'Greek' Maria to Be Placed in Bulgarian Crisis Center, Foster Home

Society | October 25, 2013, Friday // 16:33
'Greek' Maria to Be Placed in Bulgarian Crisis Center, Foster Home: 'Greek' Maria to Be Placed in Bulgarian Crisis Center, Foster Home The home of Sasha and Atans Rusevi in the Roma quarter of the Bulgarian small town of Nikolaevo. Photo 24 Hours daily

The four-year old blond girl, found in a Roma camp in Greece, which turned out to most likely be Bulgarian, will be brought to her native country and placed in a crisis center of the family type.

The news was reported Friday by the Bulgarian news cite BGNES, citing the Director of the Regional "Social Assistance" Directorate in the city of Stara Zagora, Yana Kaneva. She added that later a foster home will be found for the child.

The child, known as Maria, was found by Greek police during a drug raid on a Roma community near Larissa in central Greece.

A 40-year old woman and 39 -year-old man have been arrested and charged with kidnapping, since DNA tests revealed that the couple with whom Maria lived was not her biological parents.

Greek authorities then requested assistance from Interpol to find the parents of the girl.

A team of journalists from www.zougla.gr, the Greek News Portal of one of the best-known investigative journalists in Bulgaria's southern neighbor, Makis Triantafyllopoulos, revealed Thursday morning that the parents were Bulgarian Roma Sasha and Atanas Rusevi.

The Greek journalists published the ID cards of the family with the prosecution's permission. This led the authorities to the Roma quarters of the Bulgarian town of Nikolaevo in the central Stara Zagora region.

The couple was questioned Thursday by local police and was later taken with three of their children to the capital Sofia for further questioning and for DNA tests ordered by the Bulgarian Interior Ministry.

According to the most recent reports, the results of the test are not yet available.

The presumed biological mother, Sasha Ruseva says she gave Maria as "gift" to an acquaintance in Greece, who was childless and offered to take care of the girl. At the time, the child was 7-months old and was named Stanka.

She is adamant she has not sold the child, and poverty forced her to simply let other people raise her. Some neighbors, however, claim the couple was paid BGN 500 for the baby.

Sasha, 38, and Atanas have between 7 and 10 children. However, they, themselves, are not sure of the exact number. Five of the children in the family have light skin and bear an obvious resemblance to the girl found in Greece.

The family is very poor and all live in one room. TV footage showed Maria's siblings walking around the filthy home and neighborhood half naked. They seldom have anything to eat, but flour gruel.

bTV also reported that the "blond" gene of the five children was inherited from the mother Sasha who has albinos in her kin.

Greek psychologists established that Maria has been abused. They say she is very aggressive and describe her reactions as those of "a beast."

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Tags: Social Assistance, Stara Zagora, foster home, crisis center, mother, Bulgaria, greece, INTERPOL, joint operation, police, Roma, camp, Gurkovo, Nikolaevo, Makis Triantafyllopoulos, Maria, DNA

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