A 13-year-old girl cannot set out on a solo, round-the-world sailing voyage on Tuesday, a Dutch court ruled yesterday.
The civil youth court ordered child protection authorities to be the temporary guardian of Laura Dekker, delaying her hopes of becoming the youngest person to sail solo around the world.
The judges said Dekker could continue living with her father, but would become the responsibility of the child care officials for two months while an independent child psychologist assesses whether the teenager’s trip around the world could harm her emotional, social and physical development
The girl was not in court but her father, Dick Dekker, listened to the decision from the three judges. Neither he nor the family’s lawyer made any immediate comment.
Richard Bakker, spokesman for the Council for Child Protection, welcomed the ruling.
“We are satisfied with this decision,” he said, appealing to the father “to cooperate with the investigation and ensure Laura’s safety.”
Dick Dekker, an experienced sailor who raised his daughter on a yacht for the first four years of her life, had supported her ambition to begin a round-the-world voyage next month.
Social workers had argued Laura Dekker was too young to weigh up the dangers of the two-year-voyage, and psychologists said the isolation it involves would be damaging at an important time for a young girl’s development.
Presiding Judge M. Oostendorp said the trip was clearly risky for a girl Laura’s age.
“She would be confronted with difficult situations that will challenge her mentally and physically,” Oostendorp said.
But the court rejected the youth protection services’ request to suspend altogether her parent’s custodial rights.
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