We had another phone call on Friday from the school board, in this phone call, we were told that if we do not send our Marley to school on Monday then she will be put on the "list" as the board believes this is a worrying situation for a child to be educated by the people who love her most.
What kind of a world do we live in where home educating your children is not only illegal but is also classed as child abuse?
The women on the phone said our only option would be to leave Sweden which is what we have planned on doing for 4 yrs now but the thing is we have not yet found a place we can call home.
Our friends who we are planning on starting an eco-community with have found land in Portugal, it sounds amazing and we are really looking forward to starting this new phase of our lives but we have never been there, we are not Portuguese citizens and we can't say for sure that we ever will be, so at this point we cannot officially leave Sweden, which means our child will be put on that list and we will be on the run.
It's so sad to think that this is our only option, Louise is devastated that she has to leave the land she grew up in, I can see her pain and frustration but I can not imagine what she is going through right now.
Part of me wants to stand and fight, how dare they tell us what is best for our children? what gives them the right to demand our children in such a way? and why is nobody doing anything about it?
I want to take them all on but I also want peace for my family, and I can not stand the thought of them ever getting their hand's on our precious Marley.
Marley is so spiritually connected to this universe, she is a free bird that will never be caged in a classroom, her soul can not be put into a box.
Everybody is a Genius. But If You Judge a Fish by Its Ability to Climb a Tree, It Will Live Its Whole Life Believing that It is Stupid.
Albert Einstein.
What is Freedom, Are We Free?
We live in a tinyhouse and go travelling whenever we feel like it, we have no debt, no bills, our money is not in a bank, we are decentralized but for the first time in 4 yrs we do not feel FREE.
Not matter how much we strive to be free from the system we despice it feels as though it is an uphill struggle, but I would rather struggle everyday to be free than to give in and become nothing but a number.
I do believe in freedom and I know that we are close, who knows how long it will take and what road we will have to go down to achieve this freedom but one thing I do know is that they will not break our spirit and they will never get OUR children.
THE FIRST PART TO THIS STORY
Peace and love to the World.
This weeks eco-train highlights.
One of the greatest injustices in the slave trade was the ownership of the children. An enslaved person had no right over their own child, it could be abused or sold on at any time for any reason. Nothing much has changed!
Hello to you and your family. My heart goes out to you and because I am an advocate of human rights and justice, I am incensed by this barbaric attitude in Sweden. How could anyone think that a state run system of education is not one of the most harmful activities we could ever agree to.
I have worked with many families who home school here in Canada and the US. What a difference in the children. My youngest son and his wife home school their three children.
My wife and I have been searching for another country to retire to for other reasons but we have some experience in these matters. If we can be of any service, please do not hesitate. I am new to Steemit, so I do not have any internal money yet but as soon as I can I will want to honor you and your family and help to start a fund to help with the many expenses ahead of you. I wish you the very best and will keep you in our prayers.
Norman J Ball
Global Rescue
Thank you @globalrescuecoin for this genuine heartfelt response, we are very thankful for the floods of support and good will that have been streaming in.
You are right it is a very barbaric attitude from the Swedish government, We are still shaking our heads in disbelief.
We are now in Finland after reading a story of a boy being taken by the CPS as the family were trying to escape the country, read my latest 2 posts for more info.
Thank you for the offer of support, I am hoping that we will never need it but it's nice to know people out there are looking out for us :)
Thanks again you have really put a smile on our face during these difficult times.
Bless.
https://steemit.com/@binodsinghdhami
plz. upvote me
up vote and follow me @fauxfinish
Hello. What you can help to follow me? I really need your help please
It's terrible what's been happening in Sweden and much of the western world for parents who want to raise their own children, not the state. Schools have become less about education and more about indoctrinating our young people. Real education means developing knowledgeable, well-rounded citizen who can think critically, process information, make good decisions, support themselves and serve the needs of society.
In other words, real education produces productive members of a capitalist society. It seems the world governments would rather have us dumbed down and ever dependent on the state....more easy to control the population.
May God keep you and your family safe @markwhittam.
Our children are future tax payers. The governments of the world look at them as owned assets.
