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.

More...

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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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[***super_nova***]

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@**meep** wrote:

Given that she isn't of school age yet anyway, I am not sure what language she is expected to speak? Didn't you say that you started school with no English?

I started school overseas.  I continued it here from yr 10, at that time I did not speak English.  I understand what you're getting at though..

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I am sure it was not easy, but being literate in one language, and no doubt having supportive educated parents would have been a great help in learning new language.

[**meep**]

Yes, naturally.

[the_great_she_elephant]

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@**meep** wrote:

Her lack of Greek had nothing to do with a lack of education - her community spoke Roma as did her 'parents' as did she.

  Why do you think so many school aged children speak only Romani?

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Since I have never seen any published statistics to support that 'fact',  it had never crossed my mind that it was a question I should be asking 

[**meep**]

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@the_great_she_elephant wrote:

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@**meep** wrote:

Her lack of Greek had nothing to do with a lack of education - her community spoke Roma as did her 'parents' as did she.

  Why do you think so many school aged children speak only Romani?

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Since I have never seen any published statistics to support that 'fact',  it had never crossed my mind that it was a question I should be asking 

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I keep making the same mistake thinking ppl bother to open the links I post.   C&Ps are not very popular either......Oh well.....

[the_great_she_elephant]

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@**meep** wrote:

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@the_great_she_elephant wrote:

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@**meep** wrote:

Her lack of Greek had nothing to do with a lack of education - her community spoke Roma as did her 'parents' as did she.

  Why do you think so many school aged children speak only Romani?

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Since I have never seen any published statistics to support that 'fact',  it had never crossed my mind that it was a question I should be asking 

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I keep making the same mistake thinking ppl bother to open the links I post.   C&Ps are not very popular either......Oh well.....

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If one of your links did give those statistics, then I apologise, Meep. Could you repost it as I have been unable to find it.. The nearest I came was this one http://www.opendemocracy.net/can-europe-make-it/petre-florin-manole-cristian-delcea/educating-romani... but the only reference I could findthere  to the spoken language of Roma children was a statement that most Romanian Roma only speak Romanian and are not interested in learning 'their own' language.

[**meep**]

She ele, I may be the one who owes you an apology, and Martini as well.   I came across "related articles" referring to integrating strategies which contained  statistics.  I may have posted a link to the "main article" if that makes sense.   (in the middle of cooking dinner. will have a look again as soon as i can)

[icyfroth]

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@***super_nova*** wrote:

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@icyfroth wrote:

Just because they're very fair doesn't mean they're albino.

Maria is not albino IMO.

Are they trotting out the "albino" thing to explain their fair-haired children? Oh please.

That's like Michael Jackson with his turning into a white person blaming it on Vitiligo.

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There are many grades of albinism; when 2 very dark skinned people with very dark ancestors have several children with very pale translucent skin and very light or orange hair it is albinism. 

I don't dispute that

Nobody is 'trotting' that out, it is quite obvious that Maria's family is producing albinos;

Really? Obvious on the strength of a few of blonde children in the background of a picture showing a dark-complexioned woman? I don't think so.

Being very fair-skinned and having very light blond hair doesn't make you an albino.

I was a very fair-skinned and light blond child myself, very much like Maria. Actually, she looks very much like I did at her age.

I'd be happy to post a pic except they're all black and white lol. Still, if you insist, I will.

the brother and orange haired baby certainly are. 

What makes you so certain on that? Because you've seen  of a few blond children in the background of of a dark-complectioned woman you've never seen before, living on the other side of the world , you can say with all certainty they're albino can you? Not even doctors can say that with all certainty:

"Sofia medical academy professor Draga Toncheva said: "Albinism is due to a genetic disorder characterised by lack of skin, eye and hair pigmentation. The children that I saw on television carry the signs of this rare condition,"

from this article: http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/health/marias-hair-pale-skin-due-to-albino-gene-doctors-say/story-f...

Notice he commits only to "carry the signs of albinism". He's only seen them on television. Yet you feel certain?

I'm pretty sure that orange hair is not the baby's natural hair colour either. I wouldn't say certainly though.

There is nothing wrong with that,

Nobody said there was

it is just an explanation why pale children are in gypsy family. 

Exactly. Just an explanation. Not necessarily fact.

It is a genetic mutation which causes the pigment not being able to be expressed.

A well-known fact

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[the_great_she_elephant]

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@**meep** wrote:

She ele, I may be the one who owes you an apology, and Martini as well.   I came across "related articles" referring to integrating strategies which contained  statistics.  I may have posted a link to the "main article" if that makes sense.   (in the middle of cooking dinner. will have a look again as soon as i can)

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Thank you Meep - and you may very well prove to be right. That link you posted regarding the education of Romanian Roma children was very informative - and a bit sad. I could see so many parallels between the Roma and our own indigenous communities.

[**meep**]

I'm sorry She ele

The information was in fact on another website -  Council of Europe and UNICEF.   Completely understandable that no-one would be looking for links inside links.    I apologise for assuming that you (and others) didn't bother to read my links.

[azureline**]

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@i-need-a-martini wrote:

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@azureline** wrote:

I disagree too..... they need to know it is unacceptable to keep having 8 to 10 children just because they can........and keep them filthy, poorly clothed and fed, uneducated.............

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Who needs to know it is unnacceptable??

This child looked extremely healthy and well fed. Her clothes were clean. Her hair was clean. We don't know that she wasn't being educated. 

So her fingers were dirty (maybe cause she was playing) and she had her hair tips dyed. None of those things point to a child that isn't being taken care of. And who are we to say how many children any woman can have?

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The natural mother in Bulgaria?............the siblings of Maria..the place the mother wants her returned to.............