German Homeschooled Girl Forcefully Stolen From Family

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Think this can't happen in America?

It not only can happen, I predict it will happen. That is, if we don't get up off our asses and take back our country. The NEA has been described as the Trojan Horse of Socialism in America.The NEA is working hard to see that homeschooling is ultimately outlawed. Go check out their latest condescending thoughts at nea.org:

Or, simply google NEA + homeschooling, and you find articles like these:
The first article starts out:

"Home Schools Run By Well-Meaning Amateurs -
Schools With Good Teachers Are Best-Suited to Shape Young Minds"

...the NEA article goes on to say:

"This includes parents who home-school their children for reasons that may be linked to religious convictions. One Web site that I visited stated that the best way to combat our nation’s “ungodly” public schools was to remove students from them and teach them at home or at a Christian school."

And...that's a bad thing?

Funny, that's exactly the rational the Germans gave in the article below. Oh, that and: "she was diagnosed with "school phobia" and described as having too much devotion to her father and his beliefs. She was also criticized for showing unconditional solidarity with her family."

And you might also want to take note:

"Joel Thornton, president of the International Human Rights Group said: "There is fear in Germany when you challenge the government," explained Thornton.

German Homeschooler Accused of 'School Phobia,' Removed From Family

By Eva Cahen
CNSNews.com Correspondent
March 30, 2007

Paris, France (CNSNews.com) - Homeschooling advocates and religious freedom campaigners are outraged over a decision by German officials to force a teenager into a foster home after taking her from her family because she was being homeschooled.

Fifteen police[!] officers took 16-year-old Melissa Busekros from her family home in the Bavarian city of Erlangen last month and placed her in a psychiatric ward for evaluation.

According to published reports, she was diagnosed with "school phobia" and described as having too much devotion to her father and his beliefs. She was also criticized for showing unconditional solidarity with her family.

Youth welfare officials have now placed the teenager in a foster home in a secret location, and she is only allowed supervised visits with her family for one hour a week.

Germany has a compulsory education law, and school attendance is mandatory. German homeschooling advocates report that parents who teach their children at home have had to pay fines and in some cases have lost custody of their children.

Joerg Grosseluemern of the Network for Freedom in Education in Germany said Melissa's case is the worst he has ever seen. Officials probably resorted to the psychiatric ward to take her away from her parents, he alleged, because at 16, she is no longer obliged to attend school.

Grosseluemern said Germany's mandatory schooling law dates from the Third Reich when Adolf Hitler wanted the state to indoctrinate children in the Nazi philosophy.

"Today, politicians say homeschooling creates parallel societies,' he told Cybercast News Service. "They are afraid that parents who have their own views will isolate their children from the rest of the world and will live their lives isolated from society.

"But that is not happening in countries where many children are being homeschooled, like in the United States or Great Britain," Grosseluemern argued.

The Busekros family has five other children, but Melissa was the only one being homeschooled. Her parents decided to teach her at home in 2004, when her school wanted her to repeat seventh grade after getting poor grades.

Youth welfare authorities were unable to take action until recently, because she spent the following year studying in Australia. Although in Melissa's case, the family's motivation for homeschooling was based on disagreement with the school system, Joel Thornton, president of the International Human Rights Group, said that faith might also be a factor in German authorities' opposition to homeschooling.

"The primary movement in Germany that is homeschooling right now is religious-based and that may be part of the reason for the hostility," Thornton said.

Authorities may also have been confused, he said, because there is a Baptist church located on the bottom floor of the building where the family lives - though they do not belong to it.

Homeschooling is allowed throughout most of Europe, even if it is heavily regulated, but there is quite a bit of hostility against Evangelical churches, which are often viewed as sects, Thornton said.

In Melissa's case, most of the support for the family has come from German homeschooling advocates or international religious groups. German religious groups have mostly stayed out of the case, he said.

"There is fear in Germany when you challenge the government," explained Thornton. He noted, however, that the most important task was to reunite Melissa with her family.

"The long term fight is to legalize homeschooling in Germany - regulate it if you want but decriminalize it. The short term [fight], in this instance, is to get Melissa back to her family," Thornton said.

Other than the weekly visits, the family is not allowed to communicate with Melissa. According to the family, authorities refused to allow her to see letters of support sent to her from around the world, claiming they might be "dangerous."

The family is fighting to regain custody of their daughter and have filed a civil action against the government officials who took Melissa from her home - illegally, they claim.
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Am I worried? I am. I don't see outrage in America over what is happening right under our noses. And because it's not just happening in Germany...A world-wide socialist system combined with a Fascist/corporate rationale is playing out...and it's happening here in America, because we are allowing it it happen. Take a stand. Fight back. Educate yourself. Find others of like mind. Together we can make a difference.

If you are interested in why homeschooling is good (aside from the obvious reason of keeping your child out of the godless clutches of the NEA), you might check this website out. It's a portal to many, many websites devoted to homeschooling. Cheers.