Just thought I’d post an update on Laura Dekker, the 13 year-old Dutch girl who wants to be the youngest person to sail solo around the world.
She’s planning to leave this month… but apparently, Child Protection Services are trying to stop her from going. They’ve even asked a juvenile court to take away her parents’ custody. A verdict is expected on Friday.
Meanwhile, Laura is trying to get herself deregistered from Holland - she has passports from Germany and New Zealand (her mother’s homeland and the place where she was born, respectively) - so they won’t have any authority to stop her. Apparently this tactic has worked in other cases - last year 10-15 students deregistered in order to go to “wereldschool” (world school) that teaches students abroad. Unfortunately for Laura, the municipality appears to be waiting to hear the results of the custody case before they decide to deregister her.
We’ll see what happens I guess… though I must admit I think I’m on Laura’s side…
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More on the court case and an interview with a professor of education here.
A short clip from Laura here.
More on the deregistration here.
Voice your opinion here on the blog (in the comments field below) or here on the Radio Netherlands website.
Last 5 posts by
- A fake in the Rijksmuseum?!?! - August 28th, 2009
- And another update - August 28th, 2009
- This week on the show... - August 26th, 2009
- Hot hot HOT! - August 26th, 2009
- Lowlander for life - August 24th, 2009
