Spanish Theater Director Gutierrez Fighting Madrid Social Services To Return His Grandson

Spanish Theater Director Gutierrez Fighting Madrid Social Services to Return His Grandson

MADRID (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 28th September, 2021) Spanish and Soviet theater director Angel Gutierrez told Sputnik on Monday that he has been struggling for months to have his eleven year old grandson, taken away by Madrid social services, returned to him.

The theater director said he has been making efforts to bring his grandson back to the family since May when the boy was sent to a special center � where children suffering a difficult life situation are held � for skipping school for 10 days.

"He sent me several audio messages: screaming, asking to call the police," Gutierrez said, noting that his mother was reluctant to send him to school from fear of coronavirus.

Documents by social services read that the grandparents with whom the boy lived paid no attention to him, calling him "homeless" and "abandoned," as if it were a child who lived on the street with drug addict parents, Gutierrez continued.

"Even if he did not go to school for a week and a half, this is not a reason to take the child. He has a grandfather and a grandmother, he lives with us. He has a father, he is Russian, in Malaga," he said.

After social services representatives took the boy away without notifying the family, Gutierrez was banned from visiting the boy for a long period, with only one short phone conversation per week allowed.

The theater director added that he finally managed to see him only a week ago when the boy was brought to a hospital, begging to go home and threatening suicide.

Gutierrez is currently trying to settle the issue in court.

The council for family affairs of the Madrid government told Sputnik that it was unaware of this situation.

Gutierrez lived in the Soviet Union from 1937 to 1974. Earlier in the day, he was granted Russian citizenship per President Vladimir Putin's decree.