Mother Begs and Cries

Child Welfare Services Takes Baby: Heart-Wrenching Video Shows the Drama

Mom Kathi and Dad Matthias have not known where their child is since Monday. The authorities are remaining silent.(Bild: zVg)

Thirteen-week-old James from Lower Austria was taken into custody on Monday. Although the district attorney dropped the charges following the “coke scandal,” the child remains missing. A video captures the full drama surrounding the removal.

It’s a video that lasts two minutes and five seconds. It shows a resolute social worker doing her job. She’s taking James away on behalf of the state. The 13-week-old child was snatched from his parents in front of the camera earlier this week.

The mother’s pleas go unacknowledged
The pleas of Kathi (23), the young mother, go unheard and unacknowledged. The baby is taken away in a Maxi-Cosi by an employee of the Gänserndorf District Administration’s Youth Welfare Office; the social worker’s grandmother is allowed to hand the social worker a few onesies. All under the strictest surveillance of nearly a dozen police officers. One officer stands in the living room, two more at the front door—and the next few right in the entryway of the Weinviertel single-family home. But what had happened?

Mom Kathi and Dad Matthias haven’t known where their child is since Monday. The authorities are keeping silent.(Bild: zVg)

“Cocaine Scandal” Involving Baby
As reported, the young mother had her child admitted to the hospital on one of the hottest days of the summer. James wasn’t drinking and wouldn’t eat. At the Mistelbach Hospital, every effort was made to determine the cause. Eventually, fate took its course: The little boy tested positive for cocaine, then negative two hours later; the mother tested negative at first, then positive at some point.

Numerous police officers were present during the testing.(Bild: zVg, Krone KREATIV)

No one knows where the child is
The authorities acted “in the best interest of the child.” Kathi and James were taken to a mother-and-child shelter in Ansfelden (Upper Austria). Shortly thereafter, a judge ruled—based on a negative hair drug test and certain arguments from youth welfare services (hair dye can falsify drug tests)—that the boy must return with his mother to the home of the child’s father and grandparents. Now the baby is gone. “Without any justification whatsoever,” say attorneys Elisabeth Thaler and Manfred Arbacher-Stöger. No one knows where the child is. SPÖ State Councilor for Social Affairs Eva Prischl is washing her hands of the matter—no comment; this is about the child’s welfare.

Case Dismissed
The fact is, the child was removed based on a police report from the Gaweinstal Police Station. This case was on file with the district attorney’s office—until Tuesday. The case has been dismissed. James is still missing. A motion for the child’s immediate return has been filed.

Attorney Elisabeth Thaler: “Here, ordinary government employees, without any legal training, are allowed to enforce coercive measures based solely on a gut feeling, without being subject to judicial oversight.”