What if Your Assets (or Your Children) Were Seized Because You Homeschool?
I’m so grateful that homeschooling is legal in all 50 states here in America. In fact, the numbers of homeschooled children continues to increase around the country. But that isn’t the case everywhere. Homeschooling has been banned in Germany since Adolf Hitler was in power. Germany requires that all children go to their public schools. In fact, a 2007 decision in Germany found that homeschooling “may constitute a misuse of the parental care, which lastingly endangers the welfare of the child and requires measures to be taken by the family court.”
One German family with four children has struggled for years to homeschool their children despite the German laws. It was so difficult that the Wunderlich family fled Germany. They sought asylum here in the US on the grounds that they faced persecution in their native country.
In 2010, an immigration judge granted asylum in the U.S. to the family. The Obama administration, unhappy with the outcome, appealed and obtained an order from a higher court that the family must return to Germany. The Obama administration argued in court parents essentially have no right to determine how and what their children are taught, leaving the authority with the government. (WND Education)
The Wunderlich family is back in Gemany now, but they have faced hardship as they continue to homeschool their children. In August of 2013 the four children ages 7 to 14, were forcibly removed from their home in Darmstadt, Germany, by police armed with a battering ram. “The raid was made solely because the parents were providing their children’s education,” HSLDA (Home School Legal Defense Association) said. Later an appeals court condemned officials who conducted the early morning raid. Full custody of the Wunderlich children was returned to their parents this past August 2014.
But the troubles haven’t ended there. According to this article at WND education, authorities recently seized the family’s bank account. A local school board attorney had begun issuing “notices of enforcement” that come with penalties of 1,000 euros, or about $1,350 since the children were still not in school. And warned that the enforcement “can be repeated basically any number of times up to … the maximum amount” of 50,000 euros, Wunderlich said.
You can read more about their story in these articles at WND education:
POLICE STORM HOMESCHOOL CLASS, TAKE CHILDREN BY FORCE
SUPREME COURT ASKED TO RULE ON HOMESCHOOL PERSECUTION
VINDICTIVE OFFICIALS SEIZE HOMESCHOOL FAMILY’S ASSETS
I’m pretty grateful for the freedom we have to homeschool.
