A 10-year-old German boy the government had removed from his home for being home-schooled has been returned to his mother.

Dan Shulz was taken in an early morning police raid in 2006 when he was just 7-years-old.

He could be heard on videotape pleading with German police to let him stay with his family.

His mother kept him out of school, because of fears that her estranged husband might kidnap him. The boy had been home-schooled and began attending a private Christian school one day before the raid.

In Germany, where home-schooling is illegal, home-schooled children are routinely taken from their families. Dan was kept in state custody for more than three years.

His mother, Heidi, is calling her son's return "a miracle."