Thanks for visiting The use of software that blocks ads hinders our ability to serve you the content you came here to enjoy We ask that you consider turning off your ad blocker so we can deliver you the best experience possible while you are here 2024) – North Texas SC has announced today the signing of center back Mads Westergren to a one-year MLS NEXT Pro contract with a club option for the 2025 season pending receipt of his P-1 Visa and International Transfer Certificate (ITC) played three seasons at SMU making 51 appearances recording 4,511 minutes while adding three goals and five assists He was named a First Team All-American and the American Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year in 2023 before being selected No “Mads has had a tremendous college career here locally at SMU,” said North Texas SC Head Coach John Gall “He is a player that we have kept an eye on and jumped at the chance once he became available in the draft very composed and connects passes through lines very well He has tremendous training habits and a solid foundation from his time growing up in elite academies in Denmark.” Westergren started his career playing for his hometown team Solrød until the age of 12 when he joined HB Köge Academy and remained at the club for three years He joined Lyngby BK Youth for two years before returning to HB Köge in 2019 Westergren appeared in 12 matches and netted three goals He logged an appearance for HB Köge’s first team off the bench in the first round of the 2019 Danish Cup Westergren joined Bröndby IF U-19’s Academy He registered 21 appearances and two goals in the U-19 Boys League in Denmark Westergren attended FC Dallas’ preseason camp in Marbella Spain before featuring in preseason matches for North Texas SC North Texas SC now has 17 players under contract this season: I was brought up in a shabby cottage outside a remote Danish village with cold water and a lavatory in the back garden My mum and stepdad were always drunk and didn’t work – they lived off benefits It was not the sort of environment that teaches you universal moral values and ethics even if we wear hand-me-downs to school and dig up potatoes for dinner It’s when life is tough and your back is to the wall that we matter the most to each other When I was introduced to the Bible and Christian teachings as a teenager – nobody ever took me to church as a child – I learned the story about the good Samaritan if you saw somebody walking along the road and you were fortunate enough to have a car My brothers were removed from our family home one at a time and put into institutions The abuse and the beatings they took at home which they protected me from – crippled their hearts For some reason, I managed to escape and make it through school. I graduated from the University of Copenhagen as an economist, and got a job at Danske Bank, the largest bank in Denmark At school I was lucky enough to meet good people who understood how to coach the aggressive and emotionally disturbed young girl I was At one institution for especially difficult girls and was patient enough that I eventually came to trust her She was the person who pushed me on to university I would never have thought it possible without her I received an invitation from the Danish social minister I had never been invited to coffee with a member of the government before The minister wanted to know if I would chair the National Council for Children a Danish organisation that works to safeguard the rights of young people I didn’t even know what the National Council for Children was at the time I actually thought you’d be perfect as the next CEO of Denmark’s Radio and Television (the Danish BBC),” she told me Karen always believed that I could do anything She’s a follower of the developmental psychologist Urie Bronfenbrenner a child requires progressively more complex joint activity with one or more adults who have an irrational emotional relationship with the child What do I mean by ‘irrational emotional relationship’ somebody’s got to be crazy about that kid.” I think that’s Bronfenbrenner’s way of saying “love” which is a difficult thing to implement in a professional institution where many children would never have experienced it at home And so I became the chair of Denmark’s National Council for Children and took me from an anonymous business career to debating social policy in the national media I launched a campaign to improve the conditions for socially challenged children in Denmark; wrote a book about my childhood in order to share what it’s like on the dark side of the welfare society; I even ended up in a documentary – My Childhood in Hell After three years I decided to establish my own non-profit company dedicated to developing better ways to help troubled families – not just the children I don’t want any more children to end up like my brothers I don’t want anyone to have to live through what I did We weren’t sure if it was legal to offer the refugees a lift They didn’t knowI went to Rødbyhavn and was met with scenes that I’d never seen before in Denmark most of them with just small plastic bags containing their belongings and some with nothing but the clothes they wore I’m going to offer some of them a lift.” He said: “But of course you are Nobody seemed prepared for what was unfolding They didn’t stop the refugees