Well it looks like weirdos ( how is it spelled ?) are not only in the US after all -

ABANDONED TOTS HEADING HOME GERMAN COUPLE RISK JAIL TERM | Italy

(ANSA) - Aosta, April 24 - Three German children abandoned
in a pizzeria here last Sunday are set to return to Germany
on Friday with their grandparents, who have been given legal
custody of the tots.
Germany authorities earlier this week took custody of
the children - aged seven months, two and four years - away
from their mother, 26-year-old Ina Caterina Remof.
Remof and her companion, 24-year-old Sascha Schmidt,
disappeared after leaving the kids in the pizzeria and were
missing until police picked them up Thursday at a forest
campsite some 10km from Aosta, the capital of the northwest
Valle d`Aosta region.
They have been charged with abandoning minors and will
probably face trial here. If convicted they faces sentences
of between six months and five years
An arrest warrant for Schmidt arrived on Friday from
Germany where he is wanted for skipping parole after being
released from prison, where he was serving a sentence for
drug-related offenses.
While he is certainly not the father of the older two
children, he may be the infant`s dad.
The natural father of the first two children is
currently in a German prison for the 2006 death of a
seven-week daughter, who apparently died from beating
injuries.
Police initially feared that the couple might have
committed suicide because of their dire economic situation
and inability to support the children.
The couple`s court-appointed attorney on Friday said
that abandoning the children in the pizzeria was ``an act of
love, stemming from the desperate economic situation they
found themselves in``.
He added that they left their identification papers with
the children in order to ensure they would be sent back to
Germany.
During questioning by police on Thursday, Remhof broke
into tears when she learned that she had lost custody of the
children.
She justified her action by the fact that they had no
more money and the children kept crying because they were
hungry.
After leaving the children, the couple stole a small
commercial vehicle which became their home as they survived
by eating supermarket scraps and begging.
They were noted at the camp site by a local resident who
reported their presence to police.
Both Remhof and Schmidt are from Finnentrop, a town
between Cologne and Dortmund in northwest Germany.
They apparently met during a visit Remhof paid to her
husband in prison, the same where Schmidt was serving his
sentence.
The couple and children arrived in Italy by car from
Switzerland through the Great St Bernard Tunnel in the late
afternoon of April 14.

That's very sad. But let's be careful about judging others until we have walked in their shoes for a few days...

Well..what it got me about this story is this:
"The natural father of the first two children is currently in a German prison for the 2006 death of a seven-week daughter, who apparently died from beating injuries."

I know, I know....that turned my stomach. The wife seems to have real issues with the men she chooses and not knowing how to protect her children...it appears so..It's really sad

Lets be grateful they did not kill the children. Those children have lives that will haunt them for ever but maybe they will now get the care they need. And the mother need mental help and maybe someday she will be able to get her children back.

Rebecca

The mother is also a victim of severe abuse. The whole story is very sick and tragic. Four children by the age of 26, two partners both in and out of jail, severe financial debt. People who know her were interviewed on TV here and were shocked by her total out of character behaviour. Apparently she has always been a devoted, loving Mom, albeit immature and extremely naive.

I was a volunteer in an Italian orphanage the first time while living in Italy. Many of the children had sad stories like this.
This one couple from Argentina just left their kid of at the orphange while they traveled around Italy.

The closure of Italy's orphanages was established under a 2001 law, as part of a move to improve the lot of children in state care.
The orphanage I volunteered for was run by nuns.

Second news feed about the case. I feel bad for them now..
MAN WHO ABANDONED TOTS IMPROVING AFTER SUICIDE BID | Italy

OK, I just finished walking in their shoes. It didn't improve them one iota.

I get where TangoBunny's coming from. When people reach desperation and complete helplessness, they can act very irrationally... Perhaps the parents felt like their children would at least have some hope for a better future if they were found by other people and put into someone else's custody. Just a thought. But honestly, I have no clue... Nobody does, really, except the ones involved. Situations like this are much too complex... A parent's actions can be very difficult to grasp at times. Anyways, sad story. I wish for all of them to get better somehow, and for the children's safety and well-being.

It's so sad when children go through these kinds of experiences. So young Too early to feel these traumatic emotions.

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