Misunderstanding for two grandparents in Sprimont. Their daughter was the victim of a feminicide last September. She was the mother of two children aged 8 months and 4 years. These will be placed. Their grandparents don’t understand why they can’t take them in.
For 2 months, the two little girls have been living with their grandparents. This Tuesday, on the sofa, there will only be Fabienne and François. The youth support service decided to place the children in an institution.
“As grandparents, we have no right to have rights over our grandchildren. They only have us. That’s what you have to understand. He has no family. , my daughter only had us as a family”says Fabienne.
On September 10, David shot Madisson, the mother of his two children, in the head. He mightn’t stand their recent separation. Today, even if he is in confession, even if he is in prison, he is the only one still alive to have parental authority over his children.
“We find ourselves in an inextricable situation where it is the father who killed the mother, who can decide whether or not the children will be placed”explains Renaud Molders-Pierre, the lawyer for the grandparents.
The SAJ (youth aid service) has, as the law provides, consulted the father. This confirmed the decision that the SAJ considered the best: to place the children.
Several arguments have been put forward. First, the fact that the grandparents would not be able to mourn their daughter. This would prevent them from taking care of the little girls.
“My mourning, I will never do it. It’s my daughter that I lost, it’s not my neighbor, it’s not a girlfriend, it’s my daughter. All I have left to make my mourning, they are my two little girls”, says Fabienne.
The youth aid service would also have pointed to a risk of estrangement between the little girls and their father. “I think that here too, we can understand that grandparents who have seen their daughter murdered have some difficulty and some reservations regarding the fact that grandchildren can see their father”adds Renaud Molders-Pierre.
The youth aid service agreed to give us an interview by telephone, without addressing, as is the rule, the concrete elements of the file.
“We never take solutions for convenience. These are not orientations that we take in the morning while having our little coffee on the corner of a table. These are situations that are evaluated, weighed, in the sense of interest of the child”explains Joelle Piquard, youth assistance advisor.
“I will fight to keep them no matter what. I will fight to get them back”, concludes the grandmother.
Fabienne and François are considering family court proceedings. They also sent a letter to Queen Mathilde.
