Overview
- Two brothers, aged four and five, were found alone on the side of the N253 road in southern Portugal on Tuesday, May 19, after a motorist discovered them sitting and crying.
- Portuguese courts placed the mother, Marine R., and her companion, Marc B., in pretrial detention on charges of child abandonment or endangerment, and prosecutors allege aggravated assault by the companion on one child.
- The boys were first placed with a foster family in Portugal and Portuguese judges said French judicial authorities must initiate the formal return process before they can be repatriated.
- Their father in Colmar, who previously had only limited supervised visitation and had appealed that arrangement, has asked the press for discretion and says he is waiting for authorities' 'green light' to retrieve the children.
- Portuguese and French authorities must now coordinate the legal and social steps for transfer, with French social services in Colmar expected to take provisional custody once repatriation is authorized.