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Caravan of foster father Andreas V. at the Eichwald campsite in Lügde
Photo: Guido Kirchner / dpa
After the massive abuse of children in the Westphalian town of Lügde, a special investigator certified serious errors at the youth welfare office in the Hameln-Pyrmont district of Lower Saxony.
The report does come to the conclusion that the district is not responsible for any structural failure.
A whole series of technical errors have meant that the acts could not be prevented, according to the report commissioned by the district.
The youth welfare office in Hameln had transferred the custody of a girl to one of the main perpetrators in Lügde, Andreas V., despite several indications of sexually abusive behavior.
At least four times the authorities in Hameln have received indications of the unsuitability of the foster father and possible pedophilia, which have not been properly followed up, the report says.
Indications of the foster father's contact with other girls were also not appropriately taken up.
Report: mother not sufficiently involved
Authorities dealt with the situation in many ways, as the documents viewed by the special investigator show.
But it was not taken for a long time.
There was insufficient exchange of information in the youth welfare office, processes were not adhered to and there were problems with the cooperation with authorities in the neighboring North Rhine-Westphalia.
According to the special investigator, the mother was not sufficiently involved and the child was not examined or documented to the extent necessary.
In North Rhine-Westphalia an investigative committee of the state parliament is trying to further clarify how the hundredfold abuse of children on a campsite in Lüdge could come about without the authorities becoming aware of the criminal proceedings.
The focus is on the suffering of the little girl who was given to a pedophile at the campsite by the youth welfare office in Hameln.
Since the man lived in Lügde in Lippe and the child's mother in Lower Saxony, two youth welfare offices across state borders were busy with the case.
In autumn 2019, the Detmold district court sentenced two men to long prison terms and subsequent preventive detention in the Lügde abuse case.
They had sexually abused 32 children on the campsite on the border with Lower Saxony for years.
Since the beginning of September, a 49-year-old man has had to answer for serious sexual abuse of children before the Göttingen regional court.
It is an acquaintance of the main culprit from Lügde.
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sen / dpa