Indian parents seek return of toddler taken away by German child services

By Rabia Ali

ISTANBUL (AA) – When it was time for Ariha to say goodbye to her parents after an hour-long meeting last week, the toddler became restless.

She scurried around, visibly agitated, gesturing for her parents to stay.

“When 60 minutes are over and Ariha knows she has to put on her jacket and leave, she starts running around,” her father Bhavesh Shah told Anadolu in a video interview.

Once in every 20 days, Bhavesh and his wife Dhara get to spend an hour with their daughter at a designated place in Berlin.

That is because Ariha has been in foster care in Germany since September 2021, when she was seven months old.

She was taken away from her parents by the German Youth Welfare Office, or Jugendamt, on initial charges of sexual abuse and, later, negligence.

The toddler’s case has become a diplomatic issue between India and Germany, with New Delhi recently ramping up calls for Ariha’s repatriation, specifically citing her “social, cultural and linguistic rights.”

Indian officials have also offered to collaborate with German authorities to ensure that Ariha is placed in foster care in India.

According to the parents, a court in Germany is expected to take a decision on her custody on June 15.

“She has the right to go back to India, with us or without us. So please respect the rights of the child, respect the culture of the child,” said Dhara.​

While Ariha’s case is receiving international attention because of the diplomatic aspect, it is far from an anomaly for German social services to separate young children from their families.

Data from the German statistical office Destatis shows youth welfare offices in the country took “roughly 45,400 children and young people temporarily into care” in 2020.

One in 10 of these children, or 11%, were younger than 3 years, while one-third, 33%, were younger than 12 years, according to the official figures.

- How did Ariha end up in foster care?

In 2018, Bhavesh landed a job at a software company in Germany and the couple relocated from India. Three years later, Ariha was born in Berlin.

“She is a first child and, you know, the first child is always special,” Dhara recalled with a smile.

This was February 2021 and the couple was planning to move back to India later that year since Bhavesh’s work visa was expiring the next year.

However, on a fateful day that September, their plans – and life as they knew it – fell apart.

Ariha, then seven months old, had been home with her paternal grandmother, who was visiting from India.

When Bhavesh and Dhara returned, they noticed spots of blood in the baby’s diaper and rushed her to their pediatrician.

According to the couple, the doctor assured them that all was well and there was no active bleeding, but recommended a visit to the hospital for their own peace of mind.

Ariha was examined by multiple doctors at the hospital, who assured the parents that there was no need to worry, saying the bleeding “could be a hormonal thing.”

When they went in for a follow-up four days later, the parents were told Ariha had a perineal external injury, which means an injury in the genital region.

As the parents were busy conferring with doctors, Jugendamt officials took away Ariha, without giving any explanation.

“We could have never imagined, never thought this would happen. It was so horrible. It was a very difficult time for us. I was begging them to return my daughter,” Dhara told Anadolu.

Later the couple came to know through a lawyer that they were accused of sexually abusing their child.

The parents have always vehemently denied the charges.

After an investigation, the Shahs said they were cleared of sexual abuse charges in February 2022.

Instead, they were charged with negligence, and German authorities said Ariha would remain in foster care.

- ‘Accidental injury’

The parents are adamant that Ariha suffered an “accidental injury.”

According to them, she was playing without her diaper, which was left off because of a rash, and hurt herself by sitting on one of her toys.

We waited a year for the hospital’s medical, which essentially said the same thing, the father said.

“The report said she was without a diaper and must have sat on some sharp object, which was further aggravated by the actions of the grandmother,” he explained.

The injury was worsened because of invasive examinations by doctors, he added.

As they planned their legal defense, the parents said they consulted various doctors and were given examples of at least 35 cases of similar accidental injuries cited in medical journals.

In December 2022, over a year after Ariha was first placed in foster care, a German court appointed a psychologist to evaluate Bhavesh and Dhara.

According to the couple, the psychologist recommended that Ariha should stay with her parents in a parent-child facility, where they would be provided help to improve their parenting skills.

The Shahs were in India last month to garner government support, reaching out to various officials.

However, they rushed back to Germany after finding out that Ariha was moved from her home with an elderly German lady to a center for children with special needs.

The parents are hoping for a favorable court decision soon, but believe the Jugendamt will try to argue on the “continuity” principle and that moving Ariha to India will be a “culture shock” for her.

- Diplomatic row

India is pressing for the child’s return, stressing that the her “best interests … can be fully realized only when she is in her home country, where her sociocultural rights can be safeguarded.”

“We have been requesting Germany to return the child to India. Our embassy has been repeatedly requesting German authorities to ensure that Ariha’s connection with our cultural, religious and linguistic background is not compromised,” Arindam Bagchi, spokesperson for India’s External Affairs Ministry, said in a news briefing earlier this month.

“Unfortunately, our requests in this regard for safeguarding Ariha’s national and cultural identity have not been met,” he said, adding that her “social, cultural and linguistic rights” are being violated.

He said the child’s “nationality and sociocultural background is the most important determinant of where her foster care is to be provided.”

“We urge German authorities to do all that is necessary to send Ariha to India at the earliest, which is also her inalienable right as an Indian national,” the official said.

Bagchi said India has told German authorities that there are “potential foster parents in India who are willing to bring up the child in her own socio-cultural milieu.”

Adding to the push, more than 50 parliamentarians have written to the German ambassador in India, demanding the baby’s repatriation.

The issue was also brought up during German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock’s trip to India last December.

In his June 2 media briefing, Bagchi said the top German diplomat had conveyed during the visit “that the German side was … ‘also bearing in mind the cultural identity of each child that is taken care of by the youth offices in Germany’.”

Baerbock also spoke about Ariha in an interview with Indian daily The Hindu. According to a transcript on the German Foreign Ministry’s website, she said the case was “in the hands of competent German child welfare authorities … (who) are legally bound to put the child’s interest first.”

German authorities, otherwise, have been silent about the case. The Germany Embassy in New Delhi refused to comment when approached by Indian news outlets, and also did not respond to Anadolu’s queries.