Moroccan families with means leave Spain to take care of kids

Investigators in Andalusia have found that some Moroccan children thought to have been abandoned and are under the custody of the regional social services office have families who are actually economically fit to care for them.

The Andalusian government is planning to file complaints against six such Moroccan families who allegedly have purposely left their children under state care, said Micaela Navarro, the head of the Equality and Social Welfare Office.

Each year, dozens of Moroccan children arrive in Andalusia to seek a better life. When the local regional government finds that they have no family member or custodian to care for them, the children - mostly adolescents - are immediately placed under the custody of social services.

But a few years ago, investigators began detecting certain cases where these children came from "adequately close-knit families with economic means to support them."

In 2009, officials filed a complaint against one family but a judge - despite finding probable cause - recently had to drop the charges because the family was no longer living in Spain.