden were keeping up with the times, it would know that homeschooling is the newest, latest, greatest. In fact, the U.S. homeschool population might well exceed the ethnic Swedish population of Sweden in the coming generation. (Come to think of it, its Muslim minority might well exceed the ethnic Swedish population of Sweden in the coming generation too.)

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LifeSiteNews.com: Homeschooling to be Criminalized in Sweden

The news of the socialist government’s hardening attitude toward homeschoolers comes following the state seizure eight months ago of seven year-old Dominic Johansson, whose parents were educating him at home. Since the removal of Dominic by police from a plane the family had boarded with the intention of moving to India, Christer and Annie Johansson have been allowed to see their son for one hour every five weeks.

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LifeSiteNews.com: Homeschool Legal Giants Intervene in Sweden State Abduction of Homeschooler

Nearly eight months have passed since Christer and Annie Johansson, with their young son Dominic, boarded a plane to move to India. With one minute before takeoff, Swedish authorities arrested Christer and Annie and whisked Dominic away into the custody of social services.

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LifeSiteNews: Swedish Government Seizes Child from Home Schooling Family

“It’s one of the most disgraceful abuses of power we have ever witnessed,” said HSLDA attorney Mike Donnelly.

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