OSLO, Norway, Dec. 5 (UPI) -- A Brazilian mom says she and her daughter want to leave Norway because child welfare authorities allege the 3-year-old girl is not being fed in a "normal" way.
Vitoria Alves Jesumary and her daughter Sofia sought refuge in the Brazilian embassy in Oslo last week and say they won't leave until Norway guarantees they can return to Brazil unhindered, TheLocal.no reported Wednesday.
Ana Lucia Lima, a pastor at a pentecostal church in Oslo, and a friend of Jesumary, termed the Norwegian actions that drove the mother and daughter to flee to the embassy "an abuse of authority."
"They say she's not eating like it's normal to do here in Norway and that she's developing a dominating character among her friends," Lima said. "They say this is because she's not getting good parenting."
Lima said the girl is "being taken good care of by the mother: She's not being hit, she's not being abused, she's getting her food."
Child welfare officials became involved with the family during Jesumary's divorce proceeding from her husband, a Norwegian of Chilean descent.
The father says he also wants his ex-wife and daughter to be able to leave Norway.
"I support (her) wish that they travel to Brazil," he told state broadcaster NRK. "As I see it, it's the only solution. We don't think this can be solved in court."
Francisco Chagas Catunda Resende, a spokesman for the embassy, said embassy staff believed it was in "the best interests of the child" that she and her mother be allowed to go back to Brazil.
