A shocking case has emerged in Sweden recently, where basic parental rights have been seriously violated and, more importantly, two young girls have been separated from their parents for over two years.

Friends of HRLA, the Alliance Defending Freedom, are representing Daniel and Bianca Samson before the European Court of Human Rights in an effort to escape the bureaucratic nightmare they’ve found themselves in and reunite them with their children.

The case began in 2022 when the eldest of the Samson’s two girls made a complaint about her parents at school after they had declined to allow her to have a phone.

Swedish child protection authorities swept in immediately and, using allegations of “religious extremism”, seized the children and moved them into foster care. The daughter retracted the claim and a subsequent investigation also cleared the parents of any wrongdoing, but to this day the children have not been returned to their parents.

This is despite the children also repeatedly asking to go home.

ADF discusses the case in a video available here and they write:

The case raises serious concerns about delays, overreach, and possible discrimination against Christians in Sweden’s child welfare system. The state has cited the family’s regular attendance at church three times a week to corroborate accusations of “religious extremism,” despite the fact that this simply reflects their religious beliefs and is a protected action under international human rights law.

It is scandalous that church attendance can be used as evidence of religious extremism and demonstrates how far religious freedom has fallen in some western countries.

That a bureaucratic body can forcibly prevent the reunion of a family that wants to be together, with no evidence of abuse or wrongdoing, is also a massive assault on parental rights.

HRLA supports ADF in their work on this case. In Australia we continue to work to safeguard parental rights and religious freedom when threatened by government overreach.