"Between July 8 and 10, 2024, a delegation of the Romanian Parliament composed of Senator Titus Corlățean, President of the Foreign Policy Committee o
“Between July 8 and 10, 2024, a delegation of the Romanian Parliament composed of Senator Titus Corlățean, President of the Foreign Policy Committee of the Romanian Senate and Deputy Ben Oni Ardelean, on behalf of the Foreign Policy Committee of the Chamber of Deputies, with the mandate of the two Chambers of the Parliament, carried out an official mission to Sweden to request the repatriation of the two Romanian minor children of the Samson family, Sara (11 years old) and Tiana (10 years old), who were wrongfully detained by the Swedish social services, as of December 2, 2022, and the reunification of the family,” reads a press release issued by the Romanian Senate.
This mission of the Romanian Parliament was also joined by government representatives, namely the Minister of Family, Youth and Equal Opportunities, Natalia Intotero, the Secretary of State of the Ministry of Justice, Roxana Simona Momeu, and the President of the National Authority for the Protection of Children’s Rights and Adoption, Rareș-Petru Achiriloaiei. The visit of the Romanian delegation was organised with the support of the Romanian Embassy in Stockholm and the Consular Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The agenda of the visit included meetings with Camilla Waltersson Grönvall, Minister of Social Services, with whom a constructive discussion was held, Erik Henriksson, Deputy Ombudsman for Children, and the Chairman of the Sweden-Romania Parliamentary Friendship Group, Mikael Oskarsson (Christian Democratic Party). The meeting with the Minister of Social Affairs, Camilla Waltersson Grönvall, was also attended by other Swedish officials, such as representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (EU and International Affairs Division, Department of Consular Affairs and Civil Law, International Civil Law Section, Swedish Central Authority for the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction) and representatives from the Department of Social Services and Disability Policy at the Ministry of Social Affairs. The Romanian delegation also met with Daniel Samson, the father of the two minor children, who described in detail the dramatic circumstances of the abusive abduction of the two minors and their placement in foster care, as well as the abusive management of the situation by the Swedish social services.
Swedish officials abusively denied the delegation a meeting with the Samson family’s two daughters, Sara and Tiana.
The Romanian delegation officially requested, both before the visit and during their stay in Sweden, to be granted free access and direct contact with the two minors. The Swedish social services abusively refused to grant such access, which the Romanian delegation took official note of. Instead, after much insistence, a video conference between the Romanian consul in Sweden and the two minors was organised at short notice, with the help of an interpreter, and in the presence of representatives of the Swedish social services.
WHAT ROMANIAN OFFICIALS SAY
Senator Titus Corlățean “warned that this case has a serious potential to alter the bilateral relations between Romania and Sweden, given that the dramatic situation of the two children has generated a strong emotional impact on public opinion in our country, but also on the Romanian communities in Europe and the United States. In the margins of his visit to Stockholm, Senator Titus Corlățean had talks with Carl Bild, former Swedish Foreign Minister, and with other Swedish parliamentarians, members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
MP Ben Oni Ardelean
“At the same time, we pointed out that during the repeated interrogations of the Swedish representatives, incriminating questions were put to the parents regarding their religious practice and beliefs, the case meeting all the elements of religious freedom, which is extremely serious in a democratic country.
The interlocutors were informed of the serious and repeated violations of the relevant international, European and bilateral treaties – the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, Council Regulation (EU) 2019/1111 on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in matrimonial matters, parental responsibility and international child abduction, and the 1974 Romanian-Swedish bilateral agreement on consular matters – as well as of the relevant Swedish domestic legislation, and the 1974 Romanian-Swedish bilateral agreement on consular matters, as well as the relevant Swedish national legislation, some of which, according to the Romanian dignitaries, constitute crimes that require the initiation of criminal investigations against the guilty parties”.
The Romanian authorities are waiting for a decision from the Swedish authorities in the near future to allow the return of the minors and the reunification of the families.
Rareș P. Achiriloaie, President of the National Authority for the Protection of Children’s Rights and Adoption
“Every child matters! This is the motto of the high-level governmental and parliamentary delegation to Sweden. The trip was organised with a view to the urgent repatriation of two Romanian minors who have been in the care of Swedish social services for over a year.
In this context, we have communicated to the Swedish authorities the request for the repatriation of the two girls, together with the proposal that they be placed in the care of their uncle’s family upon their return to Romania. We believe that a solution agreed with the Swedish side would facilitate the reintegration of the children with their extended family in Romania if their return with their parents is not feasible at this stage, and the Romanian authorities at the highest level are fully committed to cooperate and support a positive decision allowing the two children to live with their extended family in Romania”.
The Samson family is a Romanian family that has settled in Sweden.
Daniel Samson, 37, and Bianca Samson, 34, left Deva (Romania) and decided to settle in Sweden in 2016, he as a sales manager and she as a nurse.
On December 2, 2022, Barnskyddet stepped in and took in their two daughters, aged 10 and 11 at the time. The reason: alleged domestic violence and religious extremism.
During a family talk, the eldest daughter, Sara, asked her parents to buy her make-up and a smartphone. Her parents replied:
“You’re too young, you’re still a child and you’re very beautiful, it’s not appropriate at this age to wear make-up. I got you a laptop with internet access, and at school and at home you have everything you need”.
The parents knew that, as the girls had told them, the children at school were using their smartphones to access pornographic sites. The girl threatened the parents that if they did not give her what she wanted, she would tell the school that they were being abused at home – which she did.
The social services, Socialförvaltningen, intervened without any investigation – again similar to the case of Bodnariu and Furdui – and took the girls from the family. Tiana, the youngest girl, said from the start that the whole story was made up by her sister, that they were loved in the family and not abused.
Following procedure, the police launched an investigation and after about two months concluded that there had been no abuse and closed the case. This did not prompt Socialförvaltningen to return the girls to the family.
Tiana and Sara are currently placed in foster families, far away from each other and their parents, in psychologically and socially difficult living conditions. Because of the pressure they are under, forced to lie about being abused at home, Sara has resorted to various methods of suicide in a repeated cry for help.
Read the Samson family story HERE
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