Wiedersehen macht Freude registered association |
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| Our search service has been part of approximately one thousand searches over the last four years. Behind each of these lies a completely unique story. A special challenge is involved in searches for family members. Looking for your mother who gave up her child for adoption is something completely different from trying to find your old schoolmate-- whether someone wants to say hello and relive old times, or an illegitimate child wants to find their father after 40 years. |
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| With this in mind, we have created the Wiedersehen macht Freude registered association |
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| The state revenue office in charge has recognized Wiedersehen macht Freude registered association as a non-profit organization. |
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Goals and tasks of the Organization |
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| We have had the experience, that the search for biological relatives and the experiences connected to that situation often cause a great deal of emotional strain. |
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| For example, if the contact is rejected or if the idealized picture of the relative does not correspond with reality. We accept a certain joint responsibility for the way in which our clients are affected by the end result of a search that has taken years and even decades. |
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| One of the founding members is licensed psychologist Eszter Fischer who is living in Berlin, and has been working in the field of psychology for 20 years. Eszter Fischer is the author of the book "Stiefeltern in der Patchwork Family" (Stepparents in the Patchwork Family) which was published in her homeland of Hungary in 2005. Together with us, she has created letters and questionnaires, applicable to the special situation of searching for and finding relatives. At present she is working on a study, in which former clients are asked to retrospectively share their experiences, and to describe the consequences of their search. |
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| She has helped Reunion Service to develop standards for initiating contact between the client and the missing person, which where customized for this situation. |
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| The organization can provide an advice hotline, with which Eszter Fischer can provide help in situations where both “first aid” and long term solutions are provided.
Appointments can be booked at our office. It’s also possible to use our facilities for appointments with Mrs. Fischer.
We can also arrange, free of cost, for therapy opportunities throughout Germany for those who cannot travel to Berlin.
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| The federal labour association of the national youth welfare offices explicitly recommends the adoption centers to support adopted adults who are searching for their origins. Many adopted adults ask youth welfare offices for assistance, since the search for their origin and/or identity lies in the field of the youth welfare offices’ aftercare. Shortage of personnel or a lack of know-how concerning the search is often the reason why the biological family cannot be determined. |
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| The organization would like to support and relieve the local youth welfare offices in their work. To make an active co-operation with the adoption centers possible, we strive for an independent sponsorship. |
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| In Germany you have the right to knowledge of your own descent. On the 31 January 1989, the Federal Constitutional Court decided whether it was constitutional, if a legally mature child cannot contest his conjugalness and therefore produce a legal explanation of his parentage.
The verdict (BVerfGE 79, 256) reads: The basic personal right (article 2 § 1 in accordance to with article 1 § 1 GG) also covers the right to knowledge of your own descent. |
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| A constitutional court rule unfortunately does not yet mean that all laws which are affected by it are changed at the same time. In Germany people that are adopted encounter repeated difficulties when trying to retrieve information from registration offices and youth welfare offices to find out their origins. In the law concerning registration of births, marriages and deaths (PStG) § 61, it is stated that only direct descendants may receive information from the registrations of births, marriages and deaths. According to BGB § 1755 however, the kinship expires with the adoption. Therefore some registration offices claim a legal ground for refusing to hand out information. An ambition with our work is to make sure that the right to know your own origins is being upheld. |
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| We have had some good experiences with this already. For example, the law according to which only direct descendants are allowed access to the registration information. In the amended version of this law, it is also possible for siblings to get access to the registrations. We were able to accomplish this by objecting to committee members. They understood our arguments and were able to see our point, and finally decided to take them into consideration. The same thing happened to the law providing guidelines for registration regulations (Melderechtsrahmengesetz). Here we were able to prove that birth date and place belong to the category of information that can be given out even after 50 years.
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| Reunion service has dealt with several searches for biological fathers that were stationed as soldiers in the respective homelands of the mothers.
As far as we know, the information from French and British military archives is not yet retrievable. Concerns for the well-being of the soldiers’ families is to be protected and some of the old resentments are still alive. |
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| On 16 November 1990, the British organization “War Babes” obtained a court ruling that forced the American military archives to hand out information to children of American soldiers. People with fathers in the armed forces of other countries are demanding the same rights for themselves. It is therefore important that the necessary international laws are formed. |
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| In 2003 there was a disputed decision made by the European human rights court. A Frenchwoman had complained, referring to article 8 § 1 (“everyone has the right to have their private- and family life respected (…)”), and wanted to contest the divulgement of her biological mother’s identity. She did not win her case.
The consequence of another decision would have been that the right to anonymous births, a solid right in France, would have been declared illegitimate. |
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| However, the ruling gives us some hope: the decision fell with only ten votes against seven. And the judges determined:
“The right to self-development also includes the right to all information of your own identity as well as data and documents, which are necessary for exploring and uncovering your identity, your development and history and other important aspects. And the identity of your parents and the close circumstances concerning your birth fall under this category.”
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| Now we want to incorporate ourselves into already existing international networks, in order to, as far as possible, implement the right to knowledge of one’s own descent. Here it is appropriate to ask: Does the right to anonymous births have to exclude the right to knowledge of one’s own descent? For France the solution offers itself, to fix the rights for at least those whose mothers did not give birth anonymously. |
