After two months of interviewing influential journalists and doing hundreds of hours of research, I can now answer the following question: Why would Spanish bureaucrats and civil servants go out of their way to kidnap a three-and-a-half year old child?

The answer: the central government pays regional authorities anywhere from 4,000 to 8,000 euros per month for each child abducted (the exact amount varies from one region to another). In this part of Spain, foster families get paid 550 euros for each child they take in. Guess who keeps the difference? Part of the money goes back to the governing socialist party, the rest is distributed among the criminals who take part in these kidnappings.