“There’s no place like home!” is the usual mantra for homeschool families. Not the Romeike family, however. They believe passionately about homeschooling but home is the last place they want to be.
Here is why.
Uwe and Hannalore Romeike and their 7 children are German. In 2008, when the Romeike’s felt the public school ideology was in opposition to their faith, they removed their children and began to homeschool. However, in Germany, homeschooling is illegal. The Romeikes faced confrontations with German officials and fines of 7000 euros (over $9000 USD) for their decision to homeschool. Fearful of being jailed or having their children taken from them, the Romeike family came to the US and sought asylum. Asylum was initially granted, but then revoked upon appeal. The Romeike family was facing deportation. The issue was brought to the US Supreme Court which announced on March 3, 2014 that they would not hear the asylum appeal. Deportation was imminent. This homeschool family was going home to lack of educational choice at best and jail or family dissolution at worst.
But the next day, March 4, 2014, the Romeike’s attorney, Michael Donnelly of the Home School Legal Defense Association, received a call from Department of Homeland Security. The deportation proceedings had been deferred indefinitely.
The Romeike family is allowed to stay in the US!
Of course the Romeike family is rejoicing. And so are the many people who rallied around them during this difficult ordeal. More than 127,000 people had petitioned President Obama on the Romeike’s behalf.
There is another German family whose story does not yet have such a happy ending. The children of Dirk and Petra Wunderlich were taken at gunpoint in August 2013 because the family had chosen to homeschool. The family was reunited after they agreed to send their children to public school. When they requested to be allowed to leave Germany to live in a country that would permit them to homeschool, their request was denied. A judge informed them that if they left before their December hearing, they would be brought back to face criminal charges. Following the December 18, 2013 hearing, Judge Marcus Malkmus refused to reinstate permanent parental custody of the children. This refusal means they must stay in Germany and the children must remain in public school. The Homes School Legal Defense Association’s update of the Wunderlich family chose the title, “Judge Rebuilds ‘Berlin Wall’ Just for Homeschoolers.”
The irony is inescapable – in the US many families choose to homeschool to provide a safer environment for their children. In other places of the world, the choice to homeschool is anything but safe.
Sources:
http://news.msn.com/us/german-home-school-family-wont-be-deported?ocid=ansnews11
http://www.hslda.org/LandingPages/Wunderlich/
Copyright © 2014 J. Hoffman / Global Student Network
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