Parental Rights Threatened Once Again
Is it a crime to homeschool where you live? Maybe not now, but if the government can dictate the kind of health care our children should receive, or dictate how we can feed our own families, how do we know where laws could go in our country? On this day when many of us are sending our kids off to the school of our choice, or keeping them home if your family homeschools, these parental rights stories get my hands shaking and my my heart racing. Cases of the government waaaaaay over-stepping are becoming more and more common, and I can't imagine living through the nightmare that the Wuncherlich family endured last week…
At 8:00 a.m. on Thursday, August 29, 2013, in what has been called a “brutal and vicious act,” a team of 20 social workers, police officers, and special agents stormed a homeschooling family’s residence near Darmstadt, Germany, forcibly removing all four of the family’s children (ages 7-14). The sole grounds for removal were that the parents, Dirk and Petra Wunderlich, continued to homeschool their children in defiance of a German ban on home education.
The children were taken to unknown locations. Officials ominously promised the parents that they would not be seeing their children “anytime soon.”
Dirk Wunderlich described what happened…
“I looked through a window and saw many people, police, and special agents, all armed. They told me they wanted to come in to speak with me. I tried to ask questions, but within seconds, three police officers brought a battering ram and were about to break the door in, so I opened it,” he told HSLDA.
“The police shoved me into a chair and wouldn’t let me even make a phone call at first,” he said. “It was chaotic as they told me they had an order to take the children. At my slightest movement the agents would grab me, as if I were a terrorist. You would never expect anything like this to happen in our calm, peaceful village. It was like a scene out of a science fiction movie. Our neighbors and children have been traumatized by this invasion.”
- Reminds us of this case doesn't it? Shocking Details on the Horrific Case Against Jacob Stieler’s Parents.
- Read about our decision to homeschool and other posts from our first year.
Kimberly says
The Romeike family sought asylum here in the US from Germany because they were homeschooling. After a judge granted them asylum, the current administration began trying to deport them because, in their opinion, homeschooling is not a human right. The HSLDA is defending them.
Teri says
I also have a friend who was born in Germany and she says the same thing. I am not buying it because this law was put in place under Hitler (yes it’s that old and never changed after the war!) He put it in place solely for indoctrinating the German children in the Nazi Party’s beliefs. So this law was put in place in order to further State Indoctrination nothing more. They are trying to forbid you from passing your views on to your children if in any way they differ from the state. Good luck to those of us who are religious!
Michelle says
What most articles fail to take into account is the fact that this is in Germany and they are, in fact, breaking the law. Did it ever occur that maybe there are reasons that Germany bans homeschooling? And that maybe the German government has the support of the majority of Germans with regards to this law?
I have spoken extensively with a friend of mine who not only lives in Germany, she was born there, so she’s not looking at it as an American ex-pat. What she told me was that in Germany as they are seeing an increase in immigration the people in these immigrant communities are isolating themselves from the German people and culture. And that’s not cool with the people of Germany. In order to prevent this isolationism from continuing, they’ve outlawed homeschooling. And I can’t say that I blame them.
Jen says
So what if they want to isolate them? Why punish the upstanding German citizens by taking away their right to homeschool? They should clean up their immigration problem if this is the case.
What if the majority of the people in a country decided that fat is bad and should be banned?
What if the majority of the people in a country decided that blacks should be slaves?
What if the majority of the people in a country decided that being overweight is unhealthy and should be punished as a crime?
Because the majority want it is never a sole reason something should be done.
IC says
Banning homeschooling isn’t going to help. The immigrants are having kids, Germans, not so much. The same is true in much of Western Europe. If current trends continue, the immigrants will fill the schools. When ethnic or religious groups want to be isolated, they will. If you’ve ever spent time in NYC and been to the ethnic neighborhoods, you will have an idea of what I mean. What is going to stop the immigrants from eventually opening private schools? They can maintain their isolation this way as well. I haven’t heard of immigrant families trying to homeschool, just the German ones so I don’t buy it as a major reason for it to remain illegal.
