Magda Fernandes comments on the increase in children in precarious housing: ‘The basic principle is to never take a child away from their parents’

Magda Fernandes, a partner at Morais Leitão and a lawyer specialising in Family Law and Minors, commented to Rádio Comercial on the data from the annual report of the Commissions for the Protection of Children and Young People (CPCJ), which reveal that almost 4,000 children currently live in precarious housing. According to Público, the seriousness of some situations has already led to the removal of minors from their families.

Despite this, Magda Fernandes emphasises that children should only be separated from their parents in extreme situations:

"The basic principle is never to take a child away from their parents. It's easier for the state to try (...) to help those families find work, or to support them with minimum subsistence allowances, than to take children away from their parents. Especially if the parents, regardless of their lack of money, don't treat their children badly, i.e. (...) aren't aggressors."

The lawyer also points out that there is an increase in the number of families struggling to provide a roof over their children's heads, which demonstrates the growing social and economic vulnerability of many families in Portugal.