In a gripping episode of BrokenTruth.TV, host John Davidson sits down with Kenneth Skailand, a Norwegian father whose life was upended when Barnevernet, Norway’s child welfare agency, removed his son from his family in 2014. What began as a routine offer of school support for an eight-year-old boy spiraled into a nightmare of false accusations, bureaucratic overreach, and a relentless fight for justice that continues to this day. Now, more than a decade later, Skailand’s son—19 years old and pursuing legal action against Barnevernet—stands as a testament to the family’s resilience and the systemic flaws Kenneth has spent over 16,000 hours exposing.
The Day It All Began
In 2013, Kenneth and his wife, a Thai immigrant, were typical parents navigating life in southern Norway, between Stavanger and Kristiansand. Their son, then in third grade, exhibited minor behavioral issues at school—nothing unusual for an active eight-year-old. During a standard parent-teacher meeting on November 7, 2013, Kenneth’s wife agreed to low-level support: a school nurse would talk to their son, and the parents would meet with a family therapist. “It was what could happen to anyone,” Kenneth recalls. They trusted the system, believing it was there to help.
But that trust was misplaced. Seven months later, on June 4, 2014, Barnevernet intervened with shocking allegations: Kenneth and his wife were accused of beating their son daily, based solely on statements the boy allegedly made at school. With no prior warning, no physical evidence, and no investigation beyond the school’s claims, their son was taken into emergency custody and placed in a temporary care home. “It was like lightning from the blue sky,” Kenneth tells Davidson.
A Pattern of Manipulation
Kenneth soon uncovered a disturbing truth. The school nurse, tasked with helping his son, had no intention of addressing his classroom behavior. Instead, over 20 documented meetings spanning five months, she used leading questions and psychological tools—like a “red angry man” figure representing Kenneth—to coax the boy into saying he was abused. “She wanted him to say something bad before she would let him go,” Kenneth explains. His lawyer later described it as gaslighting—brainwashing an impressionable child into a fabricated narrative.
Despite the lack of evidence—no bruises, no medical reports, no corroboration from family or other children—Barnevernet acted decisively. Within two weeks, before any formal investigation or police interview, they informed the boy he would live in foster care for the next decade, until he turned 18. “They decided day one to take over his childhood,” Kenneth says, his voice heavy with disbelief.
A Father’s Fight Back
Unlike many Norwegian families who, as Kenneth notes, “hide and get ashamed” when Barnevernet intervenes, he refused to surrender. The next day, he stopped working his mobile crane business—a livelihood that once thrived but would soon collapse under the strain of the fight—and devoted himself to uncovering the truth. Armed with a tape recorder, a habit from past experiences, he documented every interaction with Barnevernet, amassing thousands of hours of audio evidence.
His recordings revealed a system rife with inconsistencies. In the initial four-hour interrogation, Kenneth offered to leave the home so his son could stay with his mother, but Barnevernet claimed she too was abusive—again, without proof. Reports from supervised visits were altered to suggest Kenneth pressured his son, despite audio proving otherwise. “I can prove everything,” he asserts, having posted much of this evidence online for years.
Kenneth’s activism didn’t stop at recordings. He appealed to local leaders, filed a 173-page police complaint detailing Barnevernet’s law-breaking, and stood in shopping centers distributing flyers. He sued his municipality and Barnevernet for damages—seeking 30-35 million Norwegian kroner (roughly $3-3.5 million USD)—after his business and finances crumbled. Though that case didn’t reach trial, his efforts forced scrutiny. A private investigator, a former Oslo police chief, reviewed his evidence and supported his claims, though legal hurdles persisted.
The Cost of Resistance
Kenneth’s public campaign came at a price. In 2017, he was sentenced to 90 days in prison (on probation) for posting about the case on Facebook, followed by a 120-day sentence in 2019 for similar actions. Barnevernet reduced his visitation from two hours every two weeks to just three times a year, citing his attempts to influence his son—claims his recordings disprove. Yet, he persisted, building a website to host his evidence beyond the reach of Norwegian authorities, who struggled to censor it when hosted abroad.
After 14 months, his son returned home in August 2015, but the damage was profound. Once an ordinary boy, he was now so traumatized he required one-on-one school support for three years. A psychiatric team from a high-level children’s hospital investigated and issued a report blaming Barnevernet entirely, demanding they step back. “It was even in the newspaper,” Kenneth says proudly.
A Son Takes Up the Fight
Now 19, Kenneth’s son is forging his own path. Working with excavators and rebuilding his life, he’s also seeking justice. On April 1-3, 2025, he’ll face Barnevernet in court, armed with his father’s meticulous documentation and a determination to hold the agency accountable. “He’s a fighter, more than me,” Kenneth says. Unlike Kenneth’s earlier suit for financial compensation, this case aims to secure a judicial ruling that Barnevernet acted wrongly—a precedent they plan to leverage publicly.
A Systemic Problem
Kenneth’s story isn’t unique. He estimates 85% of Barnevernet’s child removals in 2014 were emergency takeovers, often without thorough investigation, as permitted by Norwegian law. Families with foreign-born parents, like his Thai wife, may face heightened scrutiny. The school nurse, he learned, had a history—previously forced out of a nursing home job and later fired after targeting another child, though her connections shielded her from prosecution.
Barnevernet’s opacity is staggering. In Kenneth’s region, 20 police complaints against the agency from 2010-2014 were dismissed without investigation. Efforts to reform the system—like a 2015 resolution he co-authored with a politician, unanimously supported by the Progress Party—fizzled into political theater. “They don’t do anything,” he laments. “The same things are happening now that happened 10 years ago.”
A Call to Awareness
Kenneth’s fight transcends his family. “If I hadn’t used all my proof to do something with the system, I couldn’t stand myself,” he tells Davidson. His recordings, 8,000 documents, and unyielding spirit expose a child welfare system that, in his view, “systematically violates families.” As Norway’s citizens largely trust their government, he believes broader awareness—amplified by platforms like BrokenTruth.TV—could spark change where protests and petitions have failed.
For now, Kenneth and his son await their day in court, a chance to turn personal pain into public reckoning. “We are so clear to go public with it,” he says. Listeners can hear the full story in the podcast, a raw testament to a father’s love and a system’s betrayal.
Listen to the full interview on BrokenTruth.TV. Follow the case’s outcome in April 2025 as this story unfolds.
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