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22. 05. 08. - 17:15

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22. 05. 08. - 17:15

Incest family: Fritzl wanted cash for cellar kids

Josef Fritzl at Amstetten police station.
© LKA NÖ

Austrian police searching through the paperwork kept in the secret office of incest monster Josef Fritzl have discovered he may have released three of the cellar children because of the money he was able to earn from them rather than out of care for their wellbeing.

Earlier reports had suggested that Fritzl had been worried about overcrowding in the cellar but psychologists have suggested his lack of concern over the 24 years his daughter was a prisoner show that it is more likely he was motivated by the money he earned from social workers.

When the first child Lisa, now aged 15, was released, Fritzl arranged an adoption and was allowed to claim €15 per day in childcare benefits from Austrian officials - plus between 100 and 150 Euros a month in family benefits.

But by adopting the child Fritzl missed out on much bigger payments or at least €1000 a month that would have been available had he fostered, so with the next two children - Monika, now 14 and Alexander, now 12 - that he freed from the cellar he did not make the same mistake.

He arranged to foster them, and social workers impressed by his qualifications as a professional engineer and a proven track record with six children of his own readily agreed to his request.

Police building up a profile of Josef Fritzl have already said how careful he was with money, holding back every penny from his wife and children but at the same time spending a fortune on himself for expensive shoes and clothing, luxury holidays and brothel visits and even a hair transplant at a Vienna clinic.

When they turned up for prearranged visits they even recorded how loving he and his wife seemed to be to their three unexpected new arrivals.

What they did not realise was that Fritzl was a convicted sex offender and his records had been cleared as part of an Austrian plan to rehabilitate criminals by giving them a fresh start. And family law expert Michael Stormann from the Austrian Justice Ministry admitted that even if they had known, a criminal record is not necessarily an obstacle to adoption.

He said: "We would look at the offence that had been carried out to decide on whether we thought the child or children in care would be at risk. If the criminal offence was of a sexual nature it would depend on whether the victim was a child or an adult."

Stormann added: "The case of Amstetten adds a completely new dimension and beyond anything else we had ever envisaged as far as the legal situation is concerned."

Stormann stressed that decisions regarding adoptions are predictions - which can be wrong. Adding: "It is not an exact science".

Stormann explains that if there are no parents, grandparents are generally allowed to adopt. Without a reason, it is hard to deny grandparents the right to adopt.

He explains there is no general age limit to adopt in this case.

Usually, adopters are found with the help of the youth welfare organisations. Although there are about 10 to 20 couples available for every child and it seems to have been almost automatic that they had decided to allow Fritzl to keep the children of his daughter.

Is said that every couple that wants to adopt a child is tested in various ways, and then the final decision is up to a court.

Elisabeth Luttner is dealing with the process of adoption. She is co-founder of the children protection organisation "Die Moewe" ("The Seagull"). She criticises the existing law and claims there not enough help initiatives for families and that they are equated with "regular" families.

Especially in patchwork families that are created out of existing families, there is a higher risk for neglect and violence. The past would play a more vital role in such families.

Luttner says that one visit of social workers - which is also announced in advance - is not enough.

Josef Schlögl, head of the local court in Amstetten that approved the Fritzl request, confirmed that Josef Fritzl and his wife had a spotless record in 1993 when he adopted the apparently abandoned daughter of Elisabeth.

Maria Berger, the Austrian Minister for Justice, said authorities were "a bit gullible" dealing with the incest case of Amstetten.

She said that the disappearance of the daughter Elisabeth, who was kept as a prisoner in the basement for 24 years and sexually abused throughout her ordeal, was not adequately investigated.

She admitted that Amstetten officials had been "gullible" when Josef Fritzl claimed that his daughter had run away and was in the hands of a cult.

Today such a case would be more thoroughly investigated, continued Berger.

She also said that in future adoptions would also be more carefully regulated to stop convicted rapists and sex offenders such as Josef Fritzl being allowed to adopt.

Privileged adoptions through family connections will also need a "certificate of good character", she said.

She added that they planned to get police and social workers to monitor playgrounds and other areas where children gathered to make sure convicted offenders were not hanging around there.

Figures for the last year available show that in Austria there were 4,341 foster children in Austria out of a total of 1,7 million children countrywide.

In contrast far fewer children are adopted, last year there were only 140 cases, of which 21 were in lower Austria where Josef Fritzl lived. In contrast lower Austria has 700 foster families caring for 1700 children.

austriantimes.at

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