AWFUL: Parents in Hungary say their babies are being stolen by government authorities

Disturbing reports out of Hungary are insinuating that state officials are stealing children from their parents because those parents are disabled, belong to a minority group, or are poor.

Balkan Insight reported that hundreds of babies between the ages of one month and one year are being kept in hospitals away from their parents, with seemingly no medical reason to do so. The problem has become so overwhelming that hospitals are pleading for help, saying they don’t have the room to take on actual pediatric patients.

And now, some of these parents are speaking out.

One mother, Marianna, said her son was born prematurely, and she spent every day with him until she contracted a respiratory illness, at which point her husband took over. “It was the happiest day of my life when my son was born,” he said in an interview, the details of their identities kept anonymous to avoid repercussions. “I have learned to do everything – I can feed him, change his diapers – and I just couldn’t wait to have him at home with us.”

Yet during one visit, they noticed a flag on his crib, indicating that their son would be placed in foster care or for adoption. Marianna was then only allowed to see him twice a month after it was confirmed that he was being placed in foster care.

“The authorities told me to accept the decision. But what kind of a mother would accept her child being taken away illegally?” she asked.

READ: Hungary says women giving birth before age 30 will never again pay income tax

Hungary has been instituting pro-family policies in recent years, a laudable effort meant to increase the number of children born. Yet this report seems to contradict the government’s efforts to help families, and social funds allocated for families and children has drastically fallen. Families can get flagged for “neglect” over issues as minor as not having their own desk at which to complete schoolwork, or for larger issues like an inability to access health care because they live in impoverished, rural communities. It is becoming increasingly difficult for these families to get resources that may help.

Wealthy families, conversely, are more easily able to access government help. And while families with poor, disabled, or Roma parents are targeted, social services allegedly ignore actual acts of abuse.

Marianna reached out to the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (TASZ) for help, which told Balkan Insight that this has become a widespread problem. In most of the cases, parents were declared “unfit” not because they were neglectful or abusive, but because they were poor, had a disability, or were members of the Roma community. Two examples given by TASZ — Marianna’s case, and one of a baby girl named Zoe — both involved at least one parent that is Roma, while Zoe’s mother has epilepsy.

The problem was particularly dire last summer, with over 300 babies kept in hospitals, so the government changed the adoption law to allow babies to be placed for adoption without permission from the parents in some circumstances. And according to TASZ, the number of foster parents is decreasing, meaning babies end up remaining alone in hospitals for months.

Others are placed in children’s homes, where systemic physical and sexual abuse is known to take place, but is often covered up to protect the reputations of the homes.

Marianna said that after a months-long battle, she was finally able to get her son back — but she doesn’t know if she and her family will ever be able to recover from the trauma they have suffered.