Tag Archive for 'Home school'

Schmidt's "have their day in court"

Published on September 23, 2009 in Europe and IHRG's Work. 6 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

Today began sunny and bright in Nördlingen, Germany.  This town is part of Germany’s Romantic Road and has the history to bear it up.  I would like to say it was by careful planning on my part, but it was only the providence of God that our hotel was literally thirty feet from the entrance to the court, the Amsgericht, where the Schmidt family was this day fighting for the right to keep custody of their youngest son, Aaron.

Aaron is fourteen and has two more years left of high school.  He is a normal well rounded young man who speaks English well, but seldom does because he is shy around the Americans.  He plays on a local football club and is quick to smile.  I was with Aaron right before the hearing.  He was calm and seemed convinced that everything would be fine.

I had asked permission to attend the court hearing as an interested person and a friend of the family.  The judge was happy to have me in the courtroom as long as I did not broadcast her name on the Internet.  The Jugendamt, however, was a different matter.  Gabriele Eckermann represented the parents in the hearing.  Johannes Hildebrandt represented the interests of Aaron.

The Jugendamt asked if I was associated with home schooling.  When Gabriele answered honestly that I was—I was one of the attorneys who filed the notorious Konrad case at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France back in 2003—the Jugendamt protested my being allowed in the courtroom for the hearing and so I was banned from enjoying the proceedings.  Had I been allowed in the courtroom my lack of working German would have kept me from enjoying the proceedings, so it was a trade off.

The first thing the judge did was asked to meet privately with Aaron and his attorney.  In itself this is a big victory.  In one case it took hours of arguments from the lawyers to have the attorney be permitted to be with the child.

After examining Aaron for herself the judge continued the hearing.  The Jugendamt asked to have Aaron psychologically tested, they naturally assume that there is something wrong with him because he is home schooled.  Johannes objected to the test stating that there was no evidence that there was anything wrong with Aaron and the court agreed.

The judge’s final decision today was that the local school should give Aaron a test to see if he is academically okay.  Pending the results of that test all the attorneys agree that the court will leave custody with the parents—instead of transferring custody to the State!

This is a big partial victory.  This is not the first time it has happened, but it is rare, that the court has not ruled that home schooling is against the law and therefore nothing further needed to be done other than putting the child in school.

This is one of the first times that a German court has intimated that they would not stop the home schooling as long as the child was being educated properly.

This is a huge victory in the making.  If we can get this court to continue and more courts to agree that home schooling is not, in itself, harmful, then we can begin to make a dent in the legal system that is currently punishing parents for exercising their legal right to control the education of their children.

After the hearing we went to a nearby restaurant to have tea and discuss the decision.  Gabriele and I had a discussion about the controls the State is trying to put on children in Germany and America.  There is no doubt that one of the goals of Germany, and the new American approach to government, is to control the thinking of the children in a way that is more aligned with the State rather than with the individual families.

That is why this fight is so important.

For His Kingdom,

Joel

Victory for German Home School Family

Published on December 10, 2008 in Christianity, Europe and IHRG's Work. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , .

Zittau, Germany—The IHRG is pleased to announce that the Brause family, a German home school family, that has lived under the cloud of criminal charges for the past couple of years has been redeemed.  German officials accused the parents of criminal child neglect for the home schooling their children.

 

On December 2nd we received word from our German counsel in this case, Johannes Hildebrandt, that the court and the prosecutor are dropping the charges against Mr. and Mrs. Brause.  This means they no longer face up to 2 years in prison and the potential loss of their children.  The decision of German officials is a huge victory for this family and for home school families in Germany.

 

Joel Thornton, President and General Counsel for the IHRG, said “we are pleased that the court and the prosecuting counsel asked whether the process can be ended.  This comes after the court received a detailed psychiatric report that there is no psychological harm to the children from home schooling.  The report stated that the children have not been harmed which is evidenced by their exit exams from high school.

 

“Now the Brause family may choose whether they want to have a sentence of acquittal in a public meeting in court or a document issued that declares the process closed and the charges dropped.

 

“This is a huge victory for home school families in Germany.  It means that government officials must be more careful when bringing criminal charges against home school families.”

 

Case History:

 

Since 2001, Bert Brause and his wife have taught their 8 children at home. Bert has studied Math and will soon be a certified teacher. The Brause’s live on a farm near the

 

 Polish and Czech Republic borders. Bert wrote a letter to the governor of Saxony asking for permission to home school his children. The state authorities in Saxony tried to force the parents to register their children in the public school. (There are no alternative schools close-by).

 

The Brause’s received threats and fines. Eventually, the social youth workers and, later, the court-ordered child defendant testified that the children were taught well and that they had a positive impression of them. Regardless of these findings, the Family Court ruled against the parents in Spring 2007. The custody for the school-aged children was partially taken from the parents and given over to the state. Under this ruling the parents had no say concerning school matters and where the children live. The children could be taken by the state authorities anytime. Just before the end of school in 2008 the parents received an ultimatum. The government had registered the children in school. If the children were not sent to school within 3 weeks, the authorities would take action. Regardless of this ruling the children remained in the home under the threat of removal at any time.

 

Then the state prosecutor ordered a hearing of the parents whom they charge with a criminal offense based on a law that requires intentional harming of a child, punishable with up to 2 years in prison.

 

The court set a trial date for 24 July 2008.  This was a criminal trial on the charge of intentional child neglect.  This trial was postponed after the IHRG announced its intention to bring in experts from America and England to testify as to the positive results of home schooling there.  The trial strategy also called for international human rights monitors to attend the hearing. 

 

Criminal charge: Intentional child neglect – Mr. and Mrs Brause were charged with willingly, knowingly preventing their children from going to school. Preventing the child from receiving a school education is considered harmful to the well being of the children.

 

The two oldest homeschooled children, aged 18 and 16, completed their public school exams successfully. Being homeschooled, they took advantage of the school law which permits “school exams for external students”. The Brauses want a regular school diploma for all their children so they can attend university after high school. They clearly informed the school authorities about their vision for their children.

 

Mr. and Mrs. Brause are Christians and homeschool their children for reasons of parental responsibility before God and the law. They chose to home educate their children for their best interest.

 

The IHRG will continue to work with the Brauses and other German home school families to make sure they can return to a normal life, home schooling their children as they have from the beginning of their children’s schooling.