19.04.2017, Russia.
Human rights activist Maxim Zhilenkov, from Germany, told the delegates of the Third Congress of the All-Russian Parents’ Resistance organization about the consequences of the system of forced foster care using the example of Germany on April 15th, according to a correspondent of the Rossa Primavera News Agency.
Zhilenkov stated that Russia must learn the results of German family policy over recent decades as the system of forced foster care in Germany took root under the pretext of good intentions, with preventing violence within the family as its stated goal.
However, it turned out that due to the system created in Germany, the social workers have the right to meddle in family affairs without a court ruling, and to make the decision to revoke parental rights based on their own subjective conclusions and a free interpretation of what is meant by a child’s well-being. The family policy accepted in Germany has led to a preference of children’s rights over the right of parents to decide how to bring up their children, according Zhilenkov.
The human rights activist directed attention to a nearly twofold increase in the number of children taken from their families over the past 20 years, according to German statistics: from 23,432 children in 1995 to 42,123 children in 2013.
Germany signed “The Convention on the Rights of the Child” in 1990. The German lawmakers rewrote the law governing childhood in 1997, banning any “degrading” disciplinary measures, especially so-called physical and emotional violence. In 2000, Section 1631 of the German Civil Code (Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch (BGB)) was changed, prohibiting the use of “physical punishment” and causing “psychological injuries” in children’s upbringing. Thus, concepts such as “emotional violence” and “psychological injuries” have made their way into German legislation, and also the preferential status of children’s rights over the rights of parents to decide how to bring up their children has been recognized. This means Germany has begun to apply forced foster care tools in its family policies.
Source: Rossa Primavera News Agency
