The
Dominic Johansson Case: Home schooled boy snatched from plane in Sweden
A collection of articles in different media, September
7, 2009 --
Updated July 12, 2012
A thriving Dominic is
shown in a passport photograph, left, just before he was taken into custody by
Swedish social-services agents. The right photo, obtained by the Dominic Johansson website, shows a
"not-so-thriving Dominic" some months after he was forcibly placed in
the Swedish foster-care system.
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Nightmare
soon to end?: Court vindicates Swedish homeschooling parents in state
kidnapping case
By Ben Johnson
A Swedish homseschooling couple may shortly be
reunited with their son after a prolonged separation, after a Swedish court has
judged that the couple did not act irresponsibly by removing their children
from the public school system.
LifeSiteNews, lifesitenews.com - June 15, 2012
Swedish
Court Vindicates Homeschooling Parents
Charisma News Staff
A Swedish district court has ruled that the parental rights of a 10-year-old
boy abducted by the government three years ago for being home-schooled will not
be terminated.
The court stated it could not ignore the unanimous and extensive
testimony of firsthand accounts of friends, family and others that Domenic
Johansson’s parents, Christer and Annie, were properly caring for him prior to
Swedish authorities seizing him in 2009.
Charisma
News, charismanews.com - June 15, 2012
Parents of
Boy Seized by State Hopeful after Favorable Court Ruling
HSLDA - Breaking News
In a major breakthrough, a Swedish district court has
ruled that the parental rights of Annie and Christer Johansson will not be
terminated. In its 23-page detailed opinion, the court stated it could not
ignore the unanimous and extensive testimony of firsthand accounts of friends,
family and others that Dominic Johansson was being properly cared for by his
parents prior to Swedish authorities seizing him on June 26, 2009.
The
boy and his parents were on board a jetliner minutes from departing Sweden for
Annie’s home country of India when Dominic was seized. Authorities justified
the taking by pointing to the fact that Dominic was homeschooled. Since then,
the family has pursued numerous court actions only to lose in all of them until
now.
Homeschool Legal Defence Association, hslda.org - June
14, 2012
Parents of
'State-Napped' Boy Hopeful after Favorable Court Ruling
By Jeremiah Lorrig
Court rules that Christer and Annie Johansson will retain custody of their son;
Domenic still in state foster care
Christian News Wire, christiannewswire.com - June 14, 2012
Domenic
Johannson May Be Going Home
By Dale Hurd
I received word this evening that the parents of
Domenic Johansson, the Swedish homeschooled boy abducted by authorities in
2008, have won the case in which Swedish Social Services tried to have their
parental rights terminated.
The five-judge panel decided 4-1 in favor
of Christer and Annie Johansson, with judges reportedly questioning the grounds
for taking Domenic away in the first place.
CBN
News Sr. Reporter, CBN News, blogs.cbn.com - June 13, 2012
Swedish
Home-School Family ‘Broken to pieces‘
By Dale Hurd, CBN News Sr. Reporter
GOTLAND,
Sweden -- It's been called one of the worst cases of government abuse ever
committed against a home schooling family: the abduction by Swedish authorities
of Domenic Johansson, a happy, healthy, 7-year-old boy taken from his
parents Christer and Annie Johansson in 2009 as they waited to leave Sweden on
a flight to India.
After the abduction, the Johanssons'
story spread quickly on the Internet.
But
three years later, Domenic is still being kept from his parents, and
Swedish authorities keep finding new reasons for why the child can't go home.
CBN News, cbn.com - March 21, 2012
Pressure
is mounting on a state-run social services agency in Sweden to return to his
parents a 10-year-old boy who was taken into custody because he was being homeschooled,
after the European Court of Human Rights ruled such separations can cause harm
to children.
Domenic
Johansson, then 7, was grabbed by police officers who descended on a jetliner
he and his parents, Christer and Annie, had boarded in a move to his mother’s
home country of India.