And they indoctrinate them, more than educate them. Burn them out. And teach children that being different is wrong if you don'T fit into the system (like me when I was a kid), but just because the system doesn't fit you, doesn't make your existence wrong, just means you need something different that will fit you. And talk about taxes, in Quebec, if I make earnings on Steemit, trade for Bitcoin and convert to CAD to pay my bills, I have to declare it in my income tax and potentially pay taxes on something that the government had absolutely nothing to do with. It is so frustrating. We are NOT free. We are slaves. We just need to figure out how to work around the slave system. And school teaches kids nothing. My step kids learnt more English as a second language with me this Summer than they did in school in a couple of years. Pfff, they just sap the creativity and life out of children. Sorry, it's a topic that angers me, because of the sad reality we all live in. There must be a way to fight the system in a sane way that will not lead to burnout.
Wow. I couldn't have said it better. Sad but true :(
The governments need to wash their brains and have a total control on population and not only them... everybody is free to choose theirs children education. I respect the decision to educate her at home and from what I am reading I believe you can do it. Not everybody can do it... letting an idiot that doesn't know not even to write correctly to educate their kids at home could be a mistake... I personally prefer my daughter to go to school as I don't have friends with children so i consider is healthy to her having friends and fun when she goes at school but I will never send her to a religious school and let those people wash her brain and control her for life
great point!The wheels need to keep turning!
That's why we need to protect them a teach them the right thing to do because when the time comes, we need them to take care of us when we get old.
you could say that again!
SO TRUE BRO :(
so true
@kevkong it's so sad but true, it seems nothing has changed except I think people were more willing back then to stand up and fight against it.
This is extremely distressing, of course there is no freedom if we do not have the say in our own children's lives. They are OUR kids, NOT the STATE'S!
Sorry to say @lyndsaybowes as long as your children have a birth certificate, you as a parent have knowingly or unknowingly handed over your children as belonging to the state. If you collect benefits, free healthcare, child benefit, and education comes when you register your child's birth. The child becomes collateral just like my ancestors, the system of modern day slavery is subtle and sophisticated but we are all slaves to the system in some way or another. I don't agree with it and i believe that every human being has the right to be free unless you live in the west or certain barbaric states, then sadly freedom is superficial.
well put ,enough said ,I agree,sad but true. You hit it on the head (nail)
so many ways of dispute! Correct me if I'm wrong but on every birth certificate(US) somewhere along the lines we signed our newborns over to the state at the time of signing the certificate. And also when we go through some sort of family court cases such as divorce, the children become property of the state as they go through mediation determining custody,and visitation rights.Please people read the fine print.
I look back and now I see I just signed to get it over with! To much of a hassle to bare.
I wish you good luck!
Good point but I would also say, if full disclosure is not present the deal is off. So if someone signs their child over unwittingly, the state or whatever parasite group can not control your child. But one does have to file a lawsuit to undo the assumption created by signing the Birth Certificate.
Would you say that if the parents (slaves) of a "slave" child, would sign a piece of paper, made by the slave master, that said that their child would be a slave for live, that, that child (as a grown up) had to get permission or that paper from the slavemaster, to be officially free?
(This was suppose to be a reply to @sheapureness)
https://steemit.com/@binodsinghdhami
plz. upvote me
https://steemit.com/@binodsinghdhami
plz. upvote me
This type of posting by you @binodsinghdhami is absolutely spam and it is entirely insensitive that you would use the plight of a father as a platform for your own (shallow) self-promotion.
If this is how you wish to proceed, just close your Steemit account now because flags will make your account worthless in no time.
I've seen this kind of behavior for long enough from this account. It seems to target trending posts and spam them with this same message. I have warned him before but it seems only flags will be useful in this case.
Well said!
Dear Mark and lovely family, I am absolutely disgusted that you are all having to face this situation. I did not realise how bad it was in Sweden. I knew bad - but not this bad! I really really feel for you all. As you will know (and others have commented), the situation is as bad in the UK, where parents are even advised to flee abroad from Soc Services in order to keep their children! And we all know what can happen to them in Care/fostering. It is also terrible in Israel and Austria and Germany, where I was told 70 000 children a year are taken away from their parents. A possible 70 000 German children a year!!! One of the main reasons we are not in the UK at the moment is because we were arrested for trying to help someone who had had his daughter stolen by the State. We might have been a bit stupid (possibly set up, we suspect) but we did nothing wrong or illegal - and they arrested us! We were never charged because we had done nothing wrong BUT for a while they held the threat of a life sentence over our heads ("conspiracy to kidnap" or some such rubbish). A LIFE sentence for helping someone! There was only one reply to that, we felt, so we did it instead (effed off out of Europe and thanked the Universe when a job arrived immediately arrived, indicating that we had absolutely done the right thing). This is a very serious situation you are all in, bless your hearts, and we like your many other followers will be keeping an eye on it. I wish you strength in the decisions you are going to have to face and will be upvoting all your material in order to earn you some Steem. You brave guys are at the cliff face carving out freedom so please keep us informed. Many blessings - I hope it works out for you ref Portugal and will be following all your posts.
