DISINFO: Ukrainian refugee children are taken away in Germany
SUMMARY
Ukrainian refugee children are brazenly taken away in Europe, especially in Germany, for excessive appetite and strong emotional attachment to their parents. […] There have been 79 such cases. The victims include people from Kyiv, Dnipro, and the western regions of Ukraine.
RESPONSE
This is a recurring disinformation narrative from pro-Kremlin outlets, claiming that Ukrainian refugees suffer in Europe and their fundamental rights are not respected. Part of a wider set of pro-Kremlin narratives to undermine Ukrainians' confidence in Europe and Western popular support to Ukraine.
There is no evidence of Ukrainian refugees living in Europe having their children taken away from them. The German Federal Criminal Police Office (Bundeskriminalamt) and the Youth Welfare Office (Jugendamt) are not aware of any such cases in the families of Ukrainian refugees.
Various child protective services in Germany have not presented any confirmation that such cases have occurred. The German Criminal Police press service noted that it is unaware of any such cases. A review of various European media also shows that nobody has written about such cases, although journalists would clearly pay attention to such stories, especially 79 of them.
German officials that do have the authority to remove children from their families state that this extreme measure is used only if the child is in serious danger. In other cases, experts decide together with the parents what kind of temporary assistance can be provided to the child. InfoMigrants released a short explanatory video that also debunks this claim.
Read full debunk on this case at StopFake.