Cape Verdian woman in Portugal regains custody of six children

A Cape Verdian mother of 10 in Portugal recovered custody of six of her children after a four year battle, Publico newspaper reported Tuesday.

"It was a moment of great happiness for the children and for the country, after four years of great suffering," one of the mother's lawyers Maria Clotilde Almeida told Publico.

Liliana Melo, who has lived in Portugal for around 20 years, had six of her children taken away from her in June 2012 because she was living in precarious conditions. They were sent to different institutions and their mother was threatened with having them taken to adoption.

The country aimed to send 7 of her 10 children to institutions, however the oldest of the seven children, aged 8 at the time, was not found when the police went to find them at home and at their school, and it was later discovered he had gone to live with a family member, according to Publico.

Melo told Publico she was grateful that the institutions didn't ever tell her children they could be adopted in future.

The case was condemned by the European Court of Human Rights, which pointed out that the placement and adoption order of the children was a breach of Article 8 of the human rights convention.

The European Court of Human Rights said that putting the children in institutions was not appropriate given that there had been no violent conducts and that the family had strong emotional ties, pointing to the social services "failing to mitigate their material deprivation."

The six children are now at home with Melo in Mem Martins, in the outskirts of Lisbon. Endit