"I am very mad, I just want my children back. They have had to cut off the milk that was for my baby."
Original:
https://teleoleo.com/2022/07/06/estoy-muy-mal-solo-quiero-que-me-devuelvan-a-mis-hijos-me-han-tenido-que-cortar-la-leche-que-era-para-mi-bebe/
According to the Spanish President, Pedro Sánchez, Spain ranks 14th, where children are less threatened. However, some families with children and adolescents are separated from their homes and put under protection of the State, supposedly to protect "the best interests of the child", this hellish scenario is a traumatic nightmare that they live with until they manage, if they manage, to have their children returned to them.
Text Leonor Pérez-Durand
This is the story of a Polish woman with Polish children, without residence or "domicile" in Spain, to whom the General Directorate of Child and Family Protection of the Canary Islands has taken away the guardianship of her little ones, a 2-year-old boy and a 15-day-old baby girl. In Spain there are around 50 thousand children and adolescents under the guardianship of the State, the affected families denounce irregularities in the process, however, what happened with this Polish mother lacks legality because the European laws to which Spain is subject, according to the Constitution, have not been complied with.
"The domicile differs from nationality or residence. Domicile is the strongest connection a person can have with his or her country and is acquired at birth. At birth, a child's domicile is the domicile of his or her father or parents if they are married, or of his or her mother if they are not."
Cheshire, North & Fawcett's Private International Law Unlimited.
"Having regard to the information relating to the two minors, one a newborn and the other 2 years old, children of Mrs. EB. The General Directorate for the Protection of Children and the Family of the Canary Islands in the exercise of the powers it has in matters of protection of minors [...] the minors being deprived of the necessary moral and material assistance [...] Therefore, it considers it appropriate to proceed with the provisional declaration of the situation of abandonment of the minors".
been declared destitute, EB's children are placed in foster families because they are between 0 and 3 years of age. Foster care prevents children, especially the youngest ones, from being institutionalized. The children often placed in different families.
The imminent protection of children who are at risk in their homes is correct; however, not all declarations of abandonment are correct, especially because they are made without consulting the courts. In Spain, social workers, based only on their own reports, have the power to declare children and adolescents in distress and remove them from their homes without a court order and with the assistance of the police, who have the mandate to act by force if necessary.
In this case, the action of the social services goes beyond the scope of the law because it is taken against a non-resident foreign citizen and her children, over whom it has no jurisdiction, since European justice, with respect to the cross-border foster care of a minor, orders that this be done under European legislation concerning the enforcement of judgments in matrimonial matters and parental responsibility.
European legislation
Thus, any country under the Brussels II bis Regulation, such as Spain, must adhere to this legal body to decide on the guardianship of a foreign child at risk: "All forms of foster care of a minor in a home with one or more people or in an institution (an orphanage or a children's home) in another EU country fall within the scope of the Brussels II bis Regulation", which the General Directorate of Child and Family Protection of the Canary Islands would not have done.
fot. Brussel2
The Brussels II bis Regulation, adopted in November 2003, governs jurisdiction, recognition and enforcement of judgments in matrimonial matters and in matters of parental responsibility.
Parental responsibility
It applies to:
to rights of custody and rights of access;
guardianship, curatorship and other legal regimes;
the appointment and functions of any person or body responsible for the care, representation or assistance of the child or the child's property;
the placement of the minor in a family or an institution;
to measures for the protection of the minor, including the administration, conservation or disposal of his or her property.
Spanish legislation
The preamble of Law 26/2015 of July 28, 2015, amending the system of protection for children and adolescents recognizes this procedure: "The Spanish Constitution establishes in its Article 39 the obligation of the public authorities to ensure the social, economic and legal protection of the family, and especially of minors, in accordance with international agreements that ensure their rights"; however, the Spanish social services, police and justice operators in acting as they have acted with EB, are unaware of their own laws:
Among these international agreements and instruments, two United Nations Conventions stand out, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, of November 20, 1989, ratified on November 30, 1990 and its Optional Protocols, and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, of December 13, 2006, instrument of ratification of November 23, 2007. In addition, two Conventions promoted by the Hague Conference on Private International Law are noteworthy: the Convention on Protection of Children and Cooperation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption, of May 29, 1993, ratified on June 30, 1995, and the Convention on Jurisdiction, Applicable Law, Recognition, Enforcement and Cooperation in Respect of Parental Responsibility and Measures for the Protection of Children, of May 28, 2010, ratified on September 6, 2010. On the other hand, three Conventions of the Council of Europe should also be highlighted, the Convention on the adoption of minors, done in Strasbourg on November 27, 2008, ratified on July 16, 2010, the Convention on the protection of children against sexual exploitation and sexual abuse, done in Lanzarote on October 25, 2007, ratified on July 22, 2010, as well as the European Convention on the Exercise of Children's Rights, done in Strasbourg on January 25, 1996, ratified on November 11, 2014. And, finally, Council Regulation (EC) No. 2201/2003 of 27 November 2003 concerning jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in matrimonial matters and the matters of parental responsibility, repealing Regulation (EC) No. 1347/2000, (Brussels 2 bis Regulation).
