• 27
  • January
    2012

The Indian government is putting pressure on Norway to reunite Indian parents with their two children after child welfare services split up the family and placed the children in foster care. The custody battle is a complex one that pits Norwegian law against widely practiced tenets of Indian culture.

The Indian parents lost custody of their children eight months ago when Norwegian officials took issue with the children being fed from their parents' hands and sleeping in a family bed. The children, who are three and one years old, have since been living with foster families while the Indian parents attempt to win back their parental rights.

Family bed and feeding by hand are seen as important bonding stages between children and their mother. The Indian Foreign Minister has already called out his Norwegian counterpart and demanded a quick resolution to reunite the family.

An employee for Child Welfare Services in Norway rejected the notion that the case is rooted in prejudices against or misinterpretations of Indian culture. The employee insisted that the actions of the agency were required procedure intended to protect children in adverse situations.

"The Child Welfare Service has a responsibility to intervene if measures in the home are not sufficient to meet a child's needs," said the official. "Examples are when a child is mistreated or subjected to other serious abuses at home, or when there is every probability that the child's health or development may be seriously harmed because the parents are incapable of taking adequate responsibility for their child."

The Indian parents have been fighting an uphill legal battle since losing custody. In fact, they have already lost a case in a lower court and are now relying on the Indian government to step in and force Norway to resolve the matter.

Meanwhile, the Indian government recently issued a statement declaring that the children are being denied important ethnic, religious, and cultural influence and experience, and such deprivation could be deeply affecting.

In addition, India's Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna condemned Norway's actions, indicating that they have been extreme even by its own standards.

"[G]iven the children's young age, removal from the care of natural parents and to be placed in foster care till they turn 18... is an extreme step which should normally be taken as a last resort," he said.

Stay tuned for developments on this story from our Tarrant County divorce blog ...

If would like to learn more about child custody or visitation, you should consider speaking with an experienced attorney.

The following post is provided for informational purposes only and is not to be construed as legal advice.

Source:

Google News, "Reunite Indian kids with parents, Delhi urges Oslo" Jan. 23, 2012