Who Owns the Children?

There was a recent decision in a German court that ought to give every-freedom loving American the willies—especially because the same mentality can be found here.

The case involved a conscientious Christian home-schooling family. The judge ruled that the four children of the Wunderlich family—taken forcibly by the state from the parents last summer—are not to be returned to the family since home-schooling is illegal in Germany.

The judge ruled that this was for the children’s “well-being,” according to Peter Baklinski, writing for LifeSiteNews.com (1/17/14). He says the judge feared the homeschooled children might “grow up in a parallel society without having learned to be integrated or to have a dialogue with those who think differently and facing them in the sense of practicing tolerance.”

“Tolerance”? Why is it that those who always invoke tolerance are the least tolerant amongst us?

Michael Donnelly of the Virginia-based group, the HSLDA (Home School Legal Defense Association) says, “HSLDA is working with the family’s lawyers to obtain their release and see that they are permitted to freely homeschool, if not in Germany, then elsewhere.”

There is another German family, the Romeikes, that came to America for religious asylum. In their native country, they too ran afoul of the government for trying to protect their children from some of the anti-Christian influences in the German public schools—the same kind of influences often found in American public schools for that matter.

Who knows better than the parents what is in the children’s best interest? Hasn’t God given the parents the responsibility of their children, even if they delegate that teaching to others? Is it not still in the place of the parents, “in loco parentis”?

The Obama Administration seems to bent on helping illegal immigrants, but they’re actively working to oust the Romeike family (which has abided by all the immigration laws) from the US, as this case winds itself through the courts.

Todd Starnes of Foxnews.com wrote (3/5/13): “German authorities demanded the family stop home schooling. They faced thousands of dollars in fines and they initially took away their children in a police van. German state constitutions require children attend public schools.”

Del Tackett of the Truth Project who’s met the Romeikes, writes (4/3/13), “They are an awesome family. The American people have welcomed them with open arms. They are free here. They are happy here. But the Administration doesn’t want them.”

Attorney Michael Farris founded the HSDLA, which is also helping the Romeike family, says: “The Obama administration is basically saying there is no right to home school anywhere.”

In reference to German restrictions of homeschooling, Farris adds: “That means they don’t want to have significant numbers of people who think differently than what the government thinks….It’s an incredibly dangerous assertion that people can’t think in a way that the government doesn’t approve of.”

Who made home-schooling illegal in Germany? “Der Fuhrer” in 1938. But the law is still on the books and is still being enforced.

In fact, William Shirer, author of “The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich,” points out, “The German schools, from first grade through the universities, were quickly Nazified.”


Hitler later declared on May 1, 1937: “This new Reich will give its youth to no one, but will itself take youth and give to youth its own education and its own upbringing.”

Please note: I am not saying that those who oppose homeschooling, including the judge in Germany or officials here in America, are Nazis or akin to Hitler. But we need to see the statist context in which this anti-homeschooling law was passed in the first place.

In a 2008 ruling by the California Court of Appeal, Justice Walter H. Crosky wrote, “…parents do not have a constitutional right to homeschool their children.”

Again, who is responsible for the children, the parents or the state? A motto in the founding era still holds true: “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.”

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