Homeschoolers Leave Sweden under Pressure and Protest

September 30, 2010

The Pettersson family (names changed to protect privacy) has been traveling across Europe for the last nine months, staying temporarily with relatives and living as visitors in foreign lands. Despite having submitted the appropriate paperwork to homeschool legally in Sweden, this family is one of many who have encountered persecution from the Scandinavian state heralded as a “social utopia.” Now one year since their local school began to fight them tooth and nail simply for choosing to teach their children at home, this HSLDA member family has made the difficult decision to leave their homeland for good.

Although homeschool families in Sweden have endured threats, stiff fines, continuous court battles, and the possibility of their children being removed from the home, the Pettersson family is among the first to flee the country. The family is working to sell their home and move their belongings from afar. Lynn Pettersson, mother to five, explains, “I am very concerned to go back to my home in Sweden because at the moment the Swedish authorities like to kidnap homeschooled kids,” referencing the state-sanctioned removal of 8-year-old Dominic Johansson from his parents more than a year ago.

It is distressing that Sweden has begun to mimic the repressive actions of Germany, its neighbor to the south. Many German families have been forced to flee intense persecution in recent years and have settled in European countries such as Austria, France, Ireland, and the United Kingdom, where parents are free to choose the form of education that is best for their children. In a significant victory, the German Romeike family was granted political asylum in the United States in January 2010. The USA may well become a haven for Swedish families, too. the rest