Leah G says
You have to understand that in order o control the populations the Govt must indoctrinate the child. If they control the education they control the curriculum and therefore control the outcome. Why do you think Common Core was passed?
noelle says
I don’t know the backstory, but they wouldn’t have needed to get asylum in the US to continue homeschooling legally. It’s legal here in Belgium, where I live, and there are even German-speaking towns here.
Liz says
I agree with the comments here. The US is set on a course for destruction. And unless we speak and stand up for our God-given rights, we’re doomed. We must speak up at every opportunity, stand up for godly values and ethics — no matter the cost. We must teach this to our children by setting the example.
Cathy F. says
My husband’s been following this story. This is the family that sought asylum in the United States because they knew if they were returned to Germany this would happen. That should tell you that our government agrees with the government of Germany. It is only a matter of time before homeschooling becomes illegal here. After all, our children must be taught what the State thinks is important, not what the parents think is important.
Leah G says
I think this is yet another family. Here is the one in TN I think you are talking about. https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/16/german-christian-home-schooling-romeike-family-loses-us-asylum-bid_n_3283575.html
Eric Holder has decided we should not be able to homeschool and has released the Dept of Homeland Security on this poor family.
Brenda@A Bottle of Beer and a Cookbook says
This isn’t really anything new, and has already happened in the United States . . . like, 300 years ago. Massachusetts was one of the first places in the Euro-centric world to pass compulsory education laws back in the 1600’s. The local militia had to march children to school at gun point because parents were worried about the indoctrination of their children.
This isn’t new at all, and is compounded by the fact that as soon as you marry legally, in Germany and the United States, you actually give over certain parental rights and invite the court into your family.
Gail says
Brenda-
I’m intrigued by your comments regarding legal marriage and giving up parental rights. Could you elaborate? We certainly don’t advocate living together without benefit of marriage, but I have talked to my children about the wisdom (or lack thereof) of seeking the state’s validation for one’s marriage. It is not a settled issue for us right now.
Cathy F. says
I’ve heard this argument before, but frankly, I don’t think it matters whether parents have a marriage “license” or not. The State gets involved plenty of times where parents are not legally married. Child Protective Services has the legal authority to decide whether or not you should be allowed to raise your child– based on the current laws of your state and the federal government that you may be breaking. It’s a nightmare that the American people put in place years ago with our well-intentioned efforts to protect abused children.
Leah G says
See what the people fail to realize with these procedures for marriage given by the Government unto States is that, when you marry with a marriage license, you grant the State jurisdiction over your marriage. When you marry with a marriage license, your marriage is a creature of the State, it is a corporation of the State, therefore, they have jurisdiction over your marriage including the fruit of your marriage, in which the fruit of your marriage is your children and every piece of property you own. When you marry with a marriage license, you are not just marrying your spouse, but you are also marrying the State. With This Ring I Thee Wed, is of the state and is found in most county courthouses in many States. That phrase was published by the State Bar Association. They don’t tell you that when you repeat your vows, you enter into a legal contract, in which there are three parties to that contract, with the first being you, the second being the person you are marrying, and the third being the State you marry in. See the State and the lawyers know that when you marry with a marriage license, you are not just marrying your spouse, you are marrying the State, thus giving undue jurisdiction to the State. The marriage license invades and removes the Most High given parental authority. When you read the Bible, you see that the Most High intended for children to have their father’s blessing regarding whom they married. Daughters were to be given in marriage by their fathers (Dt. 22:16; Ex. 22:17; I Cor. 7:38). Why do you think when couples get married today, the father is suppose to be present to walk his daughter down the aisle?
