On 20 December Informatia IRL received an announcement about a protest that was to be organized at the German Embassy in Dublin by some members of the Romanian community in Ireland.
We reproduce below the text of these invitations:
“Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep.”
(Romans 12:15)
Peace brethren!
As we announced, we want to have a protest action to be close to and support the case of the Furdui family in Germany. To this end on 14 December 2021, an organising meeting was held to which leaders of Pentecostal churches in Dublin were invited. Following the meeting we consider that the following details of the organisation of the protest should be published to the participating churches and other interested participants. Please publish them in your media!
1. Date and place of protest: 22 December 2021, 2.30pm, Address: 31 Trimleston Ave, Merrion, Booterstown, Co. Dublin, A94 TX94
– We expect every brother and sister in every church to attend. We need to remember that it is possible for any parent to end up in such a situation, and our unity matters at such times.
– We ask everyone to make arrangements with parking as possible. This area is not very generous in parking, but we ask each participant to organise themselves as best they can.
– We ask each participant to respect the indications of the organising team and the security people assigned for this activity.
2. Organisation of materials:
– Participants who wish will receive banners and protest-specific materials from the organisers.
– Teddy bears or plush toys, Christmas cards to be sent to the children of the Furdui family. These materials to be brought by the children who participate. We ask everyone to pack the teddy bears in clear plastic so that they don’t get wet in case it rains and it gets wet where they will be stored until their destination.
3. COVID prevention measures:
– Each participant to have sanitary mask.
– As far as possible stay in families.
– Those with symptoms of illness are asked not to participate.
4. Organise publicity:
– We ask participants not to publish any materials from the protest other than the official ones put up by the organizing team. We would like the publication of the protest to be done efficiently.”
THE PREMISE OF THE ARTICLE
On the basis of the above invitation we tried to find out more information about this protest and about the case of the Furdui family that reached the Romanian community in Ireland, more precisely through the Pentecostal churches in Ireland.
FIRST COMMUNICATION DIFFICULTIES
As stated in the invitation above, the leaders of the Pentecostal churches decided to organise this protest. IRL Information tried to contact the organizers and ask for more details about this protest, details about how this case is perceived in the Romanian community in Ireland, what the community thinks about this case, what they know about this case and other organizational details.
We were able to speak to very few people in the Pentecostal community, the vast majority of whom said that they were not in a position to discuss this protest or the case itself, citing that they did not want to give statements in case they did not have a full picture of the case, but they still support the Furdui family in their efforts to get their children back.
The protest has been notified to the Irish authorities and has received all necessary legal approvals.
One of the organizers of the protest told us that the protest in Dublin is part of an action carried out in several countries where there are Romanian communities and with the involvement of Christians from different denominations, who defend the unity of the family and campaign for the state not to separate parents from children, but where appropriate to find solutions that are truly in the best interest of the child. In Dublin there was a meeting with the German ambassador where he was handed a petition with almost 10,000 signatures initiated by Romanians in Ireland who support the case of the Furdui family.
This was the most important information we received from the organizers who referred us to https://furduifamily.org/ for more allegedly “real” information about the case.
Informatia IRL contacted the German Embassy in Dublin, which told us on 21 December that it was aware of a protest outside the embassy headquarters on 22 December. In connection with the case, the embassy spokesman told Informatia IRL that the German Child Protection Service is not allowed to give details of the case to third parties, in this case to Informatia IRL’s reporter. However, the embassy representative told us that the Furdui family’s custody decision was decided by a German court and the family has the right to appeal.
The protest took place at the announced date and time and according to people who were not participating in the protest, there were several dozen people. Asked by an Informatia IRL reporter if it was true that several dozen people attended, organizers declined to answer.
On the Facebook page Support the Furdui Family a thank-you poster states that 300 people attended in Dublin.
HOW IS THE CASE PRESENTED BY FAMILY ADVOCATES?
