OSLO, July 22 (Itar-Tass) - The children of Tatyana Bendikene of Russia and Robertas Bendikas of Lithuania were returned to their parents on Monday, July 22, from foster families where they had been placed on March 8, 2013 by the Barnevernet, Norway’s Child Protection Services.
On July 16, a court of appellate jurisdiction turned down an appeal filed by Barnevernet officials who claimed that the court of original jurisdiction, which had ruled in favour of the parents, had made mistakes. However the judges did not find the Barnevernet officials’ arguments convincing enough and ruled that the lower-tier court, which had examined the case on June 27-28, made no mistakes, studied all details and thoroughly substantiated its judgment to return the children to their parents, having questioned both of them, as well as Barnevernet officials and eight witnesses.
However this is not the end of the story. The Barnevernet earlier filed a petition requesting that the guardianship over the children be transferred to the state. It is scheduled to be examined in October. Usually, when children are returned to their families, the child protection service withdraws its petitions.
The three underage girls were temporarily placed in foster families following the child protection service’s claims that they had allegedly been subject to domestic violence in their family. New Norwegian legislation forbids all forms of violence against minors, including slapping and verbal threats, which may cause a psychological trauma to a child. The parents insist, however, that they had never practiced cruel treatment of their children.