Twelve Tribes Germany update 9 / 2013 December 3

•   Complaints from parents of the controversial sect “twelve tribes” against the provisional withdrawal of custody has mostly been rejected the Nuremberg Higher Regional Court (OLG). [Source]
• …[The Twelve Tribes] lodged complaints before the Higher Regional Court of Nuremberg. As the Court announced on Monday, the judges dismissed the appeal now for seven of nine children. Only the two youngest children come back into the custody of their parents. [Source]
•  Two toddlers, a 17-year-old girl and a 15-year-old boy have been officially allowed to live with their parents… since Monday. The Higher Regional Court of Nuremberg and the district court Nördlingen have lifted the temporary withdrawal of parental custody in these four cases. [Source]
• According to the Higher Regional Court … “for the seven older children, the current risk of corporal punishment” persists.  … Therefore, the seven older children remain with foster parents… [Source]
•  …The children should therefore initially remain with the foster parents, but may in regular contact with their biological parents… [Source]
• … the Senate saw no sufficient evidence that even the youngest children who are only a few months old to be threatened by physical punishment after several hearings. Only an actual threat to the child’s welfare could justify action under the provisional legal protection measures. In that regard, the Senate picked up the official court decision. The two babies are returned to the custody of their parents… [Source]
• …so far, the preliminary hearings have only given partial withdrawal of parental authority for the children as confirmed with individual cases. A final decision is pending the so-called main proceedings, which will take several months. [Source] see this also

In other news, two boys ran away from their foster parents and reappeared on sect grounds with their parents this week. The eldest was allowed to remain with his family after they agreed to send him to public school and he will not be beaten any longer.

• The elder may remain in Klosterzimmern after a judgment of Nördlinger District Court with his parents knew at the time of escape but nothing about it. [Source]
• The 13-year-old will be returned to the home. That done, probably later today. [Source]
•  The father of the boy had stated that his child is doing well, but he would not say where he is staying. The 13-year-old should decide where he wanted to live. [Source]

Honestly, for me, this is a terrible turn of events. Parents who believe that their children will be purged of sin and their souls saved from hell by regular beatings; especially those who believe children as young as a couple days old should be whipped — will continue beating their children until they learn a better way.

Update: 4.12.2013 The thirteen-year-old child is still missing.

• Six police officers and three employees of the youth office searched on the site of the sect in Klosterzimmern unsuccessful after him. …the search has been amplified according to Beck. [Source]

• The boy’s whereabouts are unknown to the authorities. Therefore, the search has been intensified as they continue to work to return the boy [to the foster home]. [Source]