WorldNetDaily, wnd.com - February 13, 2012
Family of
'state-napped' child beats social services. Court ruling determines government
cannot end parents' rights
By Bob Unruh
A judge has handed defeat to a social services agency
that dispatched police officers to an India-bound jetliner more than two years
ago to take into custody a 7-year-old boy because he was being homeschooled.
WorldNetDaily,
wnd.com - December 23, 2011
It’s
not quite real-life “Spy Kids” even though the adventure certainly is there.
It
seems a Polish private investigator, dubbed “Rambo” by fans, has found a
solution to the problems created when social services workers in the Nordic
countries take custody of children against the wishes of family members: Simply
“kidnap” the kids and give them back to the parents.
WorldNetDaily, wnd.com - August 21, 2011
Abducted homeschooler's
case finally advances
By Bob Unruh
Police took child from his parents only because of education at home
WorldNetDaily, wnd.com - April 17, 2011
While the Swedish Family
Court plans another hearing on the Domenic Johansson kidnapping case, many
observers ask, "Why bother?"
Don't
get me wrong. I believe the Johanssons should be in court fighting tooth and
nail until their son has been rightfully restored to them, and I will support
them to the best of my ability until that day finally arrives. As far as I am
concerned, they've never had a real court trial in this case. Instead, these
dear, gentle people have stood tried and convicted as guilty since June 25th,
2009, months before ever setting foot into an LVU court room.
Friends of Domenic Johansson, Blogspot.com, April 17, 2011
Father
jailed for visit with son set free. 'Released today, after 2 terrible months!'
By Bob Unruh
A Swedish father who was jailed
by authorities for taking his son, in state custody because social services
workers worried he was being homeschooled, home for a visit has been released
from his incarceration.
Word
came to WND tonight via an e-mail from Christer Johansson, who said, "I
was released from jail today, after 2 terrible months! … When the judge read
the verdict, he said, '2 months in jail, already served, 15000 [kroner] in
compensation to Domenic and then 2 years probation.'"
WorldNetDaily,
wnd.com - January 22, 2011
Dominic
Johansson’s father on trial today
By
Daniel Hammarberg
Today Gotland district court held its main proceedings against Christer
Johansson, who’s charged with kidnapping or possibly unlawful deprivation of
liberty.
Madness in Sweden, The Telegraph / Hammarberg -
December 20th, 2010
Tell
Sweden to quit punishing jailed dad. Facing
trial for taking son home to see grandparents
By Bob Unruh
The
case circumstances of the battle between the Johansson family and Swedish
social services agencies are stark:
7-year-old Domenic Johansson in mid-2009 is abducted by social services workers
from parents because they were homeschooling.
Courts rule state has right to keep custody and even after 18 months, he's
allowed to see his mom and dad only about an hour every five to six weeks.
Frustrated father sneaks son home for unauthorized visit so he can see
grandparents.
Father arrested, jailed, facing trial on counts of "interference."
WorldNetDaily,
wnd.com - December 17, 2010
Dad gets
jail for son's visit home. 'Only menace here is government drunk with its own
power'
By Bob Unruh
A father has been jailed and is facing a trial where he could be sent to prison
for up to 10 years after bringing his son, who was "state-napped" by
police on the instructions
from social services workers in 2009, back to his home
for a day-and-a-half visit with relatives.
WorldNetDaily, wnd.com - November 30, 2010
Distraught
father takes son home
After a year-and-a-half of disappointing court cases
and state-supervised one hour visits once every five weeks with his only child,
an understandably distraught father accused of no crimes against his son, took
his 9 year old son, Domenic, home for an extended visit with family on Monday,
November 22nd. Christer Johansson had no apparent motive other than to have
more time with his son and to allow Domenic's grandparents, who had not seen
their grandson in nearly a year-and-a-half, a chance to see their grandchild.
On Wednesday, November 24th, Christer telephoned Alva police to inform them he
and Domenic could be found at home.
