An international human rights group has intervened to convince German authorities to release a homeschool student taken to a psychiatric ward.

WND reported a week ago that German authorities assembled a team of about 20 police officers and other officials to take the teen from in front of her shocked family.

She was taken to a psychiatric ward after a diagnosis of "school phobia," according to reports from German homeschool supporters.

Then the Home School Legal Defense Association launched a campaign to have its supporters, mostly in the United States, contact the German embassy about the case.

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Now officials with the International Human Rights Group say they have assembled a list of German officials to contact on behalf of Melissa Busekros.

"German officials have taken 15-year-old Melissa Busekros from her family," the group said. "All of the facts surrounding this outrageous action of German legal and police authorities can be found in English at Netzwerk-Bildungsfreifeit," a German homeschool advocacy organization.

"The State's action clearly goes beyond what is justifiable. They took unreasonable measures for which they had no basis. They intimidated the family with a 'SWAT' team of 15 police officers to take captive a 15-year old unsuspecting girl early in the morning, taking her to a state psychiatrist," according to the IHRG.

"The psychiatrist, after hours of interrogation, wrote a report which claimed that Melissa had delayed educational development of one year and school phobia. The judge, basing her decision on this report, gave the custody of the child over to the state and placed the child in a psychiatric ward. This was all done in a sped-up action taking only four days. The family is devastated and has immediately appealed the judge's decision," the group's statement said.

"We are asking you, and everyone you know, to take action and send an e-mail to the officials listed below. Your e-mail should let them know that you do not support their actions which violate religious liberties and parental rights laws around the world, including in Germany. Then ask the official to please use the authority of their position to have Melissa released back into the custody of her parents. Also, e-mail the court and ask them to reinstate the custody rights of the Busekros parents," the group said.

The contacts, provided by the IHRG, include:

Youth Welfare Office
Director: Edeltraud H?llerer
Rathaus
Rathausplatz 1
91052 Erlangen
Tel. +49 9131 86-2844
Fax +49 9131 86-2438
Mail:
edeltraud.hoellerer@stadt.erlangen.de
Or stadtjugendamt@stadt.erlangen.de
Responsible Official
Monika Muzenhardt
Mail:
monika.muzenhardt@stadt.erlangen.de

Mayor of the Town of Erlangen
Dr. Siegfried Balleis
Rathausplatz 1
91052 Erlangen
Fon: +49 [0] 9131 86-0
Fax: +49 [0] 9131 86-26 92
Mail: ob@stadt.erlangen.de

Local Court Erlangen
Family court
Richterin Frank-Daupin
Mozartstra?e 23
91052 Erlangen
Tel. +49 9131-782 01
Fax +49 9131/782-361
(No Email address available)

Minister of Justice in Bavaria
Beate Merk
Prielmayerstr. 7
80335 M?nchen
Tel. +49 89 5597 1799
Fax +49 89 5597 3580
Email: beate.merk@stmj.bayern.de

Clinic N?rnberg-Nord/Psychatrie
Prof.-Ernst-Nathan-Str. 1
90419 N?rnberg
chief physician: Prof. J?rg Wiesse
Email: joerg.wiesse@klinikum-nuernberg.de

Assistant Medical Director
Dr. Schanda
(Responsible for the survey of Melissa)
Tel: 0911-398-3877
Fax: 0911-398-3261
Email: KJP_B@klinikum-nuernberg.de
axel.froelich@klinikum-nuernberg.de

Letters of encouragement can be sent to Melissa at:

Melissa Busekros Klinikum Nuernberg-Nord
Haus 48 B
Prof.-Ernst-Nathan-Str. 1
D-90419 Nuerenberg
GERMANY

"Our prayer is that we can work together to end this nightmare for this family. Please know that the International Human Rights Group is working with the family and attorneys to secure and protect the human rights of Melissa and her parents," the statement said.

The HSLDA earlier told its members to contact German officials.

"What is being done to this sensitive girl – just to set an example of enforcing the compulsory schooling at all costs – is reprehensible and causing trauma to unassuming and lovable Melissa," the group said.

And the HSLDA warned "what is happening in Germany today may be knocking on our door tomorrow." The group now is tracking the circumstances of about 40 families in Germany with court cases in various stages – all because Germany still enforces a Hitler-created law banning homeschooling.

The HSLDA said the German Embassy can be reached at:

Dr. Klaus Scharioth, Ambassador, German Embassy 4645 Reservoir Road NW Washington, DC, 20007-1998 (202) 298-4000

The embassy can be emailed from its website, the HSLDA said.

Melissa Busekros was removed from her parents' custody and placed in the Child Psychiatry Unit of the Nuremberg clinic, her father, Hubert Busekros, told the homeschool group, in the state's "zealous drive to enforce compulsory schooling."

"The Netzwerk Bildungsfreiheit condemns this inconsiderate and totally incommensurate behavior on the part of the officials involved and demands that they give Melissa her freedom and return her to her family immediately," the German homeschool group said.

The teen had fallen behind in Latin and math studies, and was being tutored at home in the subjects. When school officials found out, they expelled her then took the family to court when they began homeschooling.

The court order executed last week said, "The relevant Youth Welfare Office is hereby instructed and authorized to bring the child, if necessary by force, to a hearing and may obtain police support for this purpose."

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