![]() In Baby M's case, she says, the only solution is for the government to step in. Protests have been held in several Indian cities and in Frankfurt and Darmstadt in Germany demanding repatriation of the Indian child to IndiaĪ better solution in cases like these, Ms Aiyar says, would be for the state to assign social workers to help families look after their children. "The role and actions of youth welfare offices are often seen as too far-reaching… Foreign parents feel disadvantaged compared to German parents." In a new report released in May, the EP said its Committee on Petitions still receives complaints about Jugendamt. In a scathing report in 2018, the EP accused the organisation of discrimination, being unfair to children of migrants, and harming the rights of both parents and the children they confiscate. The role of Jugendamt in cross-border family disputes has also been criticised by the European Parliament. The assumption is that it's a brilliant solution, and needs no further discussion." ![]() Suranya Aiyar, former lawyer and activist who helped the Indian family in Norway and is now helping Baby M's parents, says such cases are not uncommon. They were eventually returned to India a year later. The dispute over Baby M has revived memories of a similar case from 2011 when two Indian children were taken from their parents in Norway. If he intervenes, my daughter can come back," she says. Another politician asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take up the matter with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz when he visits Delhi next month for the G-20 summit.ĭia too is now appealing to the prime minister to intervene. In Delhi, Dia has met officials from the Indian ministry of external affairs (MEA) and lobbied dozens of MPs who have sent a letter to the German Ambassador Phillip Ackerman to repatriate the toddler to India.Īn MP urged the government to take the necessary steps to bring her back. ![]() The BBC has reached out to Jugendamt and their response is awaited.īaby M's case has received a lot of attention in India and Germany - protests have been held in several Indian cities and by the Indian diaspora in Frankfurt and Darmstadt and support has poured in for the parents. The secrecy surrounding our baby is totally bizarre."ĭia accuses the German authorities of "snatching my child because of cultural differences and miscommunication" - she says she can't speak German and the translator she was given spoke Hindi but did not know Gujarati. "We have no information on who is caring for her since she was moved from foster care to the centre for children with special needs. A court-appointed psychologist also recommended that one of the parents live with Baby M in a parent-child facility supervised by a caregiver.īut last week, Jugendamt informed the parents that "all visitations with their daughter have been cancelled as there is no one to pick and drop her", says Dia, alleging that they have not even been allowed to video-call the child. So, she has now spent nearly two years in foster care, and her parents say they have been allowed little contact with her - despite social workers who were assigned to the family describing them as "loving and caring" parents and describing the child's interactions with them as "consistently positive, joyful and curious". They added that they believed that "her injuries could've been worsened because of all the invasive examinations" she was put through.īut the child protection authorities said they didn't think that Baby M would be safe at home - a contention the court agreed with.īaby M's mother is currently in Delhi to drum up support in her fight to bring the child back to India ![]() It was impossible that parents intentionally inflicted injuries on her repeatedly and then rushed her to the doctors," they said in a report submitted in court. "The injury highly likely was caused by an accident. Two independent doctors from the US and India who saw the baby's medical records agreed with that assessment. ![]() The parents say they believe the injury was accidental. The hospital where she was treated cleared them later, with doctors certifying that "there was no evidence" to suggest sexual abuse and the police closed the case without pressing charges. The child protection services took her away saying they suspected sexual abuse - an accusation the family denied. It has one doctor saying that they'd "never seen such a severe genital injury in an infant" and that she needed surgery to fix it. The family moved to Berlin in 2018 when Amit got a job there and Baby M was born on 2 February 2021.Īccording to court documents, at the centre of the family's row with the authorities is a genital injury Baby M suffered when she was seven months old. Dia, who is currently in Delhi to drum up support in her fight to bring the child back to India, dissolves into tears while talking to the BBC about being separated from her daughter. ![]()
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