Law 26/2015, of July 28, 2015, amending the system for the protection of children and adolescents.
Article 20 of Brussels 2a: Provisional and precautionary measures
1. In urgent cases, the provisions of this Regulation shall not prevent the courts of a Member State from taking such provisional, including protective, measures in respect of persons or property in that Member State as may be available under its own law, even if, under this Regulation, a court of another Member State has jurisdiction as to the substance of the matter.
Defense
TeleoLeo.com has interviewed Polish international law student Joana Pachwicewicz who is advising EB in order to get the mothers children back. "The child protection services and the justice system of the Canary Islands are abusing and disrespecting the human rights of EB and her children, committing a total outrage. If this is what they do with foreign citizens, I am not surprised by all the abuses reported by the Spanish families from whom the State has removed the guardianship of their children".
Story of the helplessness
The intervention of the social services of the Canary Islands, which declared EB's children unattended, originated, as stated in the interview, in a complaint filed by their mother on March 31 at the police station of Los Llanos de Aridane. As explained by EB's mother, she is not in good mental health and together with her sister they consume drugs, she also stated that EB's partner was a very dangerous man and that they could not take care of the children, because they had no job and begged in the surrounding houses to eat.
The complaint made by the grandmother, who requests that her grandchildren be handed over to her, states that both her daughters and EB's partner believe they are "the chosen ones and have the right to kill to survive, that her daughter's partner says she has killed people and claims to be the incarnation of the archangel Saint Michael", all this according to the police: "Confirms the situation of risk and neglect of the minors", because in addition, they say: "The children are exposed to the possible commission of allegedly criminal acts committed by the mother's partner".
That is to say, one of the pillars to decree the abandonment of EB's children are the speculative, quasi-schizoid statements of their mother. A mother who according to EB has not been a good influence on any of her 5 children. The other pillar is the report of La Dirección General de Protección de la Infancia y la Familia de Canarias that without having jurisdiction withdraws the guardianship of some foreign children to a foreign mother not residing in Spain, leaving aside what the own Law Law 26/2015 on the protection of children and adolescents points out, in this regard.
European Court of Human Rights
According to a judgment of the ECtHR, "[.... in relation to the separation of the mother from her newborn child, the reasons alleged by the State must be extraordinarily conclusive", which would not be fulfilled in this case since the declaration of abandonment of EB's children, made by the Specialized Team for Family and Child Care of the Municipality of Tijaraje, is based on assertions, "ignorance" and "suspicion"; but not on evidence that conclusively demonstrates the danger to which the children were exposed living with their mother.
Reasons for the abandonment according to the General Directorate of Child and Family Protection of the Canary Islands
1)High-risk pregnancy and negligence of the mother: the social services state that EB had not followed prenatal controls in hospitals in the Canary Islands and that she lived in a remote place, without a vehicle to move around, all of which constituted a risk for her pregnancy. However, she has a certificate from the midwife who attended her first birth in Germany -where she is registered and where she has her habitual residence- which validates her to be able to give birth on her own.
Letter Rahel Hansen, midwife
"[...] I confirm that in 2020 EB regularly participated in check-ups with me, a state-recognized and certified midwife, and that she prepared for the birth with care and responsibility [...]. The same applies to the home birthing hours. I accompanied you regularly in labor and saw you as a devoted mother. In this case, you also followed my instructions and suggestions, sought help when you needed it and quickly found a good and child-friendly way to deal with the new situation. After 12 home visits, I ended the accompaniment on September 17, 2020.
2) Serious deficiency in the conditions of habitability: according to the social services the house where EB lived with her children had no water or electricity and according to the video sent by EB to teleoLeo.com, it does.
3) Difficulty of access to the parent: EB did not have a telephone, as she stated to teleoLeo.com after her children were taken away from her. However, not having a landline or cell phone is neither a crime nor a serious or minor offense anywhere in the world.
4) Ignorance of the health status of EB's 2 year old child and pregnancy: there is no medical test performed that is recorded in the social services report indicating that there is any health problem with the child or the pregnancy.
5) Suspicion of mental health disorder on the part of the parent: the social services give credence to this statement by EB's mother, without having performed a forensic psychological examination.