from walking towards Sweden So I parked the car and spotted a group of six among them two small girls who turned out to be five years old but very quiet – I wondered what they had seen There was a policeman standing next to my car and I asked him if he was going to stop me While the refugees were climbing into the car a TV journalist came over and filmed us The girls immediately fell asleep in the car – they had been travelling for 40 days: on foot They had lost all their belongings when they crossed the Mediterranean to Greece and had nothing left but the clothes on their backs when the bombs started to fall and destroyed their home Their father was already in Sweden with a brother Refugees on the E45 motorway in Denmark in September 2015 Photograph: Benjamin Nolte/dpa/CorbisWe got to Solrød Strand and Mikael was ready with coffee We talked and offered them a place to rest They politely declined – they just wanted to get to Sweden as quickly as possible It had been a long journey and they were very close now So my husband offered them a lift to the train station on the Danish side of the border He bought them tickets to Helsingborg and made sure they got on the right train and yet it had meant so much to these six people We could see on the news that hundreds of refugees were still on the roads but we realised that would just be a drop in the ocean So we turned to Facebook and wrote about what we had done; we wrote about the family – ordinary people in desperate circumstances Our post was instantly shared by thousands; we later estimated that it had probably reached 300,000 people Hundreds of cars heading towards Rødbyhavn to help Our Facebook page was flooded with requests “I’m going – where are they?” “We have SUVs where do we pick them up?” “I have housing and food I can take 50 to Sweden.” Even a former government minister called He said he’d like to pay for buses to go and pick up refugees Mikael called a bus company and asked if he could rent a number of buses “Are they for refugees?” the man in charge asked and immediately we had more drivers than busses Danish government spokesman defends controversial refugee assets bill GuardianAll that happened on the Monday the police issued a statement declaring that giving rides to refugees was illegal Many people continued to drive south to offer people lifts The consensus was that we do not accept that refugees from a war have to walk on the highways in Denmark and sleep in the open infuriated by the statement from the police It was no longer illegal – now people offering lifts were merely “leaning towards breaching the law” And at the same time the police allowed the refugees they had detained in Rødbyhavn to travel freely All were let go and picked up by waiting cars to be driven towards Copenhagen refugees were allowed to make their way through Denmark to Sweden where they were welcomed – until it became too much and Sweden closed its borders hundreds of civilian volunteers manned the train stations from Hamburg in Germany to Malmö in Sweden to keep the refugees safe clothes and food for what came to be known as operation Safe Corridor It was a strange to be interrogated by the police It turned out that about 15 people had filed complaints against meAlong the way the footage of the refugees climbing into my car made the news I was interviewed and invited to a debate with a member of the Dansk Folkeparti (Danish People’s Party) I was accused of shamelessly publicising myself on Facebook and on TV Another politician asked how I could know whether the people I helped were not carrying bombs My Facebook page was flooded with hate mail or obscene scenarios of what they would like 10 African men to do to me my husband and I were contacted by the police They were investigating us on the charge of people-smuggling I turned up at the police station and answered a lot of questions about what I had done It turned out that about 15 people had filed complaints against me and that five or six had filed complaints against my husband One had even been in our garden and peeked through the windows of the living room to be certain that ours was the house where refugees had been sheltered The police did not initiate the investigation by themselves they did it because of the number of complaints from Danish citizens In judicial terms our crime consisted of aiding transporting and harbouring persons without valid travel documents I had to ask what “valid travel documents” meant They explained that it is a valid passport and a valid visa and the idea of asking the family for valid travel documents never entered my mind I have never asked anybody for valid travel documents before when offering them a lift And when we had asked the police at the time none of them had mentioned anything about valid travel documents Even if they had presented Syrian passports to me I wouldn’t have been able to judge whether they were valid or not We visited the Syrian family in Helsingborg just before Christmas They were doing well and learning Swedish fast in order to commence their studies and find jobs My husband connected them to a Swedish family who were happy to provide support and to help them learn the language they served lots of wonderful Arabic food – and a plate of cinnamon buns The prosecutor was unable to locate the policeman my husband