There is a short clip showing the German police taking a child from his family by force. This happened per instruction from the Jugendamt (Youth Welfare Office). There are a number of rumours floating around as far as the reasons are concerned, such as: they took the child because the family is Muslim, or: because they refused to educate their children in a pro-LGBT fashion. [1]
All of the above suspicions are unconfirmed. And to be blunt: such stories are simply ridiculous.
A bit about me and our organisation
I am a public speaker blacklisted by the German authorities for more than 10 years now. I have a whole lecture series on YouTube about LGBT and why it goes against human decency, and numerous other points.
Never in my life did the Youth Welfare Office knock at my door and enquire about my children, let alone try to take them.
From our experience as a Muslim civil rights organisation, I can tell you that we have received numerous claims from families stating that their children were taken away because they’re Muslim or practise hijab, etc.
And every time that we investigated these cases, we found that it had nothing to do with religion or Islam. In fact, one case was because the mother was addicted to drugs such as heroin and others.
Is there a hidden motive?
Unfortunately, it is widespread, at least here in Germany, that Muslims immediately assume a hidden agenda against their religion as soon as the authorities take legal action against them.
One of my close friends – who is also a public speaker in Germany – used to interpret for the Youth Welfare Office. He saw a number of cases where Muslim families were involved, and also where children were taken away. None of these had to do with religion, but rather with a family living in a complete mess where no sane person would want a child to grow up. That was his observation.
And just to put things in perspective: there are absolutely clear cases of German laws and government action against Islam. The following are taking place in Germany, and we are well aware of it:
However, taking a child from its mother… this is something else entirely.
Not even IS-affiliated parents have their children taken away, convicted and jailed terrorists have not had their children taken away from their wives, not even all of the families coming back to Germany from the so-called “caliphate” have had their children taken away.
So, to then say that this viral incident is because of hijab or Islam is a bit far-fetched.
The background to this viral video
Regarding this video that is floating around, there is no information available as far as the reasons are concerned. There is only a short statement by the police, where they deny the rumours that are being spread everywhere.
”The video shows a small section of a court-ordered measure to take two children into care.
“Taking children into care is always the last resort, and only happens for serious reasons. We cannot give any further explanations about the basis of this decision to protect the family and children.” [1]
The legal reasons are private and would never be published by the police or the Youth Welfare Office, simply because they are exactly that: a private matter.
The family could make a public statement in which they read the letter that they got from the authorities, but so far they haven’t. So, there is hardly anything we can specifically say about the case.
A painful Nazi past; laws bar the state from interfering in parents’ right to educate as they see fit
In general, it is very, very difficult to take a child out of their family, especially so in Germany.
We are still traumatised by our Nazi past where the state tried to control the education of each and every child, so there are a number of constitutional laws that prevent the government from interfering with the parental right to educate their children in the way they see most suitable.
If the Youth Welfare Office decides to remove a child from their home, it is a long process with several letters and visits to the family, suggestions on how to improve the current situation, offering help via psychologists, and so on.
It’s a lengthy procedural journey before they can even go to the court, present their case, and ask for the child to be taken away. At this point, the court will ask the family for their statement, as well as the other relevant parties.
In general, this is how it works here. I seriously doubt that the current case has anything whatsoever to do with Islam, hijab, anti-LGBT education, or whatever is circulating around on the Internet.
Extremely hard to draw conclusions based on the video
Regarding the video, there is only one thing that stands out, and that is the seemingly exaggerated force that the police used to take the child. The child was screaming in panic and the operation looks somewhat excessive. My wife couldn’t watch it.
But again, it is a short clip. We don’t know what happened before, for how long the officers tried to talk to family, to the child, how the family reacted, etc.
As I said, the police do not simply knock at your door out of the blue. There must have been a long back-and-forth before the scenario in this video played out, so it is almost impossible that the family were not prepared for this visit.
How did they react? To the correspondence that must have occurred before? To the understanding that the Youth Welfare Office will come? Did they co-operate? Or did they threaten the officers (which is not so uncommon among us)?
We just don’t know.
What we can say with confidence
There is no solid information available. The only thing which is guaranteed is the emotions of Muslims running wild and reaching boiling point when it’s the police against a sister in hijab.
This is certainly good on the one hand. However, on the other, it leads to unjust accusations and more often than not to actions that cause more problems than they solve.
We will not be making a public statement as long as there is no more background information available. If at all, it would be an advice to Muslims to be more careful regarding Internet rumours and to not judge a case before hearing all sides.