According to furduifamily.org we learn that the Furdui family is a Romanian family that has been living in Walsrode, Germany for nine years. The family has 7 children: David – 15 years old, Naomi – 14 years old, Estera – 13 years old, Natalia – 12 years old, Ruben – 11 years old, Albert – 9 years old and Lea – 1 year old. Peter works in the field of installation and interior design and Camelia is a housewife, devoting all her time to caring for and raising children.
Supporters of the family say that they have lived happily, in the spirit of Christian principles, with respect and love for God and their fellow human beings, and that the family is a well-balanced, educated, well-mannered family, free from abuse or excess.
On 26 April 2021, the website writes that the German state, through the child protection institution JUGENDAMT, has confiscated their children without notice and without a social investigation. It was all done quickly, abusively, WITHOUT RIGHT OF DEFENCE OR PROTEST, adds the editor of that page. Around lunchtime, two people from the Jugendamt came and picked up the 4 children who were at home at that time, including the little girl of only one year old, telling the parents that the other 3 children would be taken straight from school.
At the moment, they are unjustifiably kept in two homes and the youngest girl in a surrogate family. The children have expressed in various ways their wish to come home and be with their parents, but this is not taken into account.
JUGENDAMT offered the parents absolutely no help or advice on what should be improved in the relationship between parents and children. It offers no support whatsoever in the direction of family reunification; on the contrary, it tries in every way to alienate children from their parents.
PROTESTS
Based on the above information, the page also titled “Support the Furdui Family” is the driving force and Facebook event creator of these protests, including the Dublin protest. They also appear to have media exclusivity when it comes to images from the protests, with participants prohibited from posting on social media anything other than what is approved. Contacted by IRL News, the administrators of the site pointed us to one of the pastors of the Pentecostal church Bethany as the one in charge in Ireland of organizing the protest.
The page is created by a group calling itself simply Family Supporters. Under the “GET INVOLVED” section there is a letter appealing for donations, which came from the extended family and supporters. There is also a donation page on Go Fund Me which has so far raised no less than €38,000.
Protests usually have the same messages, the same format, the same design.
We quote some of them: “Germany, stop kidnapping children!”, “Jugendamt = destroyer of families”, “Jugendamt = killer of childhood”, “Germany – give back children to the family”, “Children belong to the family”, “Don’t separate families!”, “Germany steals 7 children!”. Most of these messages are in English, regardless of where the protest is taking place.
WHAT IS THE POSITION OF THE GERMAN STATE IN THIS CASE?
As the German Embassy has informed us, the Jugendamt does not provide details of this case to third parties and yet they were communicated to the Romanian authorities at some point after the family gave their consent to disclose confidential data in this case.
What did the German MFA say in the meeting with the Romanian authorities at the Romanian Embassy in Berlin?
The Jugendamt, while not providing public information about the case at first, later provided the MFA with some information that is crucial to the overall picture of the case.
It should be noted that, according to the Romanian authorities, the family did not ask for Romania’s help in this case and did not contact the Romanian Embassy to ask for help.
However, the Romanian Embassy in Berlin has initiated a first contact with Mrs Miclău Camelia, the mother of the children. According to the mother and the official documents of the MFA that Informatia IRL has in its possession, the mother stated that on 26 April all seven children were taken into custody by the Jugendamt with the parents’ consent. The mother said at the time that the family is already being counseled, has lawyers specializing in family law and does not want representation from the Romanian Embassy.
However, the Embassy asked several German authorities in the Heidekreis district and the town of Walsrode for information about the case. The Embassy has also asked the German Foreign Ministry for support. The Heide Child Protection Office has reportedly refused to provide concrete details of the ongoing investigation, citing confidentiality obligations under national law. However, due to the concern of the Romanian authorities, the German institution has communicated to the Romanian authorities that there is a suspicion of a danger to the welfare of children and this is being verified by specific means.
On 6 May, the Romanian Embassy had an official meeting with the representative of the Legal Department of the German Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs, responsible for the issue of minors under guardianship and family law.To deal with matters related to guardianship you can also seek special trusts attorneys help in Texas. During the discussion, the Romanian state invoked the paramount interest of the children’s welfare and the wave of emotions generated by this case, which could further jeopardize bilateral discussions.
