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German judge bars homeschooling family from leaving country
Thaddeus Baklinski lifesitenews.com
The Wunderlich family with HSLDA chairman Michael Harris.
Credit: HSLDA.org
DARMSTADT, Germany, November 11, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A German judge who ordered the forced removal of the children of a homeschooling family in August has blocked the parents' request to let the family emigrate to another European country where homeschooling is legal, according to the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA).
On August 29th, a team of 20 social workers, police officers, and special agents stormed the Wunderlich family’s residence near Darmstadt, Germany and forcibly removed all four of the family’s children, ages 7–14.
The stated reason for this action was that the parents, Dirk and Petra Wunderlich, continued to homeschool their children in defiance of a German ban on home education.
The German high court is on record ordering suppression of “parallel societies,” mentioning homeschoolers specifically.
The children were returned three weeks after being taken, following an international outcry spearheaded by HSLDA. The court imposed the condition on the parents that their children would attend state schools in order for them to be released.
Dirk Wunderlich told HSLDA that his lawyers requested confirmation from social workers that they would not interfere if his family emigrated to a neighboring country where homeschooling is legal. But the judge told his attorneys if they left Germany before a scheduled December hearing he would make sure that they were brought back to face criminal sanctions.
The parents told HSLDA that they had no choice but to agree.
“What other choice did we have?” asked Dirk Wunderlich. “They had our children. We feel ravaged by the government. We don’t want our children in school but we have no choice—we can’t leave and if we don’t comply they will take our children away. We will make the best of it because we know if we tried to leave, the authorities would separate us and we might never see our children again or for a very long time.”
“In the weeks before, it was terrible to think of my children going to school. I’m trying to have a more practical view," Dirk said. "We will have a court date in December and hope we can get the full custody back and perhaps be able to go where homeschooling is tolerated. Our lawyers have made emergency requests and we hope perhaps an answer will come sooner. We don’t think we could do this for years, but for a few or more weeks we can. Anyway, we don’t really have any choice.”
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