talked to while the policeman I talked to did not recollect our conversation The prosecutor suggested a combined fine of 45,000 Danish kroner (about £4,000) Our lawyer stressed that what we had done was motivated by humanitarian reasons and that the circumstances were extraordinary – the police had not known what to do and the government was quiet on the subject It took the judge about 20 minutes to consider before he passed his verdict which was in accordance with the prosecutor’s suggestion When a Danish court punishes people for helping refugees it contradicts our core human valuesI was angry Angry about being criminalised for acting with simple human decency “We are not people smugglers,” I told them “We are ordinary people helping fellow human beings in distress.” Many other people were angry – astonished even – and journalists from all over the world were soon in touch: the Guardian Dutch and Canadian media outlets all wanted to tell the story of the Danish court order that criminalised ordinary human decency The judgment challenged universal human values the simple drive to help people in distress are brought up with a set of values that underlines the importance of doing just this growing up in a socially dysfunctional home on the wrong side of the tracks This is especially poignant in a country known for its universal welfare system charity – whatever you choose to call it – was reserved for people with valid travel documents What message does the judgment send to our children Just hours after the court order was passed a young man called us about some hungry refugees he had met on the street in Copenhagen he did not know whether he should help them or not That is what the judgment teaches our children We used to teach them that helping Jews flee to Sweden during the second world war was a heroic effort there was almost no political reaction to our case One parliamentarian on the far left did criticise the judgment But anti-Muslim sentiment is very strong in Denmark today Kindness towards Muslims scares away voters so there is no room for kindness in government measure after measure is being taken to make the life of the refugees as miserable as possible even though better accommodation is available The refugees are searched for valuables when they enter Denmark and met with ludicrous demands when applying for asylum reunion with their families or permanent citizenship The Danish government has published advertisements in Middle Eastern newspapers warning refugees to stay away from our country it seems that we have sacrificed the human decency Danish society is built on a Danish man who spat on refugees passing below a motorway bridge received a fine of DKK 5,000 (£450) While it should be recognised that our legal system still finds it a criminal offence to abuse people in distress – hooray for small victories – it also shows that spitting on refugees is a milder offence than helping them We now know that it is a criminal offence to help refugees in distress on Danish highways even if it’s just a lift down the road or a cup of coffee We applied to take our case to the Danish supreme court but last week our application was turned down We must continue discussing the refugee situation, and how our society and the countries around Europe should react to the human disaster currently unfolding in Syria This is a debate with many questions and seemingly few answers Refusing to help the people standing right in front of us corrupts our moral values and perceptions about decency and common humanity It breeds a cynicism that may well poison the remnants of solidarity in Denmark and unravel the social fabric that some of our opponents too many people are quietly looking on while our core values are being undermined because defending them may prove too expensive in terms of public opinion We tell our children the story about the good Samaritan who did not turn his back We demand that immigrants in our country learn So how are they expected to understand that in Denmark we punish people for compassion My husband and I could not have acted differently It would have been a betrayal of everything we hold dear and believe in This article first appeared on Granta.com Follow the Long Read on Twitter at @gdnlongread, or sign up to the long read weekly email here Have you heard the story about Joachim Andersen and the Coca-Cola bottles It’s a story that was mentioned at least three times to The Athletic when piecing together the 24-year-old’s path from Solrod Strand, 15 miles south-west of Copenhagen, to Fulham in west London Andersen attended a boarding school in nearby Ikast which was linked to the football club the young footballers would have to do the washing up in the kitchens Around six months into his time at Midtjylland a 15-year-old Andersen and a team-mate were on dishwashing duty when they noticed ‘around 20’ unguarded bottles of Coca-Cola they stole the bottles and took them back to their team-mates “He got kicked out for a week,” recalls the Fulham defender’s former coach Rene Andersen who now oversees the transition of youth players into the first team at Midtjylland But the main thing was if you confronted him Andersen had not started well in the academy signing in the summer and failing to make an impression on the field After the Coca-Cola incident in the December