Two children who have lived in the Netherlands for nine years but face deportation to Armenia have gone into hiding while their mother is deported, broadcaster NOS said on Monday.

Armina Hambartsjumian, the mother of Lily (11) and Howick (12), was picked up at her home at a refugee centre in Amersfoort last week and was put on a flight to Paris on Monday, Defence for Children said. She will then be put on another plane to the Armenian capital Jerevan. ‘We have never before come across a case in which a mother is deported while the children remain in the Netherlands,’ Defence for Children said.

The children were born in Russia and have never been to Armenia.