The German MFA representative informed the Romanian authorities that as a rule diplomatic missions are informed when a final court decision is taken. The representative assured the Romanian state that there is no question of a violation of the law by the Jugendamt, especially as the final decision belongs to a court of law.
The representative of the German MFA rejected as unfounded and unfair the accusations circulated in the Romanian public space, according to which the decision to take custody of children is based on the confession or nationality of the family.
FAMILY STATEMENTS
On 6 May the court decided to maintain the temporary custody of the minors by the local child protection authority.
What did the parents say?
The parents told representatives of the Romanian Embassy in Berlin that during the hearing, all six older children said that the youngest girl, aged 1 year and 4 months, had been beaten by her parents. They all said they had received physical correction from their parents, even several times a day. The three boys, aged 15, 10 and 9, refuse any contact with their parents and consider themselves well integrated in the new format, while the three older daughters aged 14, 13 and 12 claimed they would accept to return home. Both parents said of their own volition that they had been corrected, but not as often as the children claim, nor so intensely as to leave marks of violence on their bodies. The court said that such practices, even if they had taken place in the past, would still be relevant to the case.
It is only now that the parents have accepted an exemption from the German authorities’ confidentiality obligations and the Romanian authorities have obtained more details. The family’s lawyer has also spoken to the embassy representatives and according to information obtained by Informatia IRL he is reported to have stated that “essentially from the perspective of the legal situation, it is according to the children’s statements and reactions that the parents’ acts of violence against the children would have been of a regular nature, with physical correction being applied even several times a day.”
The lawyer said that given the children’s statements and reactions, this court decision was somehow inevitable both legally and ethically.
The lawyer said his goals at the time were to file an appeal to the higher court and to establish a schedule of regular contact between the children and their parents. The lawyer also said that the three older boys rejected the idea of regular contact with their parents.
WHAT HAS THE German Child Protection Authority, the one so contested by Romanian protesters, including those in Ireland, DECLARED?
On 6 June, the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs received an information note from the Jugendamt.
The local child protection authority (JUGENDAMT) stated in writing that on 26 April this year, it had been informed of a situation of danger to the welfare of the Furdui children. The authority organised a discussion with the eldest boy in the presence of several social and child protection officers. From the discussion it emerged that the younger girl and the boys are regularly subjected to corporal punishment by their parents. The girls are also under immense psychological pressure, the information note said.
Representatives went to the family’s home, where the mother repeatedly denied inflicting physical punishment on the children and indicated that she would not have any sticks in the house. After explaining the legal consequences of a refusal to take custody of the children, the parents agreed that the children should be taken to a Jugendamt care facility.
The JUGENDAMT stated that according to German legal provisions the minors had to be taken into care immediately. The state of danger was assessed to consist of: corporal punishment up to physical violence used as a method of educating and raising children; massive psychological pressure; treating physical and psychological violence as “normal”; lack of access of children to people outside the family; lack of social links with other children outside the classroom and the faith community; lack of understanding and acceptance of problems by parents.
The measure to take custody of the children was confirmed by a court decision of 6 May this year, the German Local Authority for Child Protection said.
From 11 May parents can see their youngest child weekly in the presence of a case manager and from 20 May parents can visit all their other children in the presence of their carers.
This information has been confirmed by the parents and including images on the above page.
FINAL
The parents are advised by several lawyers and try by all means to recover the children. On their own initiative, they have started a series of psycho-pedagogical training sessions on the upbringing and education of their children, most probably on the recommendation of a lawyer.
The extended family and supporters continue to say that this is an unjust decision and the children are being illegally detained, which is why the protests will continue.
Are these protests helping?
One of the protest organisers in Ireland thinks so. He believes the protests helped the Bodnariu family in Norway in a similar case and that’s why the Pentecostal community will stand by the Furdui family. He says that the Bodnariu family’s case demonstrated the abuse of child protection in Norway and that case helps to expose other abuses of families such as JUGENDAMT’s abuse of the Furdui family.