he was ticked off by sporting director (now chief executive) tasked with reading a book by Rasmun Andersen “We talked a lot over Christmas and I told him he has to commit 100 per cent,” Jacob tells The Athletic you could just go home now and just stay at home and get a job at McDonald’s The story, therefore, marks a key point at which Andersen kicked on, enforcing a new-found professionalism — one that would lead to multi-million pound transfers, attract interest from Tottenham Hotspur and then “It was more that he took himself seriously finding out what he wanted to do with his talent,” adds Rene Andersen he is very professional in everything he does from speaking to the press to what he eats for breakfast as a five-year-old saw him score 10 goals in a 16-0 win “The coach had to take him out,” says dad Jacob because it was not fair for the opponent for Joachim to be on the pitch!” Andersen formed part of a very talented team; one that would see seven of their 10 players represent Denmark at under-15 Andersen was picked up by FC Copenhagen but two years later in part because some of his former team-mates at Greve had taken the same path This meant leaving home at 15 to live nearly 200 miles away I went to the game over there,” says Jacob who has a background in finance and is now a professional investor “I’d watch the game and then we drove home We had the Saturday evening together and then we put him on the train again on Sunday afternoon.” That was difficult and settling wasn’t easy two injuries and that beverage-snaffling incident “My first impression was that he was a big guy,” recalls Rene Andersen he almost had the stature that he has today good on the ball; he was the sort of player who didn’t think so much about the way he played he was the best player I had in each position But we played him mainly as a central defender Midtjylland have a history of producing top defenders, including current Danish national team captain and AC Milan defender Simon Kjaer, and former West Ham United centre-half Winston Reid there were two other strong centre-halves; Asger Sorensen now of Nuremberg in Germany’s second division who has recently signed for Croatian champions Dinamo Zagreb “We had three very good central defenders that year,” says Rene Andersen “And he was by far the best of those three.” was not regularly called up by the Danish national side as a young player something his namesake considered ‘hilarious’ “That was the only time that I have been mad at the Danish national team coaches,” Rene Andersen jokes The young defender regained his focus after his early misdemeanours and his drive encouraged his coaches he joined the Midtjylland senior team for a training camp in Portugal he was accidentally elbowed by forward Sylvester Igboun He wasn’t perturbed; when Igboun received the ball next It was an incident that impressed Steinlein Financial issues meant Andersen would not make a senior appearance for Midtjylland there was a need to sell and he signed for Dutch side Twente in 2013 even further than the drive to Midtjylland But he still made the 700-mile round trip to watch Joachim every second week “I’m also a little bit crazy about football,” he laughs “I loved to go down there and watch him play football.” Andersen didn’t immediately break into the first team in the Netherlands, spending some time in the youth ranks in his first season before being moved into the second team. He did, though, train with the seniors, alongside the likes of Hakim Ziyech When Ted van Leeuwen joined Twente as technical director in 2015 what I did was to move him up from the second team on the first day,” Van Leeuwen tells The Athletic Andreas had so many injuries that we never saw a real career as it could have been with him Joachim was more or less the same; he had a fantastic middle-range pass He’s not scared to play with a lot of space at the back who spent three years at Brentford after leaving Twente in 2015 with Ziyech (who went on to Ajax and is now at Chelsea) the leading light in midfield alongside Chilean Copa America winner Felipe Gutierrez and South Africa international Kamohelo Mokotjo Andersen just needed more game time to develop learning in a difficult environment for defenders That’s why we are the strikers’ paradise,” he reflects “He’s a born Italian defender, in my eyes. Just the style of (Juventus’ 100-cap Italy international Georgio) Chiellini… he has that It doesn’t mean you can’t play anywhere else it’s very different from the style in Holland where you play with a lot of space at the back “What I liked about him was that he was always quiet He always looks forward and not just a long ball We didn’t play long balls with the midfield of Gutierrez a player like that with that kind of weapon.” Andersen became a first regular by the end of 2015-16 With Twente themselves suffering financial issues during this period “There were many opportunities at that moment,” says his father It made sense for him to move to Italy and be educated in the way that the Italian players are playing and educated.” It was another slow burner for Andersen, who only made seven Serie A appearances in his debut season ‘Are you going to find a new club?’” recalls Rene Andersen I feel every day that I’m learning something new’.” Andersen became a strong admirer of coach Marco Giampaolo and