Thank you for your response @healingherb
I am from England and I grew up in care, which is more reason why I will never let them take our children. It's shocking how easy it is for them to come and claim our children nowadays, there should be uproar from the people but i fear people have been dumbed down to point where they have no will power to fight the system that enslaves them.
It's a shame that this is happening now in the uk, as I was always under the impression that as long as you never sent your child to school then they can't fine you for non attendance.
But I am also fully aware of some shocking stories of children being snatched by the state and before the parents even have a chance to fight the case the children have been put under care orders never to to be seen again.
It nearly happened to a friend of mine but luckily he knew all the right legalese to get his kid back before it was too late.
I am very hopeful for our future even under such threats from the state, it is not that easy in Sweden for them to take children but the threats will continue.
Thanks for the interaction.
I don't understand the ins and outs, but in general, when you get a marriage license and have children and give them a state birth certificate, you have made them the states property. You've asked the state for permission to get married, (why?) and you've registered the product of that union with the state.
I don't know if it's the same everywhere, but in the US it makes no sense to ask the state, which the people created, for permission to do anything. When does the creator need to ask the creation for permission to do anything?
Children that are the product of a marriage not recognized by the state and don't have a birth certificate, are untouchable. The state can't and won't take what is not theirs.
I haven't done the topic justice, but it might be worth looking in to. Void the birth certificate and you take your property (children) back. The state can only tell you what to do with their property, not your own.
I am not sure I agree about anything with birth certificates you said being true but your point on the marriage license is something I had never considered before. Who is the state to tell me that I need their permission to get married. Then once you have their ok if you get married and want a divorce in some states you must wait a year. My ex was living on another continent and I still had to wait a year and then bring someone to testify that we had not slept under the same roof in a year. We parted on friendly terms but according to the state if we wanted a divorce we weren't allowed to sleep one night in the same house for a year.
You don't have to agree, but don't disagree without researching it for yourself. Always check things out for yourself.
And I know you didn't say you disagree, you said you weren't sure. Just trying to get people to think and check stuff for themselves.
I believe that the state thinks we all belong to them, children included. I was only saying I don't think the birth certificate is related. Whether you have one or not if they find out about you they think they own you.
I know what you meant. All I'm saying is don't dismiss it without investigating it. Challenge your thinking.
Yes I am fully aware of the registration trick, it's the same in the uk, when you register your car you get a form back that says you are the registered keeper, not owner, this gives them the right to tow "their" car whenever they see fit, this is the same when you register the birth of your child.
I think it's different in Sweden, without your number that they give you at birth you can't do anything in this country.
But then if everyone did it then the government wouldn't have a leg to stand on.
In this regard Sweden appears to be a little further down the New World Order road. Best to you
scary(new world order)
great info
It depends on which authority you are in in the UK. The UK government's EHEGLA [Elective Home Education Guidelines for Local Authorities] is pretty sound. It's just a problem getting local authorities to keep to it when writing their policy documents and then keep to it in every day contacts with home educators. I just spent 2.5 years reeducating Staffordshire County Council and we finally have policies in place that protect and support home educators/home educated in Staffs. We've also worked to present workshops to all council staff who are likely to have contact with home ed families and those thinking of home educating. They REALLY needed re-educating! But they were willing.
Staffordshire would be a pretty positive place to home educate right now.
We had two advantages in Staffordshire.
It's taken a whole lot of discussing, rewriting and tweaking but finally people are starting to relax in Staffordshire and the EHE team can begin to do some actual supporting ... which in truth they couldn't do when they mistook their job for policing!
I also believe it is possible for children to be removed from parents for unreasonable causes. Frequently people don't know the bounds of their own blasted jobs I have noticed. They don't understand their roles or the law often.