Posted on Friends of Domenic Johansson - November 29,
2010
The
Domenic case is far from unique
By Daniel Hammarberg
Since Sweden introduced barnavårdslagen, "the
child welfare law," in 1924, the act which enabled the state to take children into custody
without their parents' consent, quite a few Swedes have faced relocation into
foster care on dubious grounds. As the supply of foster homes wasn't nearly
enough to meet the new demands of the grandiose plans for solving societal ills
through foster care, the state swiftly established orphanages where sometimes
upwards of 30 children were brought up. In the mid 20th century, at the peak of
the days of unbridled foster care, no less than one in 30 children at any given
time resided in foster care - half of them in actual families, the other half
in orphanages. Since then, the proportion of the total population has gone down
somewhat, but these dreaded child institutions are still around, now referred
to as HVB-hem - treatment homes
Posted on Friends of Domenic Johansson - October 28,
2010
Judge blasts
homeschool family's reunion hopes. Rules child 'state-napped' in 2009 must
remain in social services custody
By Bob Unruh
A judge in Sweden's administrative court has ruled that social workers will continue to have custody of a boy who was
seized by police from a jetliner as he and his parents were preparing to move
to India, according to a new report.
The
decision by Judge Peter
Freudenthal was reported by the Home School Legal Defense Association, which along with international attorneys working with the Alliance Defense Fund
already have appealed to the European Court of Human Rights for help reuniting
the family.
WorldNetDaily, wnd.com - October 07, 2010
Government’s
Claws Dig Deeper in Johansson Case
On September 21, 2010, Swedish Administrative Court
Chief Judge Peter Freudenthal handed down his decision in the case of Domenic
Johansson of Gotland, Sweden, dashing the hopes of his parents for reunification
with their son, who has been kept in foster care for over one year. Dominic was
seized by Swedish authorities from the plane he and his parents had boarded as
they were moving to India, his mother’s home country. Authorities cited
untreated cavities in the boy’s teeth, failure to vaccinate, and homeschooling
as reasons for taking him into custody.
HSLDA, Press Release, hslda.org
- October 6, 2010
State
'child-napping' escalates to international court. Parents have been fighting 1 year for custody of son
By Bob Unruh
The state-sponsored "child-napping" of a Swedish boy because his
parents were homeschooling him is being escalated to the European Court of
Human Rights, which is being asked to hear the case of Dominic Johansson.
WorldNetDaily, wnd.com - June 25, 2010
Socials
fast-track new case in Ruby Harrold-Claesson’s absence. Family’s Lawyer Inexplicably Banned.
Family Integrity, New Zealand
The struggle continues for little Domenic Johannson,
seized by police from his agonized parents because he was briefly homeschooled,
stayed home with his mother as a preschooler, and was reportedly too
affectionate and outgoing. Close observers of the Johansson state-sponsored
"kidnapping" case believe the Visby Social Board is pushing Swedish
courts to fast-track a new series of court challenges in an effort to have the
cases quashed long before Ruby Harrold-Claesson wins her way back as counsel to
Domenic's parents, Annie and Christer Johansson.
Family Integrity, familyintegrity.org.nz - June 25, 2010
Socials
fast-track new case in Ruby Harrold-Claesson’s absence. Family’s Lawyer Inexplicably Banned.
Friends of Domenic Blogspot
The struggle continues for little Domenic Johannson,
seized by police from his agonized parents because he was briefly homeschooled,
stayed home with his mother as a preschooler, and was reportedly too
affectionate and outgoing. Close observers of the Johansson state-sponsored
"kidnapping" case believe the Visby Social Board is pushing Swedish
courts to fast-track a new series of court challenges in an effort to have the
cases quashed long before Ruby Harrold-Claesson wins her way back as counsel to
Domenic's parents, Annie and Christer Johansson.
Friends of Domenic Blogspot, friendsofdomenic.blogspot.com - June 25, 2010
Boy reaches
1 year in custody for being homeschooled. Dominic
has been allowed to see parents an hour every 5 weeks
By
Bob Unruh
A website supporting a Swedish family whose son was taken into custody by
social-services agents almost exactly one year ago says the court case over the
dispute now is being rushed before a human-rights activist can be restored to
the case.