found great value in his training sessions Having had a schooling mainly with the ball in Denmark and Holland Giampaolo’s defensive shadow play taught him the tactical elements of how to play without it “His relationship with Giampaolo was amazing,” says dad Jacob “Joachim is a person who’s very eager to learn something and be able to improve day by day He could see that what they were training they could use in games.” Andersen’s second season was his breakthrough He made 32 appearances in a Sampdoria team that was lauded for its defensive work his form and ball-playing credentials had attracted even greater interest with Tottenham also understood to have met Andersen in London more than once But ultimately, he joined Lyon, signing for €24 million plus €6 million in add-ons — the second-highest fee in the French club’s history. He was persuaded to sign by sporting director Juninho and new head coach Sylvinho, won over by the chance to continue improving, to play in the Champions League and also the prospect of a playing style built from the back Andersen didn’t get off to the best start, scoring an unfortunate own goal against Liverpool in a pre-season game and it was felt he preferred a different style of play to one that best fitted a ball-playing defender like Andersen “Garcia came in and then he was a little bit in and out of the team,” says Jacob “He just had this feeling that he was not feeling comfortable with the way that they were playing as well as six appearances in the Champions League as Lyon reached the semi-finals of the competition for the quarter-final upset of Manchester City and the loss to Bayern Munich in the last four “Andersen was a disappointment because he was expensive for Lyon,” says Herve Pernot who covers the club for leading French mewspaper L’Equipe he didn’t expect the defence to be so difficult The start of 2020-21 saw Andersen feature in Lyon’s first three games and then be an unused substitute for the next three “He had a meeting with the coach and the conversation was what are you plans for me?'” says his father So after a good talk and conversation with Garcia he said there was interest from Giampaolo back in Italy As has been common with Fulham signings, manager Scott Parker’s input had an impact. But so too did discussions with Kenny Tete who had left Lyon for Craven Cottage a few weeks prior Tete was glowing about the team’s training sessions and tactical approach “(Kenny) was also very positive about the club the way that they are training and the playing style that would suit Joachim.” It’s understood Lyon initially sought to sell Andersen for the €30m they paid for him, and then asked for an initial loan fee of €5m, which put off suitors and delayed his move until late in the window. Tony Khan and Fulham’s recruitment team negotiated the loan fee down to an initial €1 million, with an extra €1 million due if Fulham stay in the Premier League and Andersen flew out to London to complete the move with his agent and his father quickly adapting to Fulham’s possession-based style and playing a key part in them keeping a first clean sheet of the season Those who have worked with Andersen don’t doubt his potential and back him to push on again in the English top flight “I think the Premier League is the biggest test,” says Rene Andersen “I also think that he is in a place where he is going to be able to develop his game even more He can take all the things that he’s learned and put it into the best league in the world (Photo by Chloe Knott – Danehouse/Getty Images) Peter Rutzler is a football writer covering Paris Saint-Germain and Fulham for The Athletic. Previously, he covered AFC Bournemouth. He joined The Athletic in August 2019. Follow Peter on Twitter @peterrutzler a highly successful breeder of Danish warmblood horses Hansen's horses won no less than four gold medals and two silver at the World Young Horse Championships in Verden and Ermelo Henrik's name first started making headlines as the owner of the young stallion Solos Carex in the 1990s. He also owned the 2005 Danish Warmblood Show Jumping Licensing champion Linardo (by Linaro x Coronado) and the 2005 WCYH participant Chatel's Schurana (by Don Schufro x Rawage Quintus) He  became exceptionally successful with his breeding programme in both show jumping and dressage Hansen bred the embryotransfer mares Fiontini and Fiontina  (by Fassbinder out of Rapitala (by Romanov  x Solos Carex)) Fiontina won the 2014 and 2015 Danish Young Horse Championships and got silver at the 2015 World Young Horse Championships in Verden. Fiontina sustained an injury after the 2015 Danish Nationals and is now a broodmare Hansen bred five offspring out of Fiontini and three out of Fiontina. Fiontini's daughter Souvenir (by Sezuan) became instrumental in his breeding programme herself and has six offspring.  