The grandmother of the Wijnandsraad children Floor and Mees holds Buro Jeugdzorg liable for the suffering that happened to the family. The written demand was submitted to Buro Jeugdzorg in Roermond on Thursday.
Grandma Trudy Keulers confirms this from Austria. “I want recognition. I want Buro Youth Care to admit that it made a mistake,” says Keulers. Keulers, 71, takes care of her grandchildren Floor and Mees in Austria, who lost their mother Miriam to a brain haemorrhage last year.
Wijnandsrade
Mother Miriam fled in 2014 after a divorce with her two children Floor and Mees from the South Limburg church village of Wijnandsrade. Despite repeated demands from the court and youth welfare services to return, the mother was never heard from again. In the end Miriam was stripped of parental authority, leaving her with no formal control over the children. “A big mistake, the Child Protection Board has advised against that,” said Trudy Keulers. “Moreover, Miriam was never personally informed about that decision. That is a crucial condition in European law. Without her knowledge, the judge cannot remove her from parental authority.”
No legal basis
The decision eventually led to an international search warrant for kidnapping the children. According to Keulers, himself a lawyer, the legal conditions for that search warrant were lacking. “My daughter has been deported as a kidnapper of the children, and so have we. After a ruling by the Austrian court, it has been established that we should never have been charged with kidnapping. That is libel and slander.”
Read also: Floor from Austria: ‘Let me stay with my brother’
Name and fame
Keulers previously announced that, according to her, the years of hunting for her daughter played a role in the brain haemorrhage that affected Miriam in January 2021. “I’ve lost my girl, I wouldn’t wish that on anyone,” Trudy Keulers says. “She just wanted to protect her children. The stress that this caused has become fatal for her. She was put to death.”
Keulers wants to recover the financial damage from Buro Jeugdzorg, as she writes in a formal statement of liability. “You have unjustly spoiled the good name and fame”.
Youth Care Office
Bureau Jeugdzorg in Roermond informed L1 on Friday afternoon that it was not yet able to respond.