The missing eleven-year-old girl, who lived with foster parents in the Dillingen district until October, is not allowed to stay with her birth parents. The Dillingen district court ruled on Monday. The parents, who belong to the controversial “Twelve Tribes” sect, have gone into hiding with the girl. They had applied for a retransfer of parental custody.
The girl was placed with a foster family at the age of three. In the case of the “Twelve Tribes”, courts had previously determined that rods, among other things, were used for corporal punishment of children up to the age of 13. The competent family judge at the district court has now ruled that the eleven-year-old is still at risk of being beaten by her parents. Parts of the custody of the girl, such as residence and health care, are therefore still in the hands of the youth welfare office in Dillingen.
Despite the judge’s explicit request, the parents did not appear at the court hearing. Since October, the eleven-year-old has apparently been back with her father and mother, who are probably currently living in the Czech Republic, but the authorities cannot find them. She had not returned to her foster parents on October 16 after jogging. Shortly thereafter, the foster father received emails from the faith community that the girl was fine. The parents are being searched for across Europe on suspicion of child abduction.
The judge said that the fact that the parents are afraid of being arrested cannot be used as an excuse for their absence from court. He ended the case without a hearing. A video questioning of the girl was suggested to the court, the judge said, but this would not have been meaningful enough. The child cannot say what it wants without being influenced.
Parents can appeal the verdict. The youth welfare office continues to search for the eleven-year-old. Some time ago, the parents had regained custody of the girl’s older brother after a probationary period.