Sparkletini (by Springbank II x Franklin) became a DWB gold medal mare in 2022 Fiontini and Fiontina were no flash in the pan Hansen consistently bred top horses and strongly worked together with Helgstrand Dressage Jane Serup Jensen, foal Francetti and Henrik in 2019From his dressage breeding programme came Global Player (by Grand Galaxy Win out of Chatel's Schurana) a licensed stallion won the 2022 World Young Horse Championships and 2024 European Junior Riders Championships He further bred WCYH participant Zardetto (by Zack x Romanov) and owned  stallions Atterupgaards Sastre and Fassbinder In the show jumping department, Hansen garnered fame through his broodmare Chania (by Corrado I), which produced premium stallion Cassado II (by Casall), who sold to Ludger Beerbaum, as well as Danish young horse show jumping champion Cambodia (by Camargue) licensed stallion Cassado ASK (by Casall) and jumper Detroit (by Diamant de Revel) Hansen named 2023 Danish Warmblood Breeder of the YearHansen was decorated for his successes In 2016 he received the "Princess Benedikte Cup" in Herning for his elite and silver medal winning DWB mare Rapitala In 2023 the Danish warmblood society decorated Henrik Hansen with two major titles He became "Breeder of the Year" and his jumper mare Chania was named "Jumping Broodmare of the Year In 2024 he was bestowed the "Lando's Cup" for his impact on jumping breeding Hansen in 2016Upon returning home in Solrød Strand from the 2025 Danish warmblood licensing in Herning where he saw his dressage stallion Forecast (by Franzé x Charmeur x Romanov) licensed and named premium Hansen got knocked over by the ramp of the lorry and sustained a severe head injury He was immediately transported to the hospital and went into the ICU where he stayed for ten days in a coma Hansen did not recover from his injuries and passed away on Thursday 20 March 2025 Photos © Astrid Appels - Ridehesten Stalls for Rent at Durondeau Dressage in Peer, Belgium Exceptionally Well Located Equestrian Facility in Wellington, Florida Well-built Equestrian Estate With Multiple Business Opportunities in Sweden Stable Units for Rent at Lotje Schoots' Equestrian Center in Houten (NED) For Rent: Several Apartments and Stable Wing at High-End Equestrian Facility Stable Wing Available at Reiterhof Wensing on Dutch/German border Real Estate: Well-Appointed Country House with Extensive Equestrian Facility in the U.K. Rémi Blot CBC LiteSectionsRadio • As It HappensShe felt like life had no meaning — so she started screaming like a gullSheena Goodyear | CBC Radio | Posted: April 30, 2025 9:09 PM | Last Updated: April 30 European Championship Gull Screeching winner says a personal loss taught her to ‘do what’s fun’ Image | Anna Brynald Gull Screech Championships Caption: Anna Brynald of Solrød Strand, Denmark, rocks a handmade gull costume as she screeches her way to victory at the 2025 European Championship Gull Screeching contest in Belgium. (Reuters) Caption: Bird lovers from all over Europe gathered at the Belgian coastal town of De Panne on Sunday for the fifth edition of the European Championship Gull Screeching contest, designed to bring some positive press to the oft-maligned creatures. Anna Brynald of Denmark took home the gold. Caption: CBC Radio listeners do their best impressions of, and odes to, seagulls. Caption: The Italian group Gabbiani Partigiani, or Partisan Seagulls, won the colony category. (Reuters) Caption: Brynald made her gull costume herself. (Reuters) hopes to be back in Belgium again for next year's contest if she can scrounge up the travel and hotel fare she says she was a little under the weather on Sunday and didn't perform at her best."I think next year if I participate next year I'll be even better," she said And I think I'll need some more feathers."More Stories Like ThisThe related links below are generated automatically based on the story you’ve just read After I have settled down in the sofa with tea almonds and cake in her nicely decorated drawing room Maya tells me that her father went to school with Saddam Hussein He had a degree in political science and wanted democratic reforms for which he was jailed in Iraq and to avoid further political persecution “We grew up in a wealthy area in the suburbs of Copenhagen called Solrød Strand my parents got me married in an arranged marriage I was hardly prepared for marriage and the responsibility that comes along with it Our conversation is almost entirely in Danish Maya tells me that her marriage was an utter disaster I could hardly go out of the house without his permission but I was so young and could not realise that it was actually an abusive marriage,” she said hoping that it might change after they had children when her husband had beaten her and she had bruises all over her body Along with her children and taking her parents’ advice she went to a shelter for women in the centre of Copenhagen called Dannerhuset smaller shelter at Lyngby in a suburb outside Copenhagen saying it would be “safer” for Maya and her children to be in an area far away from her husband Maya was confronted with the Child Protection Services of Lyngby They first took the children saying they had to live elsewhere to start school again was sent to a children’s home with 24-hour surveillance She starts speaking as Maya’s eyes fill with tears “I have lived in 12 different foster families in a span of six years Aya has now been living with her mother for two years Aya says she is very angry with the Danish child protection system “They have destroyed my childhood by forcing me to be away from my mother They tried to brainwash me against my mother I want to contact a writer.”  