Maria's fate still undecided

From the Travellers' Times

THE future of Maria, the blond-haired Roma child whose ‘discovery’ in a Greek Roma settlement led to an international media storm, remains unclear amidst rival custody claims from the Bulgarian Government and her jailed adoptive parents.

Maria is currently in the custody of the Greek charity, Smile of the Child. Last week, a custody hearing at a court in Larissa, Greece, considered claims from a representative from the Bulgarian Government who also said that the charity should not be allowed to adopt her permanently. Instead, the Bulgarian Government is claiming custody of Maria, arguing that they have the legal right to do so because Maria’s natural mother, Sasheva Rusev, is Bulgarian Roma.

However, the lawyers representing Christos Salis and Elith Dimopoulou- the Greek Roma couple charged with abducting Maria- say that the couple want Maria back. Both the couple, and many of their neighbours at the Farsala Roma township where Maria was taken from them by the Greek Police, insist that the she was loved and cared for and that all the claims that were reported in the international media; about making her beg and dance for money, are simply not true.

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