Dutch court orders state care for 13-year-old sailor to delay solo world sailing trip

State care ordered for 13-year-old Dutch sailor

UTRECHT, Netherlands — A Dutch court ordered child protection authorities Friday to be the temporary guardian of a 13-year-old girl, delaying her hopes of becoming the youngest person to sail solo around the world.

The judges said Laura 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 her capacity to undertake the risky voyage.

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.”

Dekker, an experience 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 is 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,” she said.

The case in this traditional seafaring and liberal nation has attracted attention beyond Dutch borders, raising questions about how young is too young for children to set off on perilous adventures.