Karlsruhe/Frankfurt (dpa/lhe) – The removal of a most likely abused child from his family can be justified even if there is no hundred percent evidence. The Federal Constitutional Court made this clear in a decision published on Friday. It was about a case that had previously dealt with the Frankfurt Higher Regional Court (OLG).
The Federal Constitutional Court emphasized that a separation from the parents is only permitted under strict conditions. However, these are fulfilled if “a significant risk can be foreseen with reasonable certainty,” the judges in Karlsruhe said. The principle applies here: The worse the feared damage to the child, the lower the requirements for the degree of probability. (Az. 1 BvR 1807/20)
The specific case concerned an infant who had suffered a femur fracture a few weeks after birth in an incident that could not be precisely explained. The parents claimed that it suddenly “cracked” while changing the diaper. Several medical experts, on the other hand, came to the conclusion that the father must have twisted the leg with massive force. Shortly thereafter, when changes were also found in the child’s skull, which the doctors attributed to a shaking trauma, the youth welfare office intervened. Parents were later stripped of most of their custody.
They had lodged a constitutional complaint against this – unsuccessfully. The Frankfurt Higher Regional Court, which was last involved in the case, “allowed a degree of certainty to be sufficient that silences doubts without completely excluding them”. The constitutional judges ruled that nothing more was required. Because security that is irrefutable in every respect would be practically impossible to achieve.
