Greece: New case of girl with unrelated couple
11/12/2013THESSALONIKI, Greece — Greek authorities have charged another Roma couple with child abduction after DNA testing showed a four-year-old girl being brought up as theirs was not related to them.
The charges in Thessaloniki today follow an investigation of birth records for potential welfare fraud, triggered by a high-profile case last month involving another girl living with an unrelated Roma couple.
That child, called Maria, was established to be the daughter of a Bulgarian Roma woman who says she gave the girl to the Roma couple because she couldn’t afford to keep her. The couple is fighting for custody.
The new case emerged after authorities found the girl’s adoptive parents registered two children as born within six months.
Police say the suspects claim a Bulgarian Roma woman gave them the child.