A 69-year-old mother of young twins has lost custody of her beloved children after courts ruled she’s not fit to take care of them.
The incident takes place in Spain where the country’s highest court ruled in favor of removing twins from the care of 69-year-old Mauricia Ibanez after the Provincial Court of Burgos accused her of not providing the children with “optimal conditions.”
The woman’s legal battle to keep her children started in 2017 after she gave birth to Maria de la Cruz and Gabriel at the age of 64 following her fertility treatment in the US.
Defending the ruling, the officials insisted “the mother’s personality traits significantly affected the affective and psychosocial development of the minors.” They also claimed that her isolation and lack of family relationships posed a concern for the twins.
After giving birth to her babies in 2017, the elderly woman was contacted by social services and pressured into signing an agreement in which she agreed to get an assistant that would help care for her twins.
Only ten days after returning from the hospital, however, the officials concluded the twins required a better home.
“Since she went home, a multi-disciplinary team has been following Ibanez’s progress, and their reports all conclude that the twins need looking after in a different environment,” social services said back in 2017.point 397 |
While they acknowledged that the twins could be reunited with their mom in the future, they insisted “the obligation in the short term is for them to be with foster parents.point 145 | ”point 148 | 1
Following the ruling that left the mother “very distraught and traumatized” according to her lawyer, Mauricia decided to fight social services in court.
Years after her appeal was overturned by a local family court, the 69-year-old was confronted with dire news as the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the original ruling.
“I decided to become a mother because the experience of having Blanca, my first child, was fantastic,” the mom said in an interview with El Pais back in 2017.
“I asked myself if I could really have another. I’m not worried at all about my age. I am old but it has been possible for me to get pregnant: science and medicine are the last opportunity we older people have.
“Of course I am worried that they could take my children away. They are so defenseless, so small and delicate. I am a little bit afraid for them. I just ask God to prevent them from falling into the hands of social services.”
Following the Supreme Court’s ruling, officials insisted that the decision wasn’t based on Mauricia’s mental health or age but on the evaluations presented to the court by experts.
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Replaced!