The Portuguese court decided on the return of the two brothers to France. Children left by the mother and her partner on the road will be entrusted to the care of social services.
Two brothers, aged four and five, who were abandoned in Portugal by their mother and stepfather, are to return to France. On Tuesday, the court in the Portuguese city of Setúbal decided on this. This is a preliminary decision to entrust the children to the care of the social services office in the city of Colmar in northeastern France, the DPA agency reported, writes TASR.
In its statement, the court added that the authorities in Portugal and France will coordinate the return of the children in such a way as to cause the children as little harm as possible. At the same time, the French authorities are assessing whether relatives or other suitable guardians could take care of the boys.
The children were taken into the care of the authorities a week ago, on May 19, when a passing car driver spotted them crying and sitting by the main road connecting the town of Alcácer do Sal with the seaside resort of Comporta. The children were subsequently placed in a French-speaking foster family. The circumstances under which the 41-year-old mother and her 55-year-old partner abandoned the children are still unclear.
The boys lived with their mother in the town of Colmar in the Alsace region of eastern France. The local authorities have been searching for the mother and children since May 11, when their biological father reported them to the police as missing.
Custody dispute
After the divorce from the children’s mother, the biological father was granted only limited rights to visit them, and even that under supervision. The biological father challenged this court decision earlier in court, which has not yet ruled on the matter. The father claims he is interested in taking care of the boys.
