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As little Heidrun celebrates her second birthday today, she is still waiting for something that should be a matter of course in a constitutional state: a place in an inclusive daycare centre with individual assistance. Her parents have been fighting for this right for over a year and have now filed disciplinary complaints, criminal charges and petitions. What they are experiencing in Potsdam (Federal state of Brandenburg) is, according to citizens, ‘the pitiful face of an administration that ignores laws and cold-heartedly abandons the weakest members of society, children with severe disabilities’.Back in January 2025, representatives of the Children, Youth and Family Department of the state capital Potsdam (Germany) acknowledged in writing that Heidrun needs special support due to her severe disability – since birth, the toddler has suffered from a KBG gene defect (100 per cent severe disability with care level 4 and, among other things, the designation ‘H’ = ‘helpless’ and ‘aG’ = ‘exceptionally mobility impaired’).

There were scenes of "utter chaos" when thousands of women and children related to suspected Islamic State jihadists escaped a camp in Syria last month following the sudden withdrawal of Kurdish forces, witnesses have told AFP.