29th December 2020, Day 90 of our children being kidnapped by overzealous social workers who got the police to do the dirty work, but then refused to acknowledge the police investigation’s outcome.
So let’s play this drama out, online!
Why? Because that’s how I play- I’ve always been an open book and because I’ve always stood up to bullies.
It seems, to me, like a social worker in Sweden can create a case and often neither the district court, nor the superiors within the social services are willing to question it. (We still have hope that the next court looks at all evidence and evaluates this case based on the real merits.)
A child’s voice is given incredible weight, while professionals- doctor’s, psychologists and teachers- and other adults- family and friends- are disregarded, when it doesn’t fit the case social services have created.
Our social workers are twisting reality to state that we are systematically and constantly violent against our children. They have created an investigation document stating that we use violence as way of punishment. Yet, that is not what our children have said, neither anyone who has spoken to us.
They describe us in a way that friends say- on reading investigation documents, prepared by the assigned social workers and signed off by their managers- make us look like “monsters”. All our character witnesses -even those who have lived with us for extended periods, spent long holidays with us- have been discarded. They are not “neutral” people.
There are ways to escape this carnage though:
Sweden has a wonderful network of investigation homes- Utredningshem- a network of professionally-run and supervised homes where families move in for investigation and treatment. We would be supervised 24 hours a day, living with specialists- social workers, psychologists, etc. If we so much as speak out of line, we are red-carded.
Yet, this option- a way to reunite our family immediately, ending suffering- as an alternative to the 7 to 13-month timescale that their other “treatment” plan involves has NEVER been proposed by our social workers.
On Christmas Eve morning, as a final plea, I asked for this option to be considered, because a friend suggested it and I researched it, talked to managers there. It was a solution that made sense.
The response today, day 90, was “As for the assessment that [the name of the location] or any other utredningshem is not an option is based on the socialservice needs to be certain that the children are not under any form of violence or pressure, psychologically or physical.”
What is our social worker really saying?
Please check my logic here: is my social worker saying that this 24-hour supervised home is not an option because we will grab any opportunity to abuse our children?
What, if anything, will be good enough for this woman and her colleagues to be satisfied that we are good enough parents?
How would a 7- 13 month timescale make a difference to us being a “danger” to our children? Especially when we can start their “treatment” immediately in safety. It’s what our children want, the boys especially!
I am conflicted, as I am treated like a criminal, yet my children are not taken care of, beyond their basic needs. They are accepted as collateral damage in this process.
When these social workers are home enjoying their cosy Christmas and New Year’s celebrations with their own families, they switch off, just like they throw us out of the office at 4 pm because their workday is finished.
Do they care about the suffering they are causing?
They don’t seem to care that my daughter’s health has deteriorated in this process- they say on paper that they care, yet when I check whether they have followed up on their promises to instigate protection, I find few, if any, measures are in place. Then I am blamed for interfering.
When there is this level of injustice you start to wonder:
Are Social Services just trying to set us up to fail and keep our children in their lucrative, economy-boosting foster system?
I realise even thinking that is crazy! Yet, I find myself battling a flawed system, where the checks and balances seem to be failing and I cannot find any other explanation. (Well maybe prestige and ideology… but that is even worse.)