As the tragic case of Aysha King dominated the world’s press, in Portugal a Romanian couple whose daughter had been removed by the authorities managed to steal their child back from a foster centre and make their escape.
The four-year-old had been taken into the care social services last month after being spotted ‘locked in a car’ and crying in the carpark of a fair in Fafe.
Her temporary placement in a foster centre in Revelhe had been sanctioned by the courts, writes Correio da Manhã in its story, entitled: “Couple kidnaps child from home”.
Talking to the paper today, a source at the home who asked to remain anonymous said: “We can only confirm that all the diligences with a view to finding the child are being undertaken”.
This is one of so many cases involving children removed from their parents’ custody.
In UK right now, a number of Portuguese families are fighting to recover children taken by social workers, on varying pretexts – and the world’s media this week has been filled with the story of Aysha King, whose parents were made the subjects of an international arrest warrant for simply trying to find a better medical alternative to their son’s brain tumour than the one they felt they were being offered in England.
