9-Year-old Boy Lived Alone in Unheated Apartment for 2 Years While Mother Lived With Boyfriend in France

Nine-year-old boy’s mother left him to live with her boyfriend; he spent two years living alone in a chilly apartment in southwest France. His mother relocated three miles away, leaving the young boy to fend for himself in an apartment in Nersac, France, close to Angoulême. The 39-year-old mother put the child in risk and was sentenced to six months in prison last week. The father of the boy, who lives in a different town, was not charged.
The youngster who was abandoned had times without electricity, warmth, or hot water between 2020 and 2022.

He made due by utilizing blankets and sleeping bags for warmth and washing in cold water. He turned to grabbing tomatoes from a nearby balcony and foraging among neighbors for food in order to survive. After worried neighbors eventually called the authorities, the kid was placed under protective custody.

The youngster lived a life of neglect and seclusion, but no one noticed because he went to school. in part because he did his schoolwork, kept his room tidy, and got good scores. Barbara Couturier, the mayor of the town, clarified that the youngster appeared to put on a shield. presenting the impression that everything was OK. “I believe he surrounded himself with a shield of assurance that everything is OK,” she added.

When the neighbors initially saw the problem, they sensed something wasn’t quite right.

When the boy’s mother heard from neighbors about her concerns, she disregarded them, saying she was taking care of her son and requested them to keep out of her personal affairs. Because the youngster could take care of himself, the locals said the negligence went unnoticed.

The abandoned child turned to stealing tomatoes from a nearby balcony and asking about for food among the neighbors during his two years of loneliness. The youngster was eventually placed in care after the worried neighbors contacted the police.

According to a classmate, the boy stayed at home most of the time, seldom left the house, and frequently ate and rode the bus alone. Using mobile data that demonstrated her sparse attendance at the apartment, the mother’s claim that she lived with her son was refuted throughout the trial.He admitted to his friends that he rode the bus and ate his meals by himself. He didn’t always stay at home and didn’t go out.The student said.

See Also: After Her Parents Abandoned Her, She Swore To Show Them Wrong — Now She Models For Vogue

Changing shame into relief

The neighbors felt bad about not recognizing the problem sooner. blaming the anonymity of contemporary living for helping the neglect to continue.”If a mother mistreated her child, it didn’t matter too much when there was a family and a community around them since everyone in the village and the rest of the family took care of the child. It’s not the same anymore,” a local citizen remarked.

What is the University of Nottingham’s position on desertion?

A comprehensive legal definition of child abandonment is conspicuously absent from a study conducted across ten European Union countries, namely Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and the United Kingdom. The uncertainty and lack of clarity surrounding the definition of child abandonment present difficulties for this issue’s practical and academic endeavors.

A major contributing cause to the need for institutional care for children under three is child abandonment. Just 4% of children in Western European institutions were found to be abandoned, according to a comparison. In contrast, the percentage was substantially higher—32%—in Central and Eastern Europe. The largest percentages of abandoned children in institutional care were seen in Romania, Hungary, and Latvia. While the UK, Denmark, and Norway all stated that child desertion was uncommon.

EU nations are taking a number of steps to stop child desertion. Among these initiatives are:
Social support
Daycare centers
mother-child pairs
Services for family planning
services of counseling for mothers and/or families
monetary assistance
initiatives focusing on child identification and high-risk families
“Training centers” for parents
Helplines providing assistance to mothers who require it
Advice on how to stop child abandonment in maternity hospitals
Social workers’ presence in maternity units
Hospital employees receive training on how to identify high-risk situations, manage them, and offer supportive counseling.

3 Stories of People Who Became Homeless During Hard Times

“That’s the problem, Amber!” he retorted. “I’m tired of all the responsibilities. I need time for myself. I’ve found someone who gets what I’m going through!”

That night, as he walked out, I just fell apart. Once Louis was gone, reality hit me hard. I struggled to find a job while taking care of Allen alone.

Two weeks later, our landlady evicted us as I couldn’t pay the rent, and Social Services took Allen.

That night, I was homeless and heartbroken. My baby, my child, was taken away from me.

I sold everything I had, including my phone, and that kept me going for a while. Then, the money ran out.

