Is this some other poor parent's Maddie? Police appeal for help identifying blonde girl, 4

[twinkles**stars]

• Unidentified girl found living in a Roma gypsy camp in central Greece
• Man, 39, and woman, 40, arrested and charged with abducting a minor
• The girl has fair hair and pale skin and bears no resemblance to them
  
• DNA testing proved she was not related to the couple
  
• Charity now caring for the girl requests global hunt to find her real parents

Who is she? Police are appealing for help identifying this four-year-old girl who was found on a gypsy camp in Greece after she was allegedly abducted

Greek authorities have requested international help to identify a four-year-old girl found living in appalling conditions in a gypsy camp with a couple whom they have arrested and charged with abducting her.

The child was found on Wednesday near Farsala in central Greece during a routine search of the camp by police looking for drugs and weapons.

The girl reportedly sparked one of the officer's curiosity as she is blonde, pale skinned and bore no resemblance to the other Roma children or the couple who claimed to be her parents.

A 39-year-old man and a 40-year-old woman have been arrested and charged with abducting a minor.

Police said they offered conflicting accounts about the girl, one claiming that she was found in a blanket, the other claiming she had been handed to them by strangers.

Police said today that DNA testing proved the girl, who is believed to be called Maria, was not related to the couple.

'Her features suggest that she might be from an eastern or northern (European) country,' regional police chief Panayiotis Tzavaras said.

Police have notified Interpol for assistance.

Detectives say they also found drugs and unregistered firearms in other parts of the settlement, which is about 280 kilometers (170 miles) north of Athens.

The police statement said the couple claimed to have a total 14 children, and had registered different numbers with authorities in three different parts of Greece.

Officers found three minors living with them in the settlement who appear to be their children - although that hasn't yet been verified by DNA testing.

The case bears a disturbing similarity to theories about the disappearance of British toddler Madeleine McCann, who went missing on a family holiday in Portugal on May 3, 2007.

The girl is now in the care of the charity 'A child's smile,' which said today it has sought the assistance of European and global groups for lost or abused children in tracking her parents.

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She does not speak other languages than Roma but appears to understand Greek and is being communicated with by sign language.

She was said to traumatised when she arrived at her care home but has since settled and is living in a safe family environment with other children of her age.

Distress: Dirty and grimacing as her photo is taken, the little girl is now the centre of an international appeal. Authorities hope her parents can be found so the family can be reunited

Police said the child was found near Farsala in central Greece during a crackdown on illegal activities by Roma

A medical examination is ongoing.

Panayiotis Pardalis, a spokesman for the charity, said: 'It was obvious that she was not a Roma girl.

'She was afraid and under some psychological pressure when she arrived. Colleagues have been trying to communicate but are struggling.

'She seems to understand Greek but cannot speak it. She was living under bad conditions and was very dirty but is now safe.'

Charity director Costas Giannopoulos said the child was undergoing medical examinations.

'We are shocked by how easy it is for people to register children as their own,' he told private Skai TV.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2465942/Is-poor-parent-s-Maddie-Police-appeal-help-identifyi...
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[i-need-a-martini]

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@ambercat16 wrote:

Question is....was the child better off with the Roma couple or should she be returned to her real mother if it is proved that this woman is her real mother?

Either way, it doesn't sound like the kid is the winner

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Its all a matter of perspective though isn't it?

Just because all children (and other people generally) don't have the lives that we have doesn't make them any more/less fortunate or unloved or unhappy.

All initial accounts (and I think the first police reports were probably the most reliable as since then the story seems to have grown into a circus) confirm a happy, healthy and loved child. If her occupation within her family was begging, then so be it. Why is this occupation of any less value than another child being brought up in their parents way of life?  Is it any different to the child of a farmer being 'forced' to do chores on the land before they head off to school each morning? 

Just because we don't understand their way of life doesn't make it wrong IMO.

[***super_nova***]

When I was in Paris some years ago, i used to often see one particular Roma girl who used to travel around on the metro; probably travelled all day long and right into the night.  She could not been more than 6, she looked undernourished and exhausted, maybe drugged , she sang in lifeless little voice and would stop in front of people who she thought might give something, stared at them until they either gave or told her off.  I wished I could just pack her into my luggage and take her home with me.  Then there was an old lady (she must have been over 100) sitting on the floor in one of the metro stations in the middle of the city, she was so frail, and I always gave her generously.  Until my French friends explained to me that she is "working" for somebody, he brings her  early morning (she cannot walk) carries her away at night and takes all the money.  She gets fed if she is lucky.  The same with the girl.

Not that the point is whether Maria's life was horrible or not, the point is that the people she lived with have no legal right to have her.  The other option is her birth mother who dumped her; I would imagine that would mean she has no legal claim on her either.  Of-course, the law might be different over there, and there are 2 countries involved. 

[i-need-a-martini]

I agree with you supa nova that this is the way the gypsies operate. I recall seeing a gypsy woman begging at a petrol station on an autostrada in Italy. I watched as her husband drove up in a brand new merc, collected the takings from her, drove off and she resumed begging.

However, I don't believe we have the right to comment on whether this way of life is good or bad when we view it from the comfort of an affluent western perspective.

If her mother hadn't sold her to gypsies, she might have been abandoned to a Bulgarian orphanage or sold to others who may have used her for far worse occupations than begging. If the initial reports were correct and she was lovingly cared for by that couple, then I feel she was probably quite lucky.

[cherry*135]

What future does a young child have if her main use for the family is to 'beg' on the streets (because she doesn't look like a Roma Gyspy).

What happens to her when she gets older and less cute to do the street begging? Goes on to have her own children at 13, like her mother?

The Greek mother does not have any legal claim to the child.

[cherry*135]

I saw a lot of people begging in Paris a couple of years ago. Woman by themselves or with a small child.. most had notes ( mainly in English) saying they had to leave their children behind in Bosnia and needed money to send back for them.

They were clean & reasonably well dressed. One on the train route to Disneyland had a card written in both English and French claiming the same as above and had a money belt to put her 'donations' in.

If they were legal citizens of France, wouldn't they be eligible for Govt welfare? They looked too clean and well dressed to be living on the streets.

 I saw beggars in other countries who looked like they were homeless and lived on the streets.

Although I did read recently that the French authorities can turn a blind eye to street hawkers/ beggars because they know they need the money.

[**meep**]

If her occupation within her family was begging, then so be it. Why is this occupation of any less value than another child being brought up in their parents way of life?  Is it any different to the child of a farmer being 'forced' to do chores on the land before they head off to school each morning?

I believe her age has been determined to be 5 or 6.  Was she going to school?  Do any of those children go to school?

Every child, no matter who they are and where they live, has the right to education, live in a safe environment and be protected from neglect.

[i-need-a-martini]

Of course they do. But that is not what every child gets.

My issue with this case is that this child may be much worse off now. Particularly if they return her to Bulgaria.

[cherry*135]

A dentist determined Maria's age as 5 or 6.

I think both her birth mother and Greek mother still say she is 4.

[the_great_she_elephant]

Every child, no matter who they are and where they live, has the right to education, live in a safe environment and be protected from neglect.

So what do we do with all the other Roma children - round them all up, stick them in instututional care and create a 'stolen generation'? Or is it only blonde, blue eyed little girls that need to nbe rescued?

[**meep**]

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@the_great_she_elephant wrote:

Every child, no matter who they are and where they live, has the right to education, live in a safe environment and be protected from neglect.

So what do we do with all the other Roma children - round them all up, stick them in instututional care and create a 'stolen generation'? Or is it only blonde, blue eyed little girls that need to nbe rescued?

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No, you will find there are initiatives in Europe that are designed to prevent just that.  UNICEF/Roma Children is a good source of information about what is being done to ensure the basic human rights of those children.

Martini commented that it is unfair to intervene because it is the only lives they know - or something like that.  I disagree.

I think, taking everything into consideration, the authorities did do what they believed was in the best interest of the child.

I dont know how many cases like this one there are.