Mystery blonde girl found in Greece prompts search for parents (Updated)

reply to post by dowot


Yes, I've been looking for other stories, as well.

One thing, though - there was a story about a Chinese couple who've been arrested for selling THREE newborn babies, for a grand total of $13,000. Doesn't seem that some people place a lot of value on the life of another (their child!).

Chinese couple sells babies for iPhones and shoes, authorities say

(CNN) -- A Shanghai couple are facing charges after allegedly selling three of their newborns to pay for iPhones, computers and high-end shoes, Chinese authorities said.

The husband and wife, both in their early 30s and identified only as Teng and Zhang, face multiple charges of trafficking of women and children, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported Friday. The husband is in custody, and his wife posted bail, China's Ministry of Public Security said.

Shanghai police began investigating the couple in May after receiving tips that they used QQ, a popular Chinese instant messaging system, to place an ad for their newborn girl, the ministry said. Police found the couple by tracing the IP address from their ad.

Police arrested them in June.
After their arrest, the couple admitted selling three of their newborn babies in recent years for a total of $13,000, the ministry said. They sold the first baby in 2008, the second in 2011 and the third -- the girl -- this year, the ministry said.

news.sky.com...

Another reason detectives suspect the case could be part of an international trafficking ring is that Greek police records show a related kidnapping case in 2009, the year Maria was born.

Apparently, the couple's various excuses included that the girl was found in a blanket and that she was handed to them by strangers. They later claimed she had a foreign father.

The lawyers are insisting that someone who couldn't handle raising a child gave her to them. I hope that is the case; an unofficial adoption, perhaps. But, the lady's track record (10 kids in 6 months or whatever preposterous claims she made) seems to indicate they make a "business" out of doing this.

????????????

reply to post by wildtimes


I do not see any statements about abuse and neglect in that article. Only that she has calmed down and is playing and they will soon be able to undergo full examinations. I believe just about all accounts say she lived in bad conditions but of course that definition varies among people (if sanitary but messy that doesn't mean filthy). Her condition will depend on cultural variables I imagine. In the
U. S. they would look more closely at a child who has bruises in unusual places or has evidence of a few days of lack of heigene, if that child was reported. I don't know what they would consider normal for this area.

HardCorps
reply to post by wildtimes

 

I hate to say it but...Taken by Gypsy's sounds soooo, stereotyped.
Not saying it isn't true.. just sounds a little too covenant ya know...

Anyway yeah, lots of folks would pay big bucks for a little blond girl... the sex trafficking problem is right up there with drug trafficking as a major money maker. Just last month I heard a reference to Juarez Mexico murders. where girls have been found raped, killed and dumped out in the surrounding desert... The number toped 2,500 last year... Funny how that news was never reported?

In this day and age a parent just cannot take their eyes off their kids... you just blink and someone will scoop them up!

There was a movie made about these abductions on Mexico - Bordertown. Are you saying these are still ongoing? If so why did not even that much attention make someone stand for these girls?

It's quite possible that the "parents" are telling the truth. Over the last few years, the economic crisis within Greece and Europe has been severe. In Greece, it has forced some families to give up their children because they can no longer afford to feed them. Bulgaria, the country where the Roma claim to have been given the child, is one of those countries that was also hit very hard by the financial crisis in 2009--the year of Maria's birth. So there is a distinct possibility that the Roma are telling the truth about this--especially if no biological parent has stepped forward. Whether that is the case of not is truly very dependent on whether that biological mother does step forward.

www.cnn.com...

On zoom, the girl does appear to have what looks like contusions on her wrists. Most clear is on her left wrist. However, considering she's 4, was fingerprinted and is clearly fidgeting her hands in the shot, there's always a possibility that those "contusions" are just ink. If she had bruises on her wrists, the media would've been all over it. In fact, if she had a scalp issues or any other outward sign of abuse or neglect, the news would've eaten it up faster than a kid and a candy bar. No reports of abuse or neglect that I've seen in the media in regards to this little girl.

I'm also kind of loathe to outright compare this to other possible human trafficking cases. If the Roma were adopting the children to raise them as their own and as members of their people, it's not quite the same as a child being sold into a labor camp or sex trade.

Pooche
reply to post by wildtimes

 

Poor little thing. So sad.
They obviously were not taking good care of her. Her face is dirty and her hands are filthy, a good way for a child to get sick. I hope they find her parents and the parents are worthy of such a precious child.

I would guess you don't have kids, they get absolutely filthy!
And letting your children grub around in the dirt is actually the best way to stop them getting sick.
Children brought up in houses that are cleaned too much are very susceptible to illnesses, as they don't build up immunity.

I find this story so sad on so many levels, not least is for good or ill, this child has just lost the only parents she has ever known, she must be terrified.

reply to post by WhiteAlice


reply to post by WhiteAlice


I don't think these people are telling the truth as they have given conflicting explanations as to why they have her. Handed to them in a blanket or found abandoned wrapped in a blanet; left by a mom who asked that they care for her; mom left for an errand and never returned. However, this may have been due to welfare fraud - trying to make something up to sound good.

I also think she may have been abandoned by her mother as this is not uncommon. It could be no one would allow someone so poor to adopt an abandoned child so they were forced to lie. But why nearly a dozen children who they are collecting benefits on? That seems suspicious along with the lies. Is it all altruism or something more?

I'm sure whatever the marks on her body are will come out eventually if there is anything to them. If anyone can find out it will be the press. And I was wondering if it could be ink on her wrists as well so grabbed my own as a child might. Just a quick grab it seemed unlikely but if she was fidgiting a lot (probably was), it seems entirely possible to me as well.

