Foster parents charged for committing physical and emotional abuse against eight children

RIGA - The Prosecutor's Office has brought charges against two foster parents for committing physical and emotional abuse against eight children over a period of several years, including sexual abuse committed against two underage girls by the foster father.

According to information obtained by LETA, the foster mother was even included on the annual Latvijas Lepnums television awards ceremony, celebrating people who have committed acts of kindness and generosity.

The State Police inform that they began investigating the couple after the two underage girls arrived at a Riga police precinct to inform about the sexual and physical abuse being committed against them by the foster parents.

A criminal process was launched in August of last year, and the State Police's Sexual Crimes Department later took over the case.

According to the investigation, one girl in the couple's care had been systematically raped over a several month period from 2016 to 2017, while two other girls suffered from a sexual abuse incident in 2015.

Overall, eight children in the couple's care suffered sexual, physical and emotional abuse by the couple between 2007 and 2019.

Five children in the couple's care at the time were taken away by social services in February of this year, and the couple was detained.

The foster mother (born 1961) has been released pending trial, while the foster father (1968) has been taken into custody as a security measure.