A foreign sky – the drama of a Polish family in Sweden, social services take away the child

The problems were caused by different legal standards, but also by a different approach to many issues than the one we are familiar with. What was not a major problem here could turn out to be highly reprehensible elsewhere. And vice versa. In this case, it is about a different understanding of children’s rights and a different approach of social care.

Basia (Agnieszka Grochowska) and Marek (Bartłomiej Topa) are a married couple who decide to move to Sweden. He is football coach, who takes the local girls’ team under his wing, she takes care of the house and earns extra money as a masseuse. Their relationship wasn’t always going well, but now there is a chance for a new life. Better. They have a daughter, Ula. And this is what will involuntarily become the source of trouble. It’s enough that one day she said something that wasn’t necessarily true. However, this triggered an avalanche. The local social services get to work, convinced that the child is being harmed in this family. Ula’s parents initially don’t really understand what the problem is. However, the machine moves forward and operates in accordance with Swedish law. The result is that the child ends up in a foster family, the parents make an ineffective fight to get her back, and finally decide to take desperate measures.

In the film, all the creators’ sympathy is with the Polish family and those who support it. Meanwhile, similar situations occurred not only in Sweden but also, for example, in Norway. The understanding of what a child’s best interests is is different from what we are used to, and social services have the right to interfere in family life when they believe that a child is being harmed.

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Thursday, 10.40 p.m., TVN