Minister says abused boy under state care

ADANA - Doğan News Agency

Family and Social Policies Minister Fatma Şahin visited the southern province of Adana and the 6-year-old boy in the institution, where he has been placed. DHA photo

Family and Social Policies Minister Fatma Şahin has announced that a 6-year-old boy who arrived at a police station in the southern province of Adana last week with bruises and burns on his body, has been taken into protective custody by the state.

“From now on Ali is our son. We will take him through this process with care,” Şahin told reporters in Adana, where she paid the boy a visit at the institution where he is staying. Şahin also said authorities had managed to locate the boy’s mother, and found she is in need of psychological help.

The weeping boy, who only knew his first name, “Ali,” showed up at the Gaziosmanpaşa police station at around 2 a.m. one day last week. Police officers, surprised to see an unattended child at that time of night, brought him inside the station. Ali told the officers that he ran away from home because he was being tortured. The police officers were shocked to discover cigarette burns on Ali’s back, arms and feet, as well as bruises and bite marks on his back.