Indian authorities working to reunite a two-year-old child stuck in German foster care with her parents said sexual assault charges levied against the family were a complication in the matter. A campaign to “save” the child and bring her back to her home country of India is gaining momentum.
According to top-level sources, the case to reunite the child with her parents, who are in Mumbai to meet Indian authorities, became complicated as German authorities had levied sexual assault charges against the family.
Sources said efforts were in place and coordination with the German authorities was on at a government and ministerial level to ensure that the child was handed over to her parents. But a report prepared by the authorities in Germany showed that apart from “improper parenting”, there were sexual assault charges against the family, sources added.
The parents said they intended to meet foreign minister Dr S Jaishankar on their visit to Delhi, as other countries’ governments had also intervened to help those who were facing a similar problem in Germany.
The child has lived in foster care for over a year and a half, and was only seven months old when she was separated from her parents. Ever since, they have been allowed to meet her only once every 15 to 20 days.
The family said the child had a genital injury when they took her to a hospital, which informed the German government following which she was taken away. The parents further said the German authorities had closed the sexual assault case against them without charges, but did not return their child to them.
Now, Berlin Child Services has filed a civil custody case for the termination of parental rights against them. The parents are fighting a legal battle even as a trial is on in Germany to decide who gets custody of the child.
The parents said there were over 50,000 such children, who had been taken away from their families and lodged in foster care. Many parents from other nationalities were also facing a similar problem, they said, citing the case of a Romanian family that got its seven children back in 2020 after a long legal battle.
Only last month, the external affairs ministry said the Indian embassy was in touch with the family and German authorities to find a way forward.
“At present, we have a clean chit from a psychologist, who submitted in court that the child will be comfortable with the parents. But this is a long pending case; our next date is on March 31. We don’t really know how long this will drag,” said the father.
Over the past year and a half, the family and their community members have reached out to various authorities and started online petitions to reunite the child with her parents.
“I was not even allowed to pump milk and fill it in the bottle for her (the child). She was only seven months old and was being breastfed when they took her away. She wants to return and live with us but we have to go by the books,” said the mother.
The parents want to return to India as the father was laid off and will find it difficult to get another job in Germany. The couple had moved to the country in 2018. The child was born in Germany in 2020 and is an Indian passport holder.
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