New Delhi: The child of an Indian parent is in the custody of the German Child Rights. The parents have come to Mumbai for the custody of their child and have requested the government for help. The parents held a press conference and appealed to the Indian authorities to expedite the process of obtaining custody of their daughter from the German government.
What is the matter?
The three-year-old daughter of Indian parents has been in the custody of the German authorities for the past one-and-a-half years. In a press conference in Mumbai on Thursday, the girl’s mother said, “In September 2021, our daughter was taken away by the German child service. By mistake he got hurt in his private part and we took him to the doctor. The doctor sent us back saying she was fine. Then we went for a follow-up test. My daughter was again declared fine, but the doctors, this time, called child services and gave them custody of my daughter. We later learned that the injury was caused by sexual assault.
The girl’s mother said, “We also gave our DNA samples for clarification. After DNA tests, police investigation and medical reports, the sexual abuse case was closed in February 2022 and in December 2021 a specialist from the same hospital denied any suspicion of sexual abuse.
‘German child services are harassing us’
The child’s father said, “After all this, we thought that our girl would come back with us. But the German Child Services opened a case against us for termination of custody. For this we went to court. Court ordered us to make a parental capacity report. We received a 150-page parenting ability test report after a year, during which the psychologist spoke to us for only 12 hours.
We got the next date of test after getting the report, he said. The report suggested that the bond between the parent and the child is very strong and the child should be returned to the parent but the parent does not know how to raise the child. For this we should live in a family house until the girl child is 3 to 6 years old. A girl at that age will be able to decide whether she wants to live with her parents or be in foster care.
Girl does not know Indian language
The child’s father said, “We asked them to let the child come to India as the court case was going to be long. They said that they could not send her to India as she did not know any Indian language, which could result in trauma. We are asking them.” For us to teach him at least one Indian language. A teacher, a volunteer or even a mentor is not required. Our friends and family could easily do the same. There were many Indians in Germany who volunteered to teach him Hindi but he declined.
He further said that like many others, I too was fired from the IT company I worked for. I don’t know how we are going to manage. We are already in debt of Rs 30-40 lakh.
