In Sachen Kaminski (2005)

Five-year-old Lona lives with her parents in a detached house. Her father, Martin Kaminski, works at a scrapyard, while her mother, Petra Kaminski, is a homemaker. When the parents do not know the answers to Lona’s curious questions, they respond with imagination and affection. Their family doctor, Dr. Wente, determines that Lona has learning delays compared with other children her age. At his recommendation, her parents apply for early intervention, and their application is approved. Over the following weeks, they receive regular visits from Gabriele Lohse, a family support worker from the youth welfare office. Her initial wish to involve the parents in supporting Lona gradually takes on a patronizing tone: she confronts Lona with her parents’ intellectual difficulties, exposing them while playing Memory or reading a menu. She also repeatedly questions their parenting abilities and makes it clear that they cannot provide their daughter with an adequate upbringing. Ultimately, the family support worker initiates a family court order to remove the parents’ custody. Lona is placed with a foster care agency, which then finds her a foster home with Julia and Kai Gerber. Her parents are forbidden from having any contact with their child; visits take place only in the presence of youth welfare officials and experts, who ensure that the parents cannot establish an emotional connection with their daughter. The parents resist these measures by the authorities. They contact a lawyer, Annett Fink, and try to sue for visitation and custody rights to their daughter, Lona. Their claims are rejected at two levels of court. The dedicated lawyer then advises them to take their case to the Federal Constitutional Court. But the parents lose that case too, and try to come to terms with having lost their daughter forever. Meanwhile, Lona develops an emotional bond with her foster parents—a bond that is mutual—and seems to accept them as her “new parents.” The Gerbers, however, are concerned not only with the well-being of their foster daughter. They also seek to maintain an amicable relationship with the Kaminskis and invite them to Lona’s birthday. Seizing their last hope, Lona’s biological parents take their case to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg—and win against the Federal Republic of Germany, the defendant, and get their daughter back.