She speaks of sleepless lonely nights and periods of endless waiting to be reunited with her mother I just ran away when I was old enough to understand She wakes up with nightmares in the middle of the night She is studying and working in the evenings to earn pocket money Despite having lost all those years of school she is ambitious She wants to be a lawyer and protect the rights of other children “The worst pain was not my husband’s beating but what was worse was the separation from my children.” Sara But the commune has not given up the case even though the girls insist that they want to live with their mother a new report was ordered and they were again questioned by the authorities Maya underwent a “forældrekompetenceundersøgelse” The psychologist concluded that Maya was a resourceful and compassionate parent and recommended for the boy to stay with his mother Maya has not seen him for two years and probably will not be allowed to see him until he turns 18 I have listened to two audiotapes of conversation where Elias is heard crying and telling his mother that he is scared of his foster mother and that she is threatening to send him somewhere far away He is at the moment forcefully administered ADHD medicine; controversial medication for what is also a controversial diagnosis—Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Many experts have said that ADHD is being over-diagnosed The state childcare systems in England and the USA have been criticised for over-medicating children There is a suspicion that such medications are used to suppress those children who resist and question being taken away from their families into state custody Maya and her daughters believe that the medication is being given to control and subdue Elias The papers that Maya obtained regarding his medication show that one psychiatrist in fact refused to prescribe ADHD medication for Elias and thereafter the commune took him to another who agreed to give the prescription Though Maya still has legal custody of Elias and expressed her objection to his being medicated Psychologists appear to be under pressure to write reports that match the requirements of commune which insist on removal of children “I don’t think I will ever get to see him again” these shelters for women and this child protection system for immigrant women are nothing but mafia stealing their children,” says Maya She tells me that the authorities are especially going after single women Mothers coming to women’s shelter homes fleeing domestic violence are told that according to the new procedures “we will take care of the children as you are too traumatised” and these women seldom get to see their children again Maya’s years of painful separation from her children have taken their toll on her health She is not yet 40 but has already suffered two heart attacks She works as a translator and interlocutor for families from Syria and other refugees who only speak Arabic for the police and for those families whose children are being removed by the CPS authorities isn’t it?” She says that even reasons such as a two-year-old boy not speaking Danish are given for taking children from mothers After several hours of patient listening and fighting back my own tears “I want to tell the whole world about this atrocity going on in Denmark and I am ready to bring my case to the European Court of Human Rights,” are Maya’s last words before she gives me a warm handshake your mother Maya and your sisters Aya and Sara love you and miss you.” This is what I whisper to the evening sky while the sun is setting and the wind is once again cold not knowing how many more mothers have lost their children in Denmark like Maya Isn’t this a case of child abuse; of utter violation of human rights The Danish CPS system justifies such decisions by arguing that it is done in the best interests of the child Mrutyuanjai Mishra writes regularly for Danish and Indian newspapers At present he is based in Denmark and writes for the Danish newspaper BT The Global Child Rights and Wrongs series is published in collaboration withwww.saveyourchildren.in lawyer Suranya Aiyar’s website critiquing the role of governments and NGOs in child-related policy © SUNDAY GUARDIAN LIVE 2025 | DIRECT NEWS PRIVATE LIMITED | ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Valløs de Baron is the 2005 Danish Warmblood Licensing Champion This 3-year old stallion is by De Niro x Feiner Stern and is owned by the Family Worre-Jensen from Koge He was reared by Iben Leere Kamp from Fredernsborg The best 4-year old dressage stallion was last year's 3-year old champion Blue Hors Leredo a Leandro x Rafael offspring owned by Blue Hors Farm The Danish licensing committee proclaimed Linardo best 3-year old show jumping stallion of the 2005 stallion lot He's by Linaro x Coronado and is owned by Henrik Hansen and Stable Cajus in Solrød Strand Eighteen 3-year old stallions were licensed in total at the 2005 Danish Warmblood stallion licensing in Herning Connory (Come Back II x Port Royal xx) and La Ceur (Loudini x Earl of Roland xx) 3 year old refined stallions (thoroughbred dam or sire) approved for performance testing 3 year old stallions approved for performance testing 4 year old or older without performance test 4 years old refined stallions (thoroughbred dam or sire) that are performance tested Refined stallions of 5 years or older (thoroughbred dam or sire) Older stallions that were rejected by the Danish Warmblood licensing committee: