Inside "La Gran Familia"

Here two boys walk through the refuge, which was raided after authorities received complaints from parents who said administrators would not return their children to them.

Filthy conditions were revealed inside the home.

Behind dirt-encrusted, barred windows, kids in lodgings that smelled of urine and feces told reporters that many children were raped, beaten and sent out into the streets to beg.

Many of those born at the institution were given the surname of the woman who ran it, Rosa Verduzco. They did not appear to know their own first names, referring to each other by their nicknames.

In the image above, a federal police officer stands guard atop a vehicle as relatives and friends wait for news of their children outside “La Gran Familia”.

The home was founded in 1947 and received financial backing from individuals, the government and businesses, according to its Facebook page.

Now that the institution has been raided, the plan is to reunite children with their families where possible and find other homes for orphans.

“Mama” Rosa Verduzco, the 79-year-old woman who ran the home, was detained on suspicion of deprivation of liberty and abuse.

But some prominent figures who admired Verduzco's life of work with troubled children jumped to her defence, and supporters, pictured above, protested for her release.

On July 20 Verduzco was freed, according to a spokesman for the attorney general's office who said statements from victims suggested she wasn't involved in the abuse.

Six workers at the home have been transferred to a prison in the state of Nayarit, facing criminal accusations, the spokesman added.