WorldNetDaily, wnd.com - June 24, 2010
Court
accused of violating homeschooler's 'due process'. Officials' actions have 'called the fairness of the entire process into
question'
By
Bob Unruh
A decision by officials in Sweden to remove a well-known human-rights lawyer
from a child-custody case is being called a "stunning display of
bureaucratic indifference and contempt of due-process rights."
WorldNetDaily, wnd.com - June 18, 2010
State
‘Kidnapping’ of Swedish Home-schooler Prompts International Outcry
By Alex Newman
The case of eight-year-old Domenic Johansson, separated from his family by
Swedish authorities last year over his parents’ decision to legally home school
him, has prompted an international outcry from human rights groups, American
home schooling organizations, and activists on the World Wide Web.
The New American, thenewamerican.com, 15 June, 2010
Judge
banishes family's custody lawyer. Chief of Nordic Committee for Human Rights
told she's off case
By Bob Unruh
An internationally known human-rights lawyer who had agreed to work on the case
of a Swedish family whose son was taken into custody by
agents of the government social-services program for
being homeschooled says she has been banished from the case.
WorldNetDaily, wnd.com - June 10, 2010
Social-service
agents grab child from school. Hustled off in truck to prevent meeting
human-rights lawyer
By Bob Unruh
Social-services agents in Sweden
have swooped down on an elementary school to grab a 9-year-old boy and take him
out of class so he would not meet an internationally known human-rights attorney working on the family's custody
dispute with the state, according to the attorney and parents.
Government officials then cancelled a
scheduled telephone conversation between the child, Domenic Johansson,
and his parents, Christer and Annie, because of "what happened today at
the school."
WorldNetDaily,
wnd.com - May 11, 2010
Cavalry
arrives for beleaguered homeschool family. Top human rights expert to argue for
return of abducted 7-year-old
By Bob Unruh
A top human rights expert who also is accomplished in Swedish law has been
assigned to help a homeschool family whose 7-year-old son was taken into
custody by police and has been detained by social services agents in Sweden for
almost a year.
The startling assignment by Swedish
courts of attorney Ruby Harrold-Claesson to the case of Christer and Annie
Johansson came only days after WND reported on
a campaign by the Home School Legal Defense
Association for homeschoolers and others worldwide to contact Swedish authorities
about the case.
WorldNetDaily,
wnd.com - April 30, 2010
By Bob Unruh
Members of Sweden's parliament
are being warned to drop plans to change their homeschooling
laws or they soon could be on par with Germany, where persecution
over homeschooling recently prompted a family to flee to the U.S. for asylum.
The warning comes from the Virginia-based
Home School Legal Defense Association, the
premier homeschooling-advocacy organization in the world.
WorldNetDaily, wnd.com, April 26, 2010
Parents
plead for return of 7-year-old son. Dad, mom being allowed 1 hour visit every
5 weeks
By Bob Unruh
A plea has been sent worldwide for moms, dads,
brothers, aunts and grandparents – in fact anyone – to contact Swedish
authorities and ask them to return to his parents
a 7-year-old boy taken into police custody
over a dispute that includes the family's decision to homeschool.
WorldNetDaily, wnd.com, April 19, 2010
State takes
custody of 7-year-old over homeschooling. Now human rights organizations
reviewing 'state-napping'
By Bob Unruh
Social workers have been visiting a Swedish couple
whose son was "abducted" by government agents last year because he was
being homeschooled, but that's not necessarily a good sign, and now two major
rights organizations are exploring options to reunite the family.
The Home
School Legal Defense Association and
members of the Alliance Defense Fund
have been advising Christer and Annie Johansson on the
"state-napping" of their son, Dominic, 7, from an airliner as the
family was preparing to move to India last year.
