Claim 1: German police took a Muslim child away from her family because the parents had taught her homosexuality is forbidden in Islam.
Fact 1: German police did take a Muslim child away from its family, but not because the child was being taught that homosexuality is forbidden in Islam. The Bremerhaven police has refuted these claims but has not publicly revealed the precise grounds for this action, as is the norm for cases involving a minor.
Claim 2: 4,500 such incidents of Muslim children being taken from their parents occurred in Germany in 2021.
Fact 2: There is no evidence to support the claim that 4,500 Muslim children in Germany were taken away from their families in 2021. There is no existing data on the number of Muslim children taken away by youth welfare offices in Germany in 2021.
On 28 January 2025, a post on Facebook shared a video in which police officials can be seen forcibly taking a child away from what appears to be its family. Both the child and the family members are seen resisting the arrest, verbally and physically. The caption of the post reads as follows in Urdu:
جو بھی مغربی ممالک میں خاندان سمیت منتقل ہونے پر فخر کرتے ہیں وہ اس خطرے سے آگاہ ہوں ۔جرمنی کے ایک سکول نے پولیس کو شکایت کی کہ ایک بچی کے والدین بچی کو سکھا رہے ہیں کہ “ہم جنس پرستی اسلام میں حرام ہے” جو کہ جرمن قانون کی خلاف ورزی ہے لہذہ بچی کو اسکے انتہا پسند والدین سے الگ کرکے چائلڈ پروٹیکشن بیورو میں رکھا جائے۔
اسکول انتظامیہ کی شکایت کے بعد پولیس مسلمان خاندان سے ان کا بچہ گھسیٹ کر لے گئے
صرف 2021 میں جرمنی میں اس طرح سے اپنے خاندانوں سے چوری ہونے والے مسلمان بچوں کی تعداد 4500 ہے
اس طرح کے واقعات جرمنی نیدرلینڈز، سویڈن اور دیگر مغربی ممالک میں بھی جاری ہیں
یورپی ممالک میں بچوں کو محض تشدد کی وجہ سے خاندان سے دور نہیں کرتے،
بلکہ بچوں کو یہ سکھانا بھی ان جرائم میں شامل ہے کہ “ہم جنس پرستی حرام اور گناہ ہے یا زنا حرام ہے” تو یہ سکھانے پر بھی مغربی حکومتیں خاندان سے ان کے بچے چھین لیتے ہیں
رسول اللہ (صلی اللہ علیہ وآلہ وسلم) نے فرمایا ” آخری دور میں اسلام پر عمل کرنا ایسے ہوگا جیسے جلتے انگارے کو مٹھی میں لینا
انسانی حقوق کے علمبردار اور ترقی یافتہ ممالک کا اصلی اور بھیانک دجالی چہرہ
According to Google Translate, this reads as follows in English:
“Anyone who is proud to move with their family to Western countries should be aware of this danger. A school in Germany complained to the police that a girl’s parents were teaching her that “homosexuality is forbidden in Islam,” which is a violation of German law, so the girl should be separated from her extremist parents and placed in the Child Protection Bureau. Police drag Muslim family’s child away after school administration complains
In Germany alone, 4,500 Muslim children were stolen from their families in this way
Such incidents are also ongoing in Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and other Western countries
In European countries, children are not taken away from their families simply because of violence,
In fact, teaching children that “homosexuality is forbidden and a sin or adultery is forbidden” is also included in these crimes, so Western governments take their children away from their families even after teaching them this
“The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said, “Practice Islam in the last days will be like holding a burning ember in your hand” –
The real and terrible antichrist face of the champions of human rights and developed countries”
Fact or Fiction?
Why was the child taken away from his family?
Conducting a reverse image search of keyframes of the video, Soch Fact Check found its earliest instance on X (formerly Twitter) dated 20 April 2023. The caption of the post reads as follows in Arabic:
هكذايتم اخذ الاطفال من الأسر المسلمة غصباً في الدول الاوروبية ليتم تعليميهم قيم وسلوك الشذوذ لذا نؤكد على ماتحدث به السيد عبدالملك الحوثي باهمية الدورات الصيفية التي تحافظ على الاطفال من الحرب الناعمة ونحسدكم على هذا التوجه ونتمنى ان تقام هذه الدورات في نجران لنحافظ على اطفالنا
According to Google Translate, this reads as follows in English:
“Thus, children are taken from Muslim families by force in European countries to be taught the values and behavior of perversion. Therefore, we confirm what Mr. Abdul-Malik al-Houthi spoke about regarding the importance of summer courses that protect children from the soft war. We envy you for this orientation and hope that these courses are held in Najran to protect our children.”
