Bulgarian authorities have stated that a DNA test has confirmed Sasha Ruseva, a 35 year old Roma woman and her partner Atanas Rusev as the biological parents of the blonde girl, known as Maria, who was discovered at a Gypsy camp in Farsala, in central Greece, last week.
Ruseva says she gave birth to a baby girl four years ago in Greece while working as an olive picker but gave the child away because she was too poor to care for her. She since has had two more children after Maria.
Greek authorities have now to decide whether Maria will be returned to her biological parents in Bulgaria, the family she lived with in Greece, or, whether another option should be sought.
Maria is currently in care at the private charity organisation Smile of he Child.
Also, yesterday, Greece’s Ombudsman issued a scathing assessment of the way authorities and the media had handled Maria’s case.
The Ombudsman said the case had highlighted the poor provisions that exist in Greece for protecting minors, and called on the government to urgently examine the process by which children are adopted in the country.