Child abductors: how a Russian woman fights with guardianship authorities in Spain

Spanish authorities selected a Russian woman has a son after she criticized one of the best schools in the country. Elena Volkova has been trying to win back her child for several years now. But all that she has managed to achieve so far is the opportunity to see her son once every two weeks. And this is far from the only case. Belarusian Ruslana Moiseenko and Spaniard Carmen Garcia Toledo are also trying to get their children back. We will tell about the difficult struggle of mothers with guardianship authorities in the material REN TV.

Complained about the school – and lost her son

Russian Elena Volkova moved to Spain in 2008. In sunny Catalonia, she met her future husband, the couple had a son, Alexei. A few years later, the couple divorced – the boy stayed with his mother. His Spaniard father paid for his studies at one of the best schools according to Forbes, but Alexei did not like it there. The child constantly complained about the rude attitude of teachers and spoiled food in the canteen. According to the boy, once they tried to feed him and other guys with soup, in which worms had already started.

Source REN TV, familiar with the situation, said that after the divorce, Volkova decided to move with her son to Barcelona, ​​but in order to change schools, her father’s consent was required. He was categorically against it, and Elena found another way out. The woman complained about the elite school to the Ministry of Education and asked to transfer her son to another place. Sanitary services conducted checks, but did not reveal anything suspicious.

But the answer from the elite school was not long in coming – the leadership of the educational institution immediately made an application for the Russian woman. The school psychologist, who, according to Elena, never spoke with her, wrote that the woman was inadequate and that the child was in danger. After that, the social service took away nine-year-old Alexei from his mother.

Does Volkova have a chance to return the child

The boy is now reportedly living with his father. Volkova was allowed to see her son once every two weeks. Companion REN TV noted that it would be very difficult for a Russian woman to return a child.

“This is a very long and complex process related to the courts. A person must prove that he is not the same as they wrote about him. And judges, in most cases, rely more on documents from official bodies, in this case, this is a school and a school psychologist “At the trial, Alexei said that his father treats him badly, beats him and constantly screams. He said that he wanted to live with his mother, but the court did not accept these words for consideration, “ – said the source.

According to him, Elena has been trying to achieve justice for several years. However, so far Volkova is even refused to report data on her son’s performance at school. The interlocutor of the channel believes that Elena will have chances to compete for her son only after she gets a more prestigious job or marries a Spaniard with a good reputation. Then it will be possible to submit a new application and ask for family reunification, the source said.

“Husband’s parents disliked”: the story of Ruslana Moiseenko

A similar tragedy happened to Ruslana Moiseenko. A citizen of Belarus moved to her husband in Spain, in 2017 their son Pavel was born. However, two years later, the child was taken away by the guardianship authorities. According to the source, this was facilitated by the parents of the Spanish husband, who never accepted the Belarusian into their family. At that time, the man was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, and he could not fully take care of his little son. The Spanish grandparents wanted to take their grandson for themselves and, according to the source, accused Ruslana of inadequacy.

However, the plan did not work: the child was not given to Spanish relatives, but was placed in a center for the protection and care of children. The interlocutor of the channel said that Moiseenko intends to fight for her baby to the last.

“However, it will be very difficult, because Ruslana does not have a permanent job. There is a crisis in the country, there is no work for Spaniards, and even more so for migrants. But in a couple of months she is going to go to work in a hotel,” – source noted.

“Mother could not bear the grief”

Spaniard Carmen Garcia Toledo has been trying to win back her grandchildren for 12 years now. Their mother, Maria Miranda Gonzalo, has long been dead – the woman could not bear the grief.

In 2009, Maria gave birth to a daughter, and in 2010 her son was born, the source said. As soon as the boy was three months old, the woman divorced her husband. The ex-husband wrote a statement to Maria, demanding to deprive her of parental rights.

“My daughter’s children were taken away for allegedly mistreating them. For 12 years now, we have not been able to return the rights to children. After the divorce, the ex-husband called the social service, and she took them away without any proceedings. My daughter divorced her husband due to the fact that he beat her. In retaliation, he said that she mistreated children. My daughter fought for their return for five years, but could not prove that she did not beat them. As a result, she died, could not bear this grief. I continue to fight , but in 12 years she achieved only one date every two weeks, “- Carmen said.

Now their grandmother is fighting for the opportunity to raise children. Carmen sees her grandchildren at a special center twice a month. According to the interlocutor REN TVtheir meetings are more like dates in prisons, which are shown in films, only without a glass partition.

“Have a percentage of kidnapping”

According to human rights activist Consula Sid, in order to take a child away from their parents, one application is enough, for example, from neighbors or a family doctor. Any such denunciation is a weighty argument to take the child away without trial, the activist says.

“It works like this: your neighbor can call the social service and say that the child in the next apartment is crying often and loudly – probably his parents are beating him. Your family doctor from the clinic, or the director of the school, can also inform. And any of their statements, even without any evidence will prove to be a weighty argument to take the child away from the parents, without trial or investigation. Now this is a common thing “she said in an interview with REN TV Sid.

The human rights activist also drew attention to the fact that lately there have been more and more denunciations from elite colleges and schools, where children of the middle and upper middle class are studying. In addition, according to her, more and more victims are among the Russians.

“I don’t know why, but it’s a fact. Many people think that social services take children only from marginalized and poor families. But this is not so. More precisely, when a family goes to social services for help, saying that they have nothing to feed their children, it often ends with weaning children”– said the interlocutor of the channel.

Sid suggested that the reason for such denunciations may be hidden in the extraction of profit. According to her, the directors of elite schools can get a certain percentage by participating in the shady business of kidnapping children.

The expert stressed that there are currently no official data on abducted children, but the Consula herself receives two to four calls every day asking for help.

“Now only those families who have large financial resources to resist the administrative machine win in courts. And what about those who don’t have that kind of money? They always lose. Lawyers almost never take such cases, because they don’t want to get themselves into trouble by going against the system, and most of those who do are scammers who are secretly working in cahoots with social services.”– explained the human rights activist.

Sid believes that mass rallies could resolve the situation, but the victims “just sit at home and complain.”