Two paranoid parents in Sweden locked away their 3 kids in separate rooms for 4 months — & even nailed the front door shut — to protect them from COVID-19.
The extreme measures began in March, when the outbreak first hit the Scandinavian nation & the parents yanked their kids out of school, the Telegraph reported.
A Civil Court in southern Sweden found that the couple, originally from Vietnam, kept the children — 2 girls ages 17 & 15 & a boy, 10 — in isolation until July 9.
That’s when authorities found them isolated in separate rooms, where they continued their schoolwork online.
“The parents even nailed planks over the front door & there has even been isolation within the family, where the children had to stay in their rooms, even eating there," the Court said.
The Court ruled last week that the parents’ “psychological ill health & fear for COVID-19 had led to serious failings in the care for their children.”
Mikael Svegfors, a lawyer for the children, said the parents panicked when Sweden refused to implement an official lockdown — with the country instead stressing personal responsibility to fight the outbreak & opting to strive for herd immunity.
He said that “They didn’t really understand Swedish & they rather relied on newscasts over the internet from their own country". “Over there, they shut down whole cities, & they got scared, & they said, ‘We need to protect our family.'”
Svegfors said the children, who speak fluent Swedish, kept in contact with friends & teachers online & had access to their iPads & phones.
“They tried to talk to their parents but this didn’t work, & of course they knew that all their school friends were allowed outside,” he said.
The parents denied keeping their kids under lock & key, saying they were allowed to leave if they wanted to — a claim refuted by their eldest child.
“As a result of the parents’ fear, the social services have had difficulty cooperating with them,” the court said. “From the hearing, it seems that they continue to have an ambivalent attitude to letting the children leave home to go, for example, to school.”
The children were placed with a foster family & returned to school earlier this month.
Svegfors said they’ll be allowed to see their parents as much as they want & a decision on their foster care will be made in six months.
He said, “They still want to be with their parents".
“They just said, ‘We need to concentrate on our schoolwork, & we want to be able to play with our friends. But as soon as this corona pandemic is over, we want to return to our family,'" he added.
Sweden recorded 51,405 deaths between January & June — the highest number of fatalities in the first half of the year in the country since 1869, when the nation was struck by famine.
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