Social Services don't actually have the power to decide that someone isn't a fit parent. That's a court decision.

Unfortunately it's pretty common for the media to get the facts muddled up and for readers to muddle them still further, till it turns into urban legends.

Social Services screw things up from time to time, that's true enough. What organisation doesn't? What individual doesn't, for that matter? Most of the time they do a pretty good job. I'm sure the same is true of their opposite numbers in Portugal.