Protesters gathered outside the Swedish Embassy in Washington, DC, on Friday in support of a Christian family fighting to regain custody of two daughters who were removed from their home by Swedish authorities in 2022 due to alleged "religious extremism."
Romanian Americans and religious leaders rallied in solidarity with Daniel and Bianca Samson, whose daughters Sara and Tiana were taken into state custody. The incident stems from a false claim of abuse made by Sara when she was 11 after her parents told her she was not allowed to wear makeup or have a smartphone. Sara later admitted to lying, but Swedish social services removed both girls from the home anyway.
Despite prosecutors finding no evidence of abuse, the state refused to return the girls to their parents, citing the family’s regular church attendance and media choices as “religious extremism.”
Daniel Samson argued in court that the extremism label was used to justify separation from his children, as well as certain parenting choices the couple made, such as not having television in the home and reading Bible stories that authorities reportedly characterized as “violent.”
With the family being Romanian, the case had drawn support from the Romanian government. Last month, the Romanian Senate unanimously approved a declaration demanding that Sweden return the girls to their family. Romanian senator Titus Corlatean said these demands were ignored.
Corlatean recently traveled to speak at the Friday rally in DC. Also present was Chicago Pastor Cristian Ionescu, the senior pastor of Elim Romanian Pentecostal Church and president of the Romanian Pentecostal Churches' Union in the United States. Ionescu warned of concerns that such government overreach could come to the US.
"I see a surge of socialist and communist politicians and this is always associated with a totalitarian society," Ionescu told Fox News. "In Romania, they didn't confiscate the children from the families, but they were trying to educate them in a worldview and in a system contrary to Christian values, and parents that did not cooperate were persecuted.”
"I hope I will never see this in America," he continued. "This is why I left Romania almost 40 years ago. America used to be a cradle of true civilization, Christianity. Now it's changing and not for the better, but I hope we will still hold the front line."
The girls have reportedly been under emotional stress from the incident and have attempted suicide six or seven times in custody. The oldest daughter has been put in an adult psychiatric facility.
"It's horrible, and it's a desperate situation," Corlatean said. "The girls are asking all the time to be given back to their parents and to Romania, and the social services are lying constantly saying the daughters are refusing to go back to their parents.”
