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German Homeschooler Parents Ordered to Undergo Psychiatric Evaluation

Local German news services have instigated news blackout on situation

By Hilary White

NUREMBERG, March 13, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Hubert and Gundrun Busekros, the parents of Melissa Busekros, the fifteen year-old homeschooled girl removed from her home by government authorities, have been ordered by the courts to undergo psychiatric testing, World Net Daily (WND) reports.

Melissa was removed by court order in early February and placed in a mental institution by German youth authorities who claimed that she suffered from “school phobia” the treatment for which was complete isolation from her family and home. She is now being kept in a foster home in a location unknown to her family who are allowed to visit her for an hour a week.

Joel Thornton, president of the International Human Rights Group (IRHG) told the WND that he fears the state will use any test results to remove the other five Busekros children from their parents and permanently break up the family.

“The trouble is this emboldens the state again, only now it's at a higher level, and the courts still are agreeing with them. This could put Melissa back into the psychiatric system where she could disappear from sight entirely,” Thornton said.

“It's easy to see … if they want to, the government could take more of the children away from this family using the same process. And there is an increased fear among homeschoolers about whether their children are next," he told WND.

The IRHG is considering options to defend the rights of the Busekros family, including a possible complaint to the European Court of Human Rights.

Melissa's father Hubert Busekros told the Catholic news service, kreuz.net that local news services have instigated a news blackout on the situation, claiming it is “a personal affair that is not of public interest.”

Thornton said that his organization, founded to defend religious liberties, also fears Melissa will “disappear” irretrievably into the psychiatric system and that test results could be used as a pretext by the courts to remove from the parents the other five children in the family.

Homeschooling is illegal in Germany since it was outlawed for ideological reasons by Adolph Hitler’s Nazi regime. In more recent times, the German government has a strong interest in instilling through the public school system the new statist ideology promoted from Brussels in the European Union.

Wolfgang Drautz, consul general of the Federal Republic of Germany, defended the authorities’ actions saying that the government “has a legitimate interest in countering the rise of parallel societies that are based on religion or motivated by different world views and in integrating minorities into the population as a whole.”

The US-based Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) organization in North America is maintaining an urgent call to contact the German embassies in Canada and the United States to protest the actions with the German Government.

Another organization has called for an international boycott of German products to pressure the government to release Melissa back to her family.

To express concerns:
In Canada:
German Embassy
1 Waverley Street
Ottawa, ON, K2P 0T8
Tel.: 613-232-1101 Fax: 613-594-9330
Email: germanembassyottawa@on.aibn.com

In the US:
German Embassy
http://www.globescope.biz/germany/reg/index.cfm

Read related LifesiteNews.com coverage:
Online Petition Calls for German Boycott to Gain Release of Girl Seized in Homeschool Crackdown
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/feb/07022802.html

German HomeSchool Teen Moved, Parents not Informed, Local Media Refuse Coverage
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/feb/07021305.html

Action Call as German Homeschooled 15-year-old Sentenced to Child Psychiatry Unit
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/feb/07020502.html

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