The court will supervise Laura Dekker’s development and self-studies over the next two months. Image courtesy of RTVUtrecht (click to enlarge)
Laura’s father, Dick Dekker, at the court in Utrecht, The Netherlands. Image courtesy of ANP(click to enlarge)
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Laura Dekker update: No go
Posted: Aug 28, 2009 09:18 am EST
(TheOceans.net) The Dutch court has ruled that 13-year old sailor Laura Dekker may not set sail around the world. She is put under provisional supervision of the Dutch Youth Care Bureau for two months, but her parents retain custody over her.
Self-study
The court will use the next two months to supervise Laura’s development and see if she will be able to complete her third and forth class in Secondary School through self-study.
For this purpose the court appointed a child and adolescent psychologist to observe Laura reported the Dutch newspaper, De Volkskrant
Parental power
The Council for Child Protection has requested that Laura’s parents’ parental authority must be taken away, but the court dismissed that. Laura will stay with her father as she does at the moment. Her parents are divorced. The court said they are not bad parents.
De Volkskrant reported that the judge found that a sailing voyage of two years is too much different from what an average 13-year-old girl experiences.
According to the court serious threat of Laura's development would therefore be expected. They also had questions about Laura's ability to deal with extreme circumstances. Such a sailing trip is not like competitive sports, because there usually is present guidance, the court said.
Laura not in court
Only Laura’s father and her advocate were present in court today. According to advocate Peter de Lange Laura has been advised not to go because of intense media attention.
Peter de Lange said he is very pleased the juvenile court had determined that Laura does not have bad parents and that they should keep custody of their child. He advised Laura and her parents to participate in the investigations.
Next hearing
Late October the juvenile court will deliver judgement based on the findings during the two months as to whether Laura will continue to be under the supervision of child welfare services or not.
A 13-year old Dutch girl, Laura Dekker’s dream is to become the youngest to sail around the world, but it all depends if her home country’s authorities will give her permission to go.
In July 2009 Zac Sunderland completed his sail around the world and currently 17-year old Mike Perham is heading home on his sail around the world.
Both British Mike Perham and American Zac Sunderland were 16 when they started their voyages. Zac turned 17 on November 29, 2008 and Mike turned 17 on March 16, 2009.
Both attempted to sail around the world and become the youngest to do so. Several stops were made. Mike stayed further out to sea, whereas Zac stayed closer to shore. Zac Sunderland departed on his yacht from Marina del Rey, California on 14 June 2008 and arrived back 13 months later on July 16, 2009. Mike Perham left from Portsmouth’s Gunwharf Quays on Saturday 15th November 2008.
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