Swedish Family Persecuted for Homeschooling
ICC Note
“The Swedish Parliament is reviewing an essential ban on homeschooling. We have heard that other homeschooling families in Sweden are having more difficulty with local officials. We fear that all homeschooling families in Sweden are at risk in what could be the beginning of a widespread persecution.”
12/22/2009 Sweden (Christian Newswire)-Christer and Annie Johansson, a Christian homeschooling family, are in the unimaginable position of permanently losing custody of their only child, seven-year-old Dominic Johansson, simply because they homeschool.
Swedish authorities boarded a plane bound for India in June of this year (Annie’s home country) and removed Dominic from his parents. They did not have a warrant nor have they charged the Johanssons with a crime; they simply did not believe homeschooling is an appropriate way to raise a child and insist the government raise Dominic.
“This is one of the most disgraceful abuses of power we have ever witnessed,” said HSLDA attorney Mike Donnelly. “The Swedish government is exercising its authority under the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child to unnecessarily break up this family.”
“This is a very dark time in Sweden ,” said Donnelly. “The Swedish Parliament is reviewing an essential ban on homeschooling. We have heard that other homeschooling families in Sweden are having more difficulty with local officials. We fear that all homeschooling families in Sweden are at risk in what could be the beginning of a widespread persecution.”
