Children belong to the government, not their parents.
On Thursday, the European Court of Human Rights rejected the appeal of a German couple who wanted to homeschool their kids.
Homeschooling is illegal in Germany.
Dirk and Petra Wunderlich, however, attempted to do so anyway.
When their oldest child, who is now 19, reached school age in 2005, the couple refused to register her in school—preferring instead to homeschool. The Wunderlichs paid a variety of fines along the way for violating the law, but refused to change their minds.
Eventually, all four of their kids were taken away by the government in 2013.
The Wunderlichs were able to get their kids back three weeks later, after educators found that the kids’ “knowledge level” was sufficient for their ages and the couple agreed to send their kids to approved schools.
However, the couple later sued the government, arguing that their rights to privacy of home and family life were violated when their kids were removed.
However, the court sided against the Wunderlichs, ruling that “relevant and sufficient reasons for the withdrawal of some parts of the parents’ authority, and the temporary removal of the children from their family home.”
Basically, that means homeschooling will continue to be illegal in Germany… and that the government has the right to take kids away from their parents if their parents don’t comply.
“After years of legal struggles, this is extremely frustrating for us and our children,” said Dirk Wunderlich.