Overview

• Police say they were alerted on August 27 by the adult eldest daughter, who reported her parents planned to leave the region with the six minors before September 1.
• Officers found the children living in conditions of severe unsanitariness and observed skin erosions, prompting transfer by SAMUR-Protección Civil to Hospital Niño Jesús.
• Hospital staff did not admit the children, who were then placed in the Community of Madrid’s Centro de Primera Acogida Isabel Clara Eugenia under child-protection care.
• The parents, aged 37 and 43, were detained on suspicion of child abandonment and neglect, with a judicial investigation under way and potential charges subject to change.
• Authorities had monitored the family since June and had notified the mother that custody removal was imminent, while a relative reported possible impetigo in some children.