One evening, out in the cold, I remembered my dad’s warnings about Louis. “He’s not right for you,” Dad had said. I wish I’d listened. Desperate to reconnect with him, I decided to buy a phone to call him.I knew that if I borrowed a phone to call him, maybe he wouldn’t pick up the first time or even the second. But I’d have to keep trying….

I starved myself for a week to save enough to buy a second-hand phone. My tears didn’t stop when I dialed Dad’s number.

“Hello?” he asked.

“It’s… Amber, Dad,” I sobbed into the phone.

“Amber, sweetheart! Is that you? Oh God! How are things going?”

“I need your help, dad!”

“Is-Is everything okay?”

“Just come as soon as possible, Dad!” I said.

He arrived quickly. In a hotel room, I poured out my heart about the betrayal and my days on the streets. Dad comforted me.

The next day, Dad and I went to the orphanage to start the paperwork to bring Allen home. Once everything was finalized, Dad took Allen and me to New York.

He also hired a private detective to find out where Louis was. It turned out Louis had been cheating on me with his boss’s daughter.

When his boss found out the truth — that Louis was married and had abandoned his family — he fired him. Louis ended up living on the streets. It felt like justice was done.

Back home, with my dad and Allen, I felt stronger. Life had knocked me down but taught me resilience. And with Dad’s support, I knew we could face anything ahead.

Coming up next is Brandon’s story, a homeless man and father of 3 living in a tent. One day, he decided to help a stranger, ignoring his own needs, and his life was never the same again.

2. Brandon: I Gave My Last $2 to a Stranger at a Gas Station, the Next Day I Inherited His Company
Four months on the streets with my three kids taught me a lot about life’s harshness and the small acts of kindness that can keep hope alive.
We lived in a tent near a gas station, a makeshift home barely shielding us from the cold. It was tough, but we managed to find moments of joy, making the best of it.

One chilly morning, as I counted the few coins I had left, I decided to head into the gas station to buy a can of beans — our planned dinner for the evening.

Inside, I stumbled upon a scene that jolted my heart. An elderly man stood at the counter, confusion written all over his face.

“I’m sorry, young lady, what did you say about the water being funny?” he asked.

“I said you don’t have enough money, sir!” the cashier snapped.

“Yes, it is a sunny day!” he replied.

Suddenly, some young man in line grabbed the elderly man, yelling, “You need more cash!”

Watching this, my heart sank. The elderly man just wanted a bottle of water to take his pills, but his request for an affordable bottle was met with hostility. “If you can’t afford to pay, you’ll have to go!” the cashier shouted.

I couldn’t stand idly by. Stepping forward, I emptied my cup of change onto the counter. “Have a heart, lady,” I said, deciding to pay for the man’s water.

The cashier counted the money with distaste. “That’ll cover it,” she muttered. I left the can of beans and handed the water to the elderly man.

“Here you go, sir,” I spoke clearly, making sure he could read my lips.

“Why did you help me when you needed the money?” he asked me as we left the store, noticing my tent with kids nearby.

“If there’s one thing I’ve learned from being homeless, it’s that the world works when people are kind to each other,” I explained.

“But what are your kids going to eat?” he questioned.

“There’s a chance I’ll find some scraps at the fast food joint across the street,” I assured him.

The next morning, two jeeps parked near our tent, and a man in a fancy suit stepped out.

“Mr. Grives’ last wish was for me to deliver this to you,” he said. There was a letter offering me the inheritance of his business.

“Is it a joke?” I asked in shock.

The man handed me legal documents. With a mix of apprehension and hope, I signed the papers. This could be the break my children and I needed, a chance to escape the streets.

We were driven to a huge mansion. “Can we put up a tent under that tree with pink flowers?” my youngest, Derrick, asked innocently.

“We’re going to live inside that house, silly! Right, Dad?” my daughter Kelly chimed in.

As I nodded, the reality of our new life began to sink in. Yet, the moment I opened the doors, something was wrong. The house was in disarray — someone had been there.

“We’ve examined the entire perimeter of the house and found no sign of forced entry, sir,” the officer reported after I called 911.