WorldNetDaily, wnd.com, February 27, 2010
Swedish
Govt slammed for seizing home ed boy
Christian home-schooling parents who had their son taken away by Swedish
Government officials have lost their court case to have him returned.
Dominic
Johansson, who is just seven years old, was taken away from his parents in 2008
[2009] and a court has now ruled that the Government was within its rights to
do so.
Critics
have called Dominic’s removal a “disgraceful” abuse of power.
Christer
and Annie Johansson had boarded a plane with their son to India, Mrs
Johansson’s home country, when officials seized Dominic.
The
Christian Institute, christian.org.uk - 8 Jan 2010
Swedish family
persecuted for homeschooling
By Ian Slatter
Purcellville, VA—Christer and Annie Johansson, a Christian homeschooling family, are in the unimaginable position of permanently losing custody of their only child, 7-year-old Dominic Johansson, simply because they homeschool.
HSLDA Press Release, hslda.org - December 22, 2009
Court
Upholds State-Sponsored “Kidnapping” of Homeschooled Boy
As most
people count their blessings and prepare to enjoy Christmas with family, many
others face serious struggles. Among these is the Swedish family of Annie and
Christer Johansson whose only child, 7-year-old Dominic Johansson, was
“kidnapped” by Swedish authorities in June of this year as the family was on a
plane leaving the country for a new life and home in India. Annie Johansson is
from India where her entire family lives.
HOME SCHOOLING / INTERNATIONAL, 22 December 2009
Home schooled boy snatched from
plane in Sweden. Help reunite
this persecuted family!
By Don Hank
Home Education Foundation, hef.org - October 2009
Holes
in their heads
Maria Andersson's blogg
The outright kidnapping of Domenic, the little boy
the newspaper (Världen idag) The World Today has written about here, shows an
ugly picture of the legal security afforded Swedish citizens.
Världen idag,
varldenidag.se - 2009-09-28
What
happened next with boy snatched from plane in Sweden?
Mats Tunehags Blog
The 7 year old Domenic were taken from his parents in
late June because they wanted to home school him. Dominic is still not reunited with his family; his
mother Annie is critically ill (trauma) and his father Christer is going
through sleepless nights fighting for justice for his family.
Världen idag, varldenidag.se - 2009-09-22
Sweden - the
Next Germany for Homeschoolers?
Home School Legal Defense Association has sent a
formal letter of inquiry to the head of a local Swedish social services unit as
well as several other Swedish and American government officials inquiring about
the case of Annie and Christer Johansson of Gottland, Sweden.
HSLDA Press Release, hslda.org - September 16, 2009
Police 'nab'
7-year-old homeschooler. Officials took child from plane as it was about to
take off
By Bob Unruh
A mother and father are going public with details
about how Swedish social-services officials had police halt a plane en route to
takeoff in order to take custody of their 7-year-old son after they had argued
with local school officials about his homeschooling.
"I'm
no better than other people. I'm just a normal human being, trying my best to
do what I feel is important both in my life and in this world. My family is
maybe a little different from the norm, but, when did that become a
crime," the father, Christer Johannson, has written on the Swedish website Vaken.
WorldNetDaily, wnd.com, September 09, 2009
Home
schooled boy snatched from plane in Sweden
Christer and Annie Johannson are a
Swedish couple from Gotland that attempted last year to home school their son
Dominic, a bright and happy 7 year old, just prior to their leaving the country
to take up residence in India. They made all the right moves, informing the
school of their plans.
LAIGLESFORUM - September 7th, 2009
The
Domenic Johansson Case: India's media awake
A collection of articles in Indian media, April 25, 2012 --
Gotlandsfallet: Sjuåringen hämtades
med polispådrag från flygplanet
En serie av artiklar i olika media 2009-08-05 --
Friends of Domenic Johansson Blog spot
Daniel Hammarberg's address:
State of the Swedish Child Welfare
YouTube.com
The Madhouse: A Critical Look at
Swedish Society
By Daniel Hammarberg
The Alexander Aminoff Case
By Sven Hessle
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