1 week Ago
Children were Isolated and Unregistered
The children, ages 6 and 9, were found by authorities in early April when Italy's military police visited the family's remote farmhouse and they came to issue an evacuation notice, prompted by nearby floods. The siblings, who are believed to have been born in Germany, were not registered with any local offices and did not know how to speak, read or write. They were of an age to be out of diapers, but they were still in them, which prompted some in the media to call them "ghost children."
Court Takes Children from Parents
At the time the children were put in the care of the state, Turin's juvenile court, which found the parents to be unfit, placed Giuseppe and Maria in foster care. The mother, 38, is described as mostly missing and possibly homeless. The father had alleged that he put the children in isolation to safeguard them from viruses such as COVID 19, adding that they had a range of toys, laptops, musical instruments and even went horse riding.
Nevertheless, local officials have taken the case extremely seriously. The father was reserved and did not speak Italian, Lauriano's mayor said, and the issue was "very delicate." The family's off-the-grid existence also kept the family's plight hidden from view.
