It happened in Germany. Melissa Busekros was failing math and Latin, and it was suggested by the school authorities that she repeats the seventh grade. Melissa wasn't really a failing student; she was doing well in all other subjects so her parents didn't believe that Melissa must be left back. They started tutoring her at home.
One may think the school authorities would only welcome parents who spend more time with their daughter, helping her with her studies. No way. School authorities were furious. They couldn't accept that someone dares to doubt their wisdom. Parents think they know better? No way! And to think those parents were doing a better job too! A unionized ragtag that runs the public schools nowadays doesn't like competition. Melissa was expelled and her parents started homeschooling her full time.
Home schooling is not allowed in Germany. Compulsory attendance laws, adopted under the Nazi rule in 1938, are still on the books and allow no exception. Families cannot even join together to organize their own small private schools, let alone just teaching their kids at home. The "youth welfare office" (yet another Nazi creation which has survived WW2) accepted no compromise. They took the Busekros family to court and obtained a permission to seize the girl.
On February 1, Melissa was abducted by 15 (fifteen!!!) police officers and moved to a psychiatric ward where she's been diagnosed with a mysterious illness named "school phobia". The officials later admitted that test results were inaccurate but instead of returning Melissa to her parents, they moved her to a foster care at undisclosed location. Then came her siblings' turn. Busekros family was given an ultimatum: if they want the "youth welfare office" to leave them alone, they better give up custody of their other 5 children. Those kids were not homeschooled but that doesn't stop German social workers who apparently believe that ruining the Busekros family would be a perfect lesson to others.
Meanwhile Melissa was moved to yet another foster family. Previous foster parents didn't like the girl's habits to study on her own. Melissa is forced to undergo yet another psychiatric test. Her family tries to bring her back but the laws are against them and few human rights groups have agreed to help.
"This is a precedent that's going to affect not just Germany," Joel Thornton, president of the International Human Rights Group, told WorldNetDaily. "This is an extreme case even for Germany, but it won't be extreme any more if they get away with it."
Joel Thornton is right. What happened in Germany could easily happen in Canada where parents' rights to oversee the education of their children is already being taken away by the governments of Quebec and British Columbia. If we allow German officials to abduct kids from homeschooling families, we may one day the same happening in Canada. So let's act before it's too late. Contact the German Embassy in Ottawa to express your outrage. And next time you go shopping, make sure you don't buy German products.
Sources:
• German Homeschooled 15-year-old Sentenced to Child Psychiatry Unit (Life Site)
• German Homeschool Student Placed in Foster Care, Parents Not told Location (Life Site)
• Authorities Ask German Homeschooling Family to Give up Custody of Other 5 Children (Life Site)
• 2007 German Horror Tale (Washington Times)
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