Handle With Care

Child welfare must be the priority in the custody case in Norway

Handle With Care

It is seen from the fresh details pouring in, that the Bhattacharya's had not been forthcoming about their domestic problems. At the same time, neither have Norwegian authorities been proactive in explaining their stand. 

However, what remains important at the end of it all is the welfare of the children. 

-The Times of India, March 23, 2012

Let good sense prevail

"After a Norwegian court placed two toddlers in permanent foster care, their parents' plight has generated indignation in India and led to high-level diplomacy between Oslo and New Delhi. The parents have alleged the children's removal stems from a deep cultural bias. The Child Welfare Service (CWS) in Norway has consistently denied this, saying the children were removed for far serious reasons related to their delayed development."

The Hindu : Opinion / Editorial : Let good sense prevail:  The strains of negotiating a foreign culture and environment are evident — both for the Bhattacharyas and for the Norwegian authorities — but the fact that the family needed assistance is undeniable. On its part, the CWS is not without blame. It has shown cultural insensitivity and made serious mistakes in handling the case.

Why Norway should back down

"There is something deeply disturbing about the superiority and moral authority in the attitude of the country's Child Protection Services to child rearing practices of immigrants; it harks back to darker, less civil and, one would have hoped, long bygone times."

The Hindu : Opinion / Lead : Why Norway should back down: The ongoing case in which the Child Protection Services (CPS) in Stavanger, Norway, have placed two Indian children in a foster home raises important questions about not only the judgment of the representatives of a so-called model state, but also their lack of respect for the possibility that many questions around child care and upbringing may not have definitive answers and therefore a moral basis for passing verdicts about the right and wrong of a wide range of parenting practices.

Over The Top

Is Norway the ultimate nanny state?

Over The Top

-The Times of India, January 27, 2012

Anurup and Sagarika Bhattacharya may now breathe a sigh of relief as the their children will be safely brought back to India, and in custody of their uncle. Much of the arguments that the Norwegian authorities presented were based on cultural differences in parenting as opposed to their claim of parental neglect. While it remains true that ill-treatment of children needs to be condemned, an accommodation of cultural differences is a necessity.