That evening, I got an anonymous call. In a robotic yet menacing tone, the voice told me I had 24 hours to decline all that Mr. Grives’ left me, leave the house, or else I would lose everything I love.

The mansion came with Mr. Grives’ loyal staff, and one of them warned me that this could be the doing of Mr. Grives’ eldest son, Christopher. I resolved to go to the cops in the morning.

But in the morning, my kids were vanished! Although the clever perpetrator had managed to hide his face from most of the CCTVs in and around the house, there was one he didn’t know about.

Mr. Grives’ staff watched in horror as they recognized the leader of three thugs drugging my children. It was Christopher.

From there on, the cops put everyone on the task of tracking Christopher, and didn’t rest until later that afternoon, when Christopher were spotted on the border of the state with my kids in the back of an old van.

Christopher was arrested, and my children were safe. But their fear had set in deep, and I had a choice to make: to heal and embrace the gift that kind soul left us, or to walk away, rebuilding from the start.

“Daddy, are we going to leave our home again?” Kelly’s question broke my heart.

I wrapped my arms around them. “We’re going to be okay. You want to know why?”

“IBecause the most valuable thing we have is right here, in my arms. So long as we stick together, we’ll always be rich in the most important way: love.”

While Brandon was blessed with children who understand the value of kindness and love, Mr. Greg wasn’t. Coming up next is his story.

3. Mr. Greg: My Teen Daughter Humiliated the Homeless, I Had to Teach Her a Lesson
I always thought I was doing right things for my daughter, Jane. I made sure she had everything she needed, but I missed teaching her something crucial — compassion for others. This hit me hard a few days ago when I lost my wallet.
After a fruitless search, I returned home to find Jane mocking a homeless man and his daughter at our doorstep. The shock set in when the man handed me my wallet, untouched. I was moved by that man’s gesture.

But Jane dismissively called them “trash,” and spoke to them with so much disgust…it broke my heart. I knew I had to fix this.

That evening, I invited the man, Mark, and his daughter for dinner. It was my chance to teach Jane about generosity.

“Dad, check the money! He probably stole it!” Jane said as I checked my wallet. Everything was there.

“All the money is here, sweetie. You’re mistaken,” I told her.

Seeing Mark’s and Lolita’s discomfort, I invited them to stay for dinner.
“Why don’t you guys join us?” I said. “It’s the least I can do to thank you.”

During dinner, Jane gave them paper plates instead of proper dishes.

“Why not use the nice dishes I got you for your birthday?” I suggested.

As we ate, I encouraged Mark to share his story, but Jane kept interrupting with rude comments. Eventually, I lost my patience.

“Shut your mouth, Jane!” I snapped. “You don’t know nothing. Misfortune could strike anyone.”

I then revealed a painful truth to Jane. “It’s my fault. I worked too much, especially after your mother passed. We were the same once,” I confessed. “Do you remember our ‘camping trips’? We were actually homeless.”

Jane was stunned. “How did we get back on our feet?”

“A kind man gave me a job. That changed our lives,” I said with a sigh.

Then, I looked at Mark. “And now, it’s my turn to pay it forward,” I told him.

Mark nodded. “All I did was what a decent human should do,” he said.

“I had no idea, Dad. I’m sorry,” Jane said after a pause.

“It’s okay, honey. It’s not too late to learn from this,” I told her.

When it was time for Mark and Lolita to go, I suggested, “Why don’t you both stay the night? We have plenty of room, and it’s getting late.”

Mark hesitated, then gratefully accepted. “Thank you, Greg. This means a lot.”

But I knew I wasn’t done helping them. Offering them a night’s shelter would not alleviate their problems. So I made a decision.

A little kindness costs nothing, guys, and I was ready to make sure that little Lolita and her dad had a good life.

The next day, I offered Mark a job as a driver and arranged a temporary home for them. “And I’ll help you until you’re back on your feet,” I promised.

“Oh, Really?” Mark gasped. “Nobody is this kind nowadays! I won’t let you down, sir,” Mark told me in tears. “Thank you so much!”

The smile on Lolita’s face that day made me realize I’d done the right thing. As for Jane…my Janie changed. She became a better person, and I’m so glad for that.

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