"After I had my first child, I became so ill that I had to go to the hospital. My parents-in-law were to take care of my little girl while I was hospitalised. Upon my return I discovered that they had handed her over to the Mission. They did this without consulting me. I was allowed to visit her several times, but suddenly one day she was gone, and they wouldn’t tell me where she was. The orphanage said they didn’t know anything. I found it unbearable. I tried to get into Svanviken work camp in order to recover my child but was told that I was too educated. I’m not sure what that was supposed to mean, but I wish they’d have helped us get our little girl back.

I can still feel her, sitting on my arm. She was two the last time I was allowed to see her. She would clasp me tightly around the neck whenever I left.

My mistake was falling gravely ill.  I tried in every possible way to get my daughter back, and I searched for her by name, not knowing that they had changed it. The Mission and Secretary General Bjørnstad would not divulge a thing. I never signed a document of any sort. My mother-in-law only intended to place her in care until my return, and I never forgave her for what she did. When I later gave birth to a son, I gave him up for adoption because I couldn't bear the thought of losing him too.

They were always out to get us. We were allowed to buy neither a house nor a plot. Nobody wanted us. My father-in-law tried to get a plot, but nobody would sell to him. That’s just the way it was back then. Nobody would sell to a Traveller. Had they done so, they would have been scorned by their own.

When it comes to the story of my little girl, I’m sure it will surface someday, but I’m too tired to do anything anymore. In spite of everything, I have a good life with my three remaining children."