Mom arrested for snatching son from foster care

A mother has been arrested on kidnapping charges after Child Services accused her of snatching her son from a foster care facility.

According to police, a 33-year-old woman went outside a foster care facility in Limassol on Tuesday around noon and waited for her 7-year-old son’s bus from school.

Media reports said a judge recently ordered the boy be placed in foster care, pending a child abuse case in court where the mother is the defendant.

Police told Knews the mother, who is described in media reports as a Slovak national, went outside the foster care facility on Tuesday and waited for her son’s bus from school. When the boy arrived, the mother grabbed him and the two left together.

Authorities issued a child abduction alert while later in the night, around 10:45pm, the mother and her son were located by police officers in their apartment in Limassol.

The woman was placed under arrest on child abduction charges while the boy was taken back to the foster care facility.

The father of the boy was reportedly abroad during the incident. Media sources said the mother was stripped of her legal guardianship in relation to her son, while it was unclear whether the father had full parental custody.

Police told Knews that Child Services have temporary custody of the child. It was not immediately clear how long the boy had been staying at the facility or whether the father was on a long absence overseas.