“The origins of the doctrine parens patriae and the law can be traced to medieval and late medieval English chancery courts where it played an important roll in maintaining the structure of feudalism. The King had a royal prerogative to act as guardian to persons with legal disabilities such as infants, idiots, and lunatics. Chancery, as an agent of the monarch, had a duty to maintain the orderly transfer of feudal duties from one generation to another and to insure that there would be someone available to perform these duties and the concept of parens patriae was usually invoked in connection with problems of property or guardianship.” In today’s world, the Department of Human Services functions as the Chancery, or agent of the monarch – which is the State – in orderly transferring the feudal duties of labor to generate a tax base on to future generations. That tax base is known as the “full faith and credit” of the American people and is pledged against every bond (a state bond issue is a loan) the people vote to approve. Birth certificates, marriage certificates, and automobile Certificates of Title are just some of the commercial paper the State government uses to collateralize their debt to the banks for all of the bond issues the people vote for. These certificates are serial numbered so the banks can more easily track them and all conform to the rules of negotiable instruments as outlined in the Uniform Commercial Code. You and your family have, in effect, been pledged as chattel to the banks for the State’s and Federal Government’s debts.
YOU are the one who gave Child Protective Services permission to steal your children. Since the State can regulate that which it licenses, Child Protective Services has blossomed into a money making machine by snatching kids and receiving millions of federal dollars for them. In most cases, Child Protective Services has no interest in reuniting families because by keeping the family unit off balance, under constant worry and financial drain, the people of a state are more easily controlled, taxed and herded like sheep by the governmental power. A State which has strong, responsible families with good morals, an understanding of right and wrong, and the time to focus on solutions to state abuses would never be able to get away with the massive confiscatory taxation and licensing schemes the government, as well as all states, enjoys perpetrating against its citizenry today. Child Protective services receives its authority to kidnap children from the child’s parents the moment a marriage license was applied for and granted. The child is placed in a guardian/ward relationship with the state where the parents function merely as “custodians.” That custodial relationship may be terminated by the authorizing state agency whenever it declares the child is not being raised according to the standards established by the State, yes State!
So the States can sue the parents on behalf of the child, based on the State’s Rule of Civil Procedures, which states such as the one for the State of Maine, which states – “An executor, administrator, guardian, bailee, trustee of an express trust, a party with whom or in whose name a contract has been made for the benefit of another, or a party authorized by statute may sue in that person’s own name without joining the party for whose benefit the action is brought.” So, Maine can sue on behalf of the child without using the child’s name because you, the parents, gave the state guardianship over your child with the marriage license making the State a “trustee of an express trust”. America never had a Child Protective Services protecting our Children for at least the first 140 years of her existence, because assault on a child was already illegal and dealt with by the County Sheriff. If a child needed to be removed to a safer environment, he was brought to one of many privately funded homes which had to compete for money from the private sector. This competition forced the homes to maintain extremely high standards and, due to the limitation of funds, resolving family problems and reuniting the child with his family was of primary importance – unlike today’s State-administered system of bureaucratic red tape, and drugging programs that will damage a child for the rest of his or her life and ultimately alienate him from his family.
Further reading… Look up the Straw Man Laws
https://freedom-school.com/aware/your-straw-man-is-an-artificial-person.html
It is also my understanding that when you ask for a Dr, Midwife, etc to assist in the delivery of a child you further lose rights as you are stating you are not capable of caring for the child.
Jen says
I’m all for knowing the underlying truth to any subject but this is pretty ridiculous. If any of it were true than unmarried people couldn’t have their children taken away. The existence of a marriage license has never been used in court as the authority to take someone’s child away. The use of a doctor or midwife has never been used as a supporting evidence that a person can’t take care of their own child.
Jeanmarie says
I’m still in shock after reading about this a couple of days ago. How alarming that homeschooling scares the authorities this much! Independent, free-thinking people really are a threat to the establishment, aren’t they?
mrl says
Yes they are. It has been happening all throughout history. I am reading Polish history and in the 1700’s Russia, Prussia and Austria along with the Polish magnates(the wealthy who were in control) got together to conquer Poland all because the Polish people wanted to be free. They couldn’t let that happen because if they allow the Poles to be free then the people of their country will want the same and the magnates will lose their power,control and possibly their wealth.