After a German court gave complete custody of a 27-month-old Indian girl child to a foster home there, her anguished parents have announced they will appeal to a higher court and have asked the Indian government for all assistance in their struggle.
“The court decision has left us in shambles. It was entirely opposite of our expectations. “We can’t even imagine what our child must be going through on her own,” said the girl’s father, Bhavesh Shah.
“However, this is not the end. “We have a lot more to do until we get her back home,” he asserted.
Berlin’s Pankow Local Court earlier this week granted full custody of the child to a German state foster home on the grounds that she sustained multiple physical abuse by either of her parents which led to a skull fracture when she was a toddler and also that she had a genital injury.
The local court determined that the child’s best interests were jeopardised, and full custody was awarded to German child services, leaving the girl’s parents, Bhavesh and mother Dhara Shah, with no choice but to appeal the verdict to a higher court. They have also approached India’s Ministry of External Affairs for assistance.
The couple’s daughter has been in foster care in Berlin since September 2021, when German authorities withdrew her from her parents after the seven-month-old girl suffered genital injuries allegedly caused by Dhara’s mother, who had come to visit with the pair in Berlin.
“We see this verdict to be completely against us. There is absolutely no importance given to our appeal,” Bhavesh told CNBC-TV18.
“We are fighting for full custody of our own daughter who was forcefully taken away from us by the German authorities on mere speculations of us assaulting her. The court has observed that we as parents are not physically capable of taking care of our child.”
He further stated that they were unaware of the actual details of the judgement, and that the German authorities were taking their time in sending the court order, which was also incredibly time consuming.
Bhavesh observed that the same Pankow court “ruled out charges of sexual abuse in its earlier 2021 ruling, and in February 2022, they discontinued the preliminary proceedings against us.”
After an inquiry by German authorities, the assault charges were dismissed during the trial in 2022, but officials accused the parents of negligence. The parents’ case was later closed, and no official charges were filed against them.
However, the bone of contention in the entire matter is the full custody of the child for which both Bhavesh and Dhara have filed lawsuits in Berlin and have requested the custody transfer to Indian welfare services institutions.
The court then ordered a psychologist to conduct an evaluation of the parents which was completed in 2022. The psychologist’s recommendation report seen by CNBC-TV18 says that the child should be placed with either parent in a parent-and-child facility, with the other parent regularly visiting her and contact should continue in the usual way until the next court decision.
The Pankow court had suggested that the parents be allowed visitation to meet the child and then in May, German Child Services picked up the girl from her earlier foster home where she was living for almost 20 months and shifted her to an institute which is meant for children with special needs where she continues to stay as of now.
“In its final decision, the court contradicted itself and reversed earlier observations in which the charges were dropped against us, and both myself and my wife have been named for negligence, so neither of us can get custody of her.” We don’t know what the current status of visitation and other privileges is. My daughter’s passport is likewise in the hands of the authorities, and my visa is about to expire. It is quite apparent that we are appealing this ruling and proceeding to a higher court in order to obtain full custody and return our child to us. We are requesting a meeting with our External Affairs Minister in order to expedite our plan of action through diplomatic channels. We entrust our daughter’s homecoming to all 130 crore Indians and we are confident of seeing a positive action at the earliest,” Bhavesh added.