Maybe you have just finished your morning devotions, when you hear a knock at the door. It is a bit early for visitors but you don't think anything of it. Your husband who hasn't yet left for work answers the door and notices that it is the officials and not just 1 or 2, but rather 20 police and social service agents standing at your door ready to knock your door down.
In fact they storm into your house as if you are terrorist or a horrible criminal. They use unnecessary force to take your four children aged 7-14 from your house. The children were taken from their home to unknown locations. "Officials ominously promised the parents that they would not be seeing their children any-time soon."
This is not the script for the latest blockbuster, or something that would happen in a communist country. This is exactly what happened to a family in Darmstadt, Germany, a so called "free country."
Wunderlich family
Surely the Wunderlich's family must be part of terrorist group or are drug dealers to have their home stormed by agents and to have their children forcibly and brutally taken from them that morning. Causing much fear to their children and neighbours, the only crime they committed was to home educate their children. There is no suspicion of abuse or neglect and the children were not suffering.
The judge who signed the official documents to have the children taken from their home signed a document allowing the use of brutal force to remove the children. This family has no prior convictions, no weapons and yet the state is authorising the use of force on the children to take the four children away from their parents all because the children believe the same as the parents, they believe in home schooling.
At one point the mother even tried to hug one of her children to offer them some comfort during the ordeal when a special agent elbowed her in the face saying "it is too late for that now." Authorities even took away their passports so that the family could not escape which is a violation of Human Rights.
Home schooling is illegal in Germany
Yes, home schooling is illegal in Germany. It has been since 1918, when the state passed a law making school attendance mandatory. The state wanted to control what was being taught to children. Was what the family did illegal? Yes, however, it is incredible that a state government can show up and cause utter chaos, use 'brutal force' and remove four innocent young children. The family was not putting up a fight against the police but all measures where used against them. The force used brought neighbours to tears as they watched the scene.
In Australia, we are blessed to be able to choose the type of education for our children. We can send them to private school, public school or home school them. We can choose what religion they learn at school, if any.
It is a freedom that we do take for granted, however these rights are being taken away little by little. We need to be aware of what the government is doing with our children's education, making sure that we keep the freedoms we have been granted. And sure, you are not going to have the authorities turn up at your door any time soon and swarm in to break up your family for your choice of educating your children.
Making sure that we don't lose the right to choose to send our children to Christian education, or to home school them. We need to fight to keep this freedom alive in Australia as many countries have been losing this battle. They are being forced to send their kids to a certain type of state school.
Keep a sharp eye on any law changes
Some laws recently have changed in Australia. "The New South Wales Board of Studies in Australia issued new regulations for home schoolers that include unannounced home visits, requesting permission to home school, and detailed curriculum and evaluation requirements. The Board of Studies (BoS), the department that oversees education in the state of New South Wales (NSW), implemented the new "Information Package on Registration for Homeschooling" on August 26th without any consultation with home schoolers."
Now how would teachers feel if all of sudden they had surprise unannounced visits to make sure they are following the curriculum or doing their job properly. Teachers would cry abuse, outrage. I am all for accountability but not for allowing more of the government into my house to be an ever watching eye.
Home schoolers already have facilitators who do home visits to make sure you are sticking to your curriculum and to help if you have any problems. I do not see why the government needs to add an extra surprise visit to the mixture. Do they not trust parents to do the best for their children?
What is next for home schooling families, a knock at the door by the authorities ready to take their children away because they missed an aspect of the curriculum?
We need to keep ourselves aware of what the government is doing. We need to be telling them what we want when it comes to education. We want freedom of choice for the parents and children. That it is the parents ultimate choice of how a child is educated and what is taught, it is not the state that tells the parent this but rather the parents tell the state this.
The family in Germany has finally had their children released from protective services on the condition that they attend regular school and no longer home school. For more information you can check out www.hslda.org
Genevieve Wilson is married with two children who served with YWAM for eight years in Brisbane and now serving in mission in Canada as a modern day abolitionist.
Genevieve Wilson's previous articles may be viewed at www.pressserviceinternational.org/genevieve-wilson.html