It's great to see someone who's doing real work in situ, @sallylloyd and I'm not an expert. All the same, many millions of us (perhaps that 13% in the UK who believe in some kind of shadow government - see Yougov stats) are listening to interviews like this in which a baby has been torn out of her father's arms and ended up who-knows-where in care having who-know-what done to her. Millions feel that this is a matter of extreme concern. Please take time out to listen to this:
Thanks, @sallylloyd It's great to hear someone doing good work on the inside but I had to post the Richie Allen interview to listen to if you've time. I've no idea about the current situation or how Staffs is but there are countless examples - look up Samantha Baldwin and Vicky Haigh. According to YouGov, a massive 13% of the UK agrees that some kind of shadow government has taken over the world. These are not crazy people - they are simply realising what has gone on. Soc Services are now in some areas an agent of a tyrannous state.
Scary stuff :-(
man and I thought I had it bad.you can't compare,good luck to you too!
https://steemit.com/@binodsinghdhami
plz. upvote me
I feel for you and your family @markwhittam. This is disturbing indeed. Everyone should have the right to homeschool or unschool. Even private schools are a joke in most places. If this were the case in Canada I would move as well, anything that is mandated by the state is not a good thing. People even get paid to homeschool here. I wish you the best as the CPS is run by a bunch of criminals. They do horrible horrible things to loving families. May everything go in your favor.
Thank you for your support @egregorian
I wish the Swedish government were as forward thinking as yours seem to be,
Yes the CPS are pure evil and should be replaced by humans with hearts.
Thanks for stopping by.
That's a good question...
I am so sorry you all are experiencing this heat right now. I can't even imagine how Louise feels right now. It's a threat to the state when a child thinks on his/her own. It's a threat when they know children are out there being taught properly and being taught truths by their parents instead of being brainwashed and pushed to controlled thinking.
I agree with you that people are afraid to stand up for their rights and a lot of them still don't know or understand what their rights are. If they knew, they would fight more in my opinion. It is a scary thing to them because they have been so dumbed down and intimidated by the state that it's ridiculous. Although where I live right now homeschooling is legal, we are preparing ourselves if a situation were to occur as the one you are in. What do we do if it changes, what do we do if they come to our door one day and say you must stop teaching your children?
Do you all have legal support in any way? We have joined different organizations filled with lawyers that are homeschool dads that fight the right of the people to teach their children. HSLDA fights homeschool matters daily. As you are traveling abroad to find a place to settle maybe you can look into them and see how they can help you with your legal matters.??!
Stay encouraged Whittam family! I pray they do not take your babies.
Thank you @crosheille for your response.
I think you are right, they see it as a threat and they don't want us setting an example for others to follow.
I'm so happy for you that it is still legal to homeschool where you are and I hope you never have to go through what we just did.
Thanks for the offer of legal advice, as we are not In Sweden anymore I am hoping we don't need to deal with the Swedish system anymore.
As always, I thank you for your wonderful support and your kind words, thay really do help in situations like this.
Bless.
I'm just glad you all are safe. I just read your latest post. The video of you and your children brought tears to my eyes...what a blessing that you all are together. Thank you for taking the time out to respond to my comments. I don't expect you to with all that is going on so that means a great deal to me.
I pray you will not have to deal with legal matters as well. We like having HSLDA to have our backs just in case, you just never know what you'll run into to. Many Blessings~
I have had child protective services try and scare me many times and I have always dominated them with lawful documents and the truth.
I feel for you and while this is absolutely disgusting I have hope that you will succeed in breaking free and living the dream!
I am with you, if you ever need any help with these matters let me know!
Blessings~*~
Thanks @quinneaker, it's good to know you got our backs :) they haven't got a chance against me, I grew up in the care of the CPS and I have been giving them a run for their money since I was 7 yrs old, by the time I was 14 they admitted defeat and let me go free.
And then we have the added bonus of having wheels on our house which has a habit of changing location, a lot :)
I feel for Louise tho as she is not used to fighting them and she just wants to bring her children up without being threatened by these heartless scumbags.
We shall prevail, but if it ever does come to the crunch then you'll be the first person we'll contact for advice :)
Thanks for your support Brother.
Bless.
So great to hear!
I like that your are confident and non compliant!
As I said I am here for you in empowered being~*~
Also congrats on rep 60!
SteemON!
