Birutė Navickaitė stated on her Facebook page on Saturday that she will not fight for her daughter’s custody and explained why.
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“I will not fight. I do not have suitable conditions to be safe with the child. I will not lift a finger for such child-rearing conditions because we are constantly being sent from one service to another. Those who suggest fighting – I suggest you stop suggesting. She will grow up, she will come herself. There is so little time left to grow, she will turn 16 soon. I will not take on case management – I know what it smells like to me. Terrorism, home searches, further disgrace with my appeals in all institutions. I am a free person. And I will not be a prisoner because I gave birth to Gražulis’s child. They did not tear her from the womb – they took her from my hands,” Birutė wrote.
B. Navickaitė also publicly addressed her daughter’s father, MEP Petras Gražulis.
“Parents, forget that I will go through the courts, because your dream, which you publicly declare, will never come true. Returning her to this school – IS NOT ALLOWED,” the woman added.
Žmonės.lt reminds that a few days ago, posts by B. Navickaitė appeared on the social network Facebook, where she told her relatives and followers that the Child Rights Protection Service decided to take her and P. Gražulis’s daughter and hand her over to guardians.
According to B. Navickaitė, she decided to drink beer, so she found “sitters” to whom she paid 200 euros to watch the girl soberly. However, as she said, this plan failed because the Child Rights Protection Service was called and the daughter was taken from the “sitter,” and B. Navickaitė herself was found to have 2.4 per mille blood alcohol content.
As P. Gražulis later told the portal Žmonės.lt, after the meeting on Friday, the Child Rights Protection Service entrusted the daughter’s custody to him.
“They said: ‘If you don’t take her, we will give her to guardians.’ So I took her and now the girl is going with me,” P. Gražulis told Žmonės.lt.
Working in the European Parliament, P. Gražulis has to travel constantly due to the nature of his work. For this reason, living with his daughter constantly seems difficult to him. When asked what he plans to do, the man spoke about his idea.
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“My job is such that one week – Strasbourg, two – Brussels, and one week I have to be in Lithuania, so how can I live with her? I won’t drag her around. I need to find a school, also someone to care for her, drive her when I’m not there and she will be in Lithuania,” P. Gražulis told Žmonės.lt.
According to him, the other work week is planned in Lithuania, so during that time he will have to take care of all matters.
After this decision by the Child Rights Protection Service, P. Gražulis said he had already received a call from B. Navickaitė.
“Birutė called, she, as a mother, is worried, crying, I told her – be orderly, get good references from work and we will see. I am not interested in Birutė having a hard time, or me, or the child,” P. Gražulis shared.
The Child Rights Protection Service also responded
The portal Žmonės.lt contacted the Klaipėda County Child Rights Protection Department of the State Child Rights Protection and Adoption Service regarding the situation. Their senior advisor Agnė Meškienė provided a comment.
“The main goal and priority of child rights defenders is always to ensure that the child can grow up in their family, together with their parents, in a safe environment, and that their needs are properly met.” We strive to ensure that parents have all the opportunities and necessary support to properly care for their child.
If the family faces difficulties or challenges that cannot be resolved independently, we first talk with the family, try to understand their situation, and together look for solutions that would help ensure the child’s safety and well-being,” the comment reads.
