Bilbao’s Hidden Crisis: Moroccan Parents Exploit Child Welfare System

The phenomenon has become frequent in recent months in Bilbao and raises concerns about the abusive use of the guardianship system, reports El Correo. If a few years ago, unaccompanied foreign minors (MENA) came only from very modest backgrounds in Morocco or Algeria, today they also come from large cities like Casablanca and are from middle-class families. Some of them have parents who are civil servants or lawyers. Most of these young people live on the street, confirms a spokesperson for the Moroccan community in Biscay.

Some Moroccan parents do not hesitate to direct their underage children to the main police station in Bilbao so that they can declare themselves unaccompanied. Others give them a paper with the following message: "I am an unaccompanied minor. I need help." The phenomenon has particularly increased this summer. Currently, nearly 600 minors, including 25 girls, of Maghreb and sub-Saharan origin, are being cared for by the regional reception network. The network has just reopened its Vivero center to accommodate emergency adolescents over 16 years old.

According to the Basque security forces and the municipal police, unaccompanied foreign minors approach the agents directly on the street or at the station to request care. They sometimes invent stories, claiming to have arrived by bus from Almería or to have made a boat crossing.

The police were able to apprehend Moroccan parents who engage in this practice. This summer, on July 23 to be exact, a Moroccan couple was arrested in Bilbao for suspected abandonment and kidnapping of a minor. They had brought their son from Morocco and had him enter a reception center, while they were residing in a tourist apartment in Basarrate. The investigation revealed that the young man, who also admitted to being of legal age, has maintained contact with them. The judge authorized the parents to return to Morocco pending their trial. The authorities suspect the involvement of human trafficking networks.