Do you have any resources or links on CPS to share with us? It would be helpful to keep on hand for any future issues. Just incase.
Not really, I am sure there is some good info out there I have just learned what works from many years of experience studying the law and using it.
Basically if ur in the united states CPS can't do anything without a warrant unless you comply. You don't have to talk to, meet, provide any information for or anything.
It is best to try and be nice and civil but wise to hold your ground and not get them involved.
Basically I just provide them with an affidavit notarized by my self and anyone involved and then provide supporting affidavits and its over.
Though you don't have to provide or do anything as I said until there is actually a court order of which they can't get unless they have some kind of first hand fact witness.
II have helped a lot of people with these corrupt and payout incentivized institutions.
Wow. Well, that is good information to know just incase. Thank you.
good luck on what you decide to do. steemit is by your side.
You have the right to go to school, but not to avoid going to school. In other words you have no right.
Here in Costa Rica, the government sends out helicopters to take the children from the native indians in their remote villages so they can "enjoy" their "right" to indoctrination, whoops, education - away from their entire family. These abductees are also vaccinated, of course.
It sounds like your child has been recognized as an enemy of the state. Best to leave that place as soon as possible. It's a big world and you've many lovely options. I wish you all the best and know you'll soon find a solution to all this.
I've written a post on a worldwide peace meditation happening tomorrow (August 21st). Joining in tomorrow only takes 15 minutes of your time. :)
On the issue of forced education (ie going to school) surely this is much better than the 18th century where children went to work hard labour instead of getting an education. On the issue of the original post, I am unaware if this family demonstrated that they have the plans and ability to provide the required home education, if this was demonstrated then I am very disturbed because I agree that if a family have the time and resources to home educate than this should be allowed. As far as I am aware you can be home educated in the UK but you have to prove that you have the resources and ability to provide a good standard of education and I think that is fair and correct.
OK, just Googled home education international status and it is illegal in Sweden since 2010, this is very sad as there are a small number of families that would be in a position to provide excellent home education probably much better than the state could. Seems only option is to leave the country and move to one that is more open to such ideas. By the way when I say a small number I don't mean only a small number would be capable but it takes a lot of time and effort and not all people are in a position to do it.
Actually, I'm of the opinion that it is much worse than children simply working. Much of the child labor "sweat shop" concept is fabricated by the media.
Most children about 100 years ago simply worked for their parents - improving the family business or starting their own if they wanted to. They weren't all mining coal and being lashed by barbarians :)
Going to government schools is purely for indoctrination purposes at this point. Kids get out of high school or even college and suddenly realize they have very few real-world skills to fall back on.
No es bueno.
A state school provides you with a certain level of education not necessarily 'life skills' all though they do provide some of that to a degree, parents still play a part in children's education. Not sure what indoctrination is going on, there aren't many parents who can provide the resources a school can. This debate was whether some parents can provide a home based education and some certainly can provide that, many cannot.
I think life in general let a alone education is a million times better than a hundred years ago, though that view point may well depend on your status, obviously being rich would negate a lot of the problems of 100 years ago.
You only need to look at third world countries to see how hard life is for children and the work that they are forced to do, anyone who lives in a country with a state education should be very very thankful they don't have to live a life like that.
As far as the indoctrination topic goes, it's broad and worth looking into if you're interested.
In particular, it may be of interest just how the schooling system most of the world uses actually came into existence and what methods it employs to condition children's minds from a young age (like Pavlovian bells, etc.).
School teaches reading, writing, math and the scientific method... Then things get weird and children are forced to attend 12 years of it, minimum.
Life has not become much better than it was 100 years ago, though I'm interested to know why you feel it has.
I live in what you'd consider a third world country and have traveled to multiple others quite a bit. Life is clearly not what you're envisioning. :)
Thank you for your response @oddnugget we have done exactly that, we are currently in Finland after reading a story of a boy being taken from his parents as they were on a plane about to leave Sweden for good. After reading this we packed our truck and drove to the nearest unmanned border.
Awesome. I'm so glad you are all together and safe. :)
Thank you for sharing your story with us. I can only imagine what you're going through right now. But I think it's very brave and honourable that you're not going to give in to the system, and that you're speaking out about this injustice. Moreover, your decentralized lifestyle sets a very good example for others to follow, and I'm so glad that I happened to come across this post. I wish you and your family all the best! :)
I always thought home schooling was legal?