"The officials insisted that homeschooling was an inappropriate way to raise a child."
“Attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund and the Home School Legal Defense Association have filed an application with the European Court of Human Rights to request it to hear the case involving Dominic Johansson.” Case Filed Against Sweden Over Seized Homeschooled Child
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Dominic, the couple’s only child, now lives in foster care and attends a government school. His parents, Christer and Annie Johansson, are only allowed to visit their son one hour every five weeks.
It is legal to home school in Sweden, although very few families do so. There is no exact number of how many families home school in Sweden, but My Alternative to School, a Swedish homeschooling association, says there are under 100 homeschoolers.
ADF attorneys have sent inquiries to Swedish authorities regarding the Johanssons but Swedish authorities have cited the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child to defend their action.
The Supreme Administrative Court of Sweden has refused to review a lower court’s December 2009 ruling in Johansson v. Gotland Social Services that found the government was within its rights to seize the child. The lower court cited the fact that Dominic had not been vaccinated as a reason to remove him permanently from his parents. The court also repeatedly claimed homeschooled students performed more poorly academically and were not as well socialized.
That is why so many parents (and not just homeschooling parents) are against the US signing off on the UNCRC. It gives the gov’t way too much power over families and personal decisions such as whether or not to immunize and how the children are educated.
Bet they wouldn’t remove a child not doing well in a poorly performing school, because it’s OK for the gov’t to fail at implementing their programs.
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