Any child who is being trafficked or prostituted will be taken care of physically to appeal to the client. The fact that she is disheveled means they were probably treating her like any of the others. It's a good thing for investigators they were scamming the system as this will allow them to trace how long this has been going on, and hopefully lead them to answers on other children found.

reply to post by WilsonWilson


Yes, it is sad, Wilson.

They were her family, for better or worse. Now apparently they are saying it was a Bulgarian woman who asked them to adopt the girl; though they concede it was a "non-legal" adoption (informal, I guess?)

Now she's living in a group home and doing "much better."

Still, all we know is she recognizes the name "Maria" - and if she was given up 4-5 years ago, how would the mother recognize her? They are going to publish the pictures of the adoptive parents; I presume this will help the mother in corroborating the story.

Also mentioned in the latest update on CNN is the "empty stillborn coffins reported".

Maria's case plays into old prejudices about gypsies stealing children for forced labor.
Pardalis mentioned such a possibility, saying, "We don't have any other information if this girl was forced to work or to beg on streets."

And the government news agency raised "the possibility of the existence of a ring bringing pregnant women to Greece from Bulgaria and then taking their children for sale." The agency also cited past "reports" that empty coffins were found for infants who supposedly were stillborn to foreign mothers in Athens.

edition.cnn.com...

An "informal adoption" could be possible but the 10 kids in 6 months claim is a huge red flag. They could be collecting children for aid or they're selling them/using them to beg etc.

The girls dyed hair has grown out quite a bit. I'd say it's been about a year since it was done. I had boys so maybe it's different but at 3 I couldn't hardly comb their hair much less dye it. Trips to the barber shop were pretty traumatic.

I simply can't imagine dying a 3 yr old's hair especially with a permanent dye. It had to grow out so I don't think the more mild shampoo in formula was used.

Imo it would take a bit of a struggle and a lot of coercion to dye a young child's hair and for no good reason other than to conceal her identity. Such harsh chemicals should never be used on a young child. Imo that in itself is suspect/abusive, it might explain the "scalp condition."

And now another little girl, in Dublin!

Blonde girl, 7, removed from Dublin Roma family

Very strange timing. I wonder if it's just a "general crackdown" on the Roma --

reply to post by wildtimes

Today the charity Smile of the Child, which is now looking after Maria until her parents are found, said she is older than originally thought.

Dental examinations at a hospital suggest Maria is either five or six instead of four they previously estimated.

www.mirror.co.uk...

If she really is a year or two older, they outright lied about her age. Why? This doesn't add up at all, and I'm very doubtful of the desperate mother selling/giving her to them story they settled on. This would mean that they were given her as a baby in 2007 or 2008, not 2009 as they claimed. I'm feeling fairly certain that this child was trafficked at this point. There's too many lies coming from the couple to be anything else.

reply to post by Nyiah


Right. Thanks, I forgot to mention the age difference that they've discovered.

Opens up a whole new pool of "abductee survivors". They have 10 families now that are being checked out as possible family...

Did you see a pic of the 'parents'? I haven't seen one yet.

Oh, and also, she does speak, but only Romani.

wildtimes
Did you see a pic of the 'parents'? I haven't seen one yet.

Yeah maybe you should

Read somewhere that they, the current parents, paid 850 pounds for the child. So not given away, but brought.
Wonder why they had a spare 850 just waiting to be used. I don't have that spare!

As Wildtimes has already pointed out, there has been another blonde child found living in a Roma community, who seems to not belong.

www.bbc.co.uk...

Both, coincidentally now, of similar ages. How old would Madaline MacCann be now?

A statement re the Irish girl.

"Pavee Point, a rights groups that works on behalf of Irish travellers and the Roma community, called for the girl's case to be expedited.

"Pavee Point are concerned about witch-hunts against a vulnerable community and old stereotypes of an entire community being propagated in the media coverage of this development," a spokesman said.

"Actions by the state need to be evidence based and due process needs to be accorded to all communities living in Ireland."

news.uk.msn.com...

!

reply to post by NoRulesAllowed


Thanks for posting that. To be honest, I haven't been totally immersed in the story, just checking it every morning, and the photo hadn't been posted on my sources accessed.

:thumb up: I knew it was to be published yesterday.

reply to post by Dianec


Juarez Mexico is a very dangerous place. got to be a war zone for the drug cartels.
for a while it was listed as the murder capital of the world. killing got so bad they had to send the Army in...

anyway ... girls being kidnapped, raped, murdered and dumped turned into old news... everyone trying to get their stories in on the drug war... then the cartels started killing the reporters and there was no news of any kind coming out of Juarez Mexico...

Journalism is a business too... you go with the stories that sell the most newspapers... And lets face it... most people would rather read about Miley Cyrus Twerking then a bunch of dead Mexican gals

There is a new CNN vid/interview with Deborah Bradley and Jeremy Irwin now (parents of missing Lisa Irwin) - saying they think it might be her.
edition.cnn.com...

This would be impossible as the dental tests show this girl to be older than 3, which would be Lisa's age now.

There's not much resemblance, I don't think, except for the blondness. But, it is sad that Lisa has never been seen since.

reply to post by HardCorps


I had truly believed the Juarez killings had slowed. Wishful thinking. I'll need to look up the army being sent in. Why haven't they found the killers - unless it is drug war related. I think about the movie bordertown everytime I buy electronics (as one of many items). It also brought attention to the killings - something I wouldn't have known about. Sadly I'm one of those people whose consciousness it left when it wasn't being reported on. I won't let that happen again. I bet I find nothing on it due to fears on reporting. These are the sorts of places that need our help - not places that need more guns and training to fight their holy wars. Thank you for sharing. If any links to stories I'm interested.

Just an update on the girl in Ireland that was taken from a Roma family. Seems that DNA has proved she belongs to the family.