Psychological state of EB, according to Lukasz Kubacki Psychologist, psychotherapist at Centrum Discovery. This report is dated June of this year.
Krakow, 06/06/2022
I certify that Mrs. EB attended my psychological consultation (online). Based on the interview and observations I can say that Mrs. EB is an empathic, sensitive and responsible person. In my opinion, she is currently in a balanced emotional state and is capable of performing educational functions.
Lukasz Kubacki
Psychologist, psychotherapist Centrum Discovery, Św. Bronisławy 24, Kraków
kutar zubuci
Family uprooting
On May 10, the General Directorate of Child and Family Protection of the Canary Islands ruled that EB's children were unprotected and on May 12 the Police Operational Unit in charge of Minors and Family, based in Tenerife, went to the house where she lived to comply with the unprotection order, that is, to comply with the provisional removal of guardianship of her children; this was reported by the police to the 1st Instance Court of Los Llanos de Aridane, via resolution of May 13, 2022.
According to the report, "the operation was requested by the General Directorate of Child and Family Protection of the Canary Islands to the police and by means of an official letter to the court of Los Llanos de Aridane the entry to the habitual residence of the interested parties and the use of force was requested, due to the refusal of the mother to hand over the children and the serious risk that the children could be living", continues the report.
In the house, according to the judicial police, neither EB nor her children were found. According to EB's partner and her sister, on May 11 she had left with the children for fear that they would be taken away. After the raid, the police informed the Juvenile Prosecutor's Office and the General Directorate for the Protection of Children and the Family of the Canary Islands and filed a complaint with the Civil Guard for "high risk disappearance" to initiate the search for EB and her children, which has earned this mother a criminal complaint for child abduction.
From that moment on, the police sent notices to airlines, shipping companies, trains to verify that EB and her children had not or could not leave the island and, in addition, requested judicial authorization to enter the house where EB and her children could be found. And so it happened one morning that more than a dozen armed policemen, as EB explains, burst into the place where she was with her children and tore them from her arms. Now the guardianship of the children is in the hands of the Canary Islands government.
The declaration of abandonment of EB's children has meant that the custody and parental authority of her children is now held by the General Directorate of Child and Family Protection of the Canary Islands. According to the file, this has been done based on the "ordinary procedure indicated in article 6 and following articles of decree 54/98". This confirms that the European order was never taken into account, although the file states that the Polish consulate was informed that they had two children of that nationality under guardianship. In this case, the Canarian law itself has also been violated, since before the removal of the children, no examination of EB was made, as stated in article 7 of this decree.
"Before taking the children, the social services were in the house to see the conditions in which we were, then they sent us a notification in Spanish in which they were supposed to say that they would take them away, but we do not understand why they notified us in Spanish if we are Polish, in the documents that they have translated for me they also say that after the visit they called me to know how we were, but I had no phone for some time, I just have one, now that they have taken my children from me," EB told teleoLeo.com.
In the documents of declaration of helplessness The General Directorate of Child and Family Protection of the Canary Islands states that they had offered housing and food to this family, offers that, according to them, they did not accept and continued in a house without electricity or running water and away from medical services, however, EB claims that this is not true: "They did not offer us anything. We were in a rustic house in the middle of the countryside, because of the volcano we could not rent anything else and for that reason and because of the advanced pregnancy I gave birth there, but I was prepared to do it. And it is a lie that the house does not have the necessary services".
EB is desperate and overnight they have taken her children away from her: "They have changed the name of my baby without any right and they have taken her away from my breast, she is my daughter and now she is called whatever the social services want, I wanted to breastfeed her like my first child and I had to ask them to cut off my milk because they won't give it back to me; they won't give it back to my two year old son either. Both have been placed in foster care with two different Spanish families. I am very upset, I don't understand why they are doing this to us," the mother told teleoLeo.com.
"Days after taking my children, a woman called me, unknown, and started telling me that she wanted me to buy a ticket to go to Tenerife to see my children, that I could see them for an hour to see how the children react. I just told her that my children would be returned to me immediately. I am in a very bad mood, I feel anxious because I don't know where the children are nor can I talk to them, my children are separated, in Tenerife, and without their mother", says EB.
Hearing postponed
The first hearing to testify for the criminal complaint against EB for the abduction of her children took place a few weeks ago, however, it could not take place because there was no Polish translator. "When I complained, they brought a girl who came as if she came from the beach, she even looked drunk and, moreover, she was a German translator; then they got someone online, but she did not give me any confidence, so the session was postponed to this July 10. I just want my children back. It's not fair or legal what they are doing to us.
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