Though this post does not explicitly mention the reason the child was taken away, a string of posts on X between 28–30 April 2023 do. For example, in its caption, this post claims the child was taken away because the child’s school was “informed that he was being taught that homosexuality & trans was not acceptable in Islam”. This post claims the police operation was conducted because of the “Muslim parents’ teachings” and links to an article that explains the child was taken away due to being taught by his parents that “homosexuality is not accepted in Islam”. Similarly, this post claims that the child was taken away because “the family taught the child that transgender and LGBT matters are not accepted in Islam”.
To locate where in Germany this incident had occurred, we conducted a Google search for “German police child Muslim family”. This led us to articles that claimed the incident occurred in the city of Bremerhaven.
We then searched for social media accounts for Bremerhaven police, which led us to their official Instagram and X accounts. Soch Fact Check found that the exact reason why the child in question was taken away from her parents has not been revealed by the concerned German authorities yet. However, on 28 April 2023, the Bremerhaven police responded on X to a post showing the video, stating that it concerns a case from Bremerhaven and that the video was under review.
The police then successively issued a statement saying that the video is circulating with false claims about “the reasons for the measure”. On 29 April 2023, a post on their X account stated:
“A video of a joint operation by the youth welfare office and the #Bremerhaven police is circulating on social networks, which is commented on with false claims about the reasons for the measure.”
The post also linked to an article by the Bremerhaven police that stated:
“A video of a joint operation by the Youth Welfare Office and the Bremerhaven Police is circulating on social networks, which is commented on with false claims about the reasons for the measure.
The video shows a small excerpt of a court-ordered taking into care of two children. The police supported the youth welfare office in this operation. Taking children into care is always the last resort and only happens when there are serious reasons.
We ask for your understanding that, in order to protect the family and the children, we cannot provide any further explanations about the basis of this decision. We are aware that the video in question is emotionally upsetting.
Please do not spread false facts and claims.”
On the same day, a post on their Instagram account stated the same message as the article.
Moreover, IFCN signatory Myth Detector conducted a fact-check on this video. They shared the same posts on X and the article by Bremerhaven police to clarify that the video was shared with false claims regarding the reason for the joint operation.
Roya News also published an article on this video, claiming the woman in the video can be heard saying that the child suffers from “epileptic seizures”. However, it has not been “officially determined what prompted the German police to take the child from his family.”
Hence, Soch Fact Check rates this claim as misleading.
Incidents of Muslim children being taken from parents in Europe
The post in question also stated that 4,500 Muslim children were taken from their parents in Germany in 2021, and that such cases occur in the Netherlands, Sweden, and other Western countries (مغربی ممالک).
Conducting a Google search for “Children separated from family Europe”, we came across an article from July 2023 that stated a “wave of videos and media reports” show authorities in Sweden, Norway, and Germany taking children from immigrant families. A hyperlink in the article led us to a piece from March 2022 by IFCN signatory The Observers that detailed how immigrant families in Sweden protested against the country’s child protection services for allegedly taking their children away from them.
Searching for the number of children taken away from families in Germany, we were led to a report published by The Federal Statistical Office of Germany in 2021. According to the report, “47,500 children and young people” were temporarily taken into care.
Furthermore, we found another statistic about “Family court measures for children and young people” by The Federal Statistical Office. These court measures are for the year 2021 and were issued based on danger to a child’s best interests. According to this statistic, court measures were issued for a total of 18,440 children and young people, out of which 6,538 were for a complete transfer of parental custody to the government’s youth welfare office.
However, specific statistics categorising children as per religious identity or on how many Muslim children in particular were taken in by youth welfare offices in Germany, either for temporary or permanent care, are not available. Hence, there does not appear to be any publicly available data or any other solid basis for the claim that 4,500 Muslim children were taken from their parents in Germany in 2021.
Virality
On Facebook, the claim was shared here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.
On X, the claim was shared here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.
On Instagram, the claim was shared here.
Conclusion: The claim that a video shows a child being taken away by German authorities because his parents taught him that homosexuality is forbidden in Islam is misleading. The police have discredited this claim, but have not revealed the actual reason for taking the child away.
Moreover, there is no existing data to support the claim that 4,500 Muslim children were taken from their families by the authorities in Germany in 2021.
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Background image in cover photo: Anadolu Agency (AA)
