7 year old blond girl - Dublin - Roma family

[LoopaDaLoopa]

Here can't see another thread on this.

Firstly, please let's not get into racists anti-gypsy stuff.

What is going on? Is this co-incidence? Were the neighbours (presumably)prompted by the Greece news?

Will this lead to Romany persecution with kids taken away left, right and centre?

Or is there actually a problem, and should Roma families be looked into further?

[mathanxiety]

It's hard to tell what is confused or malicious when the police harbour the same prejudice the callers do. So easy to jump in the squad car when the complaint is about the Roma, but yes, Limitedperiodonly, I agree, in the case of other groups and individuals (Catholic Church, founders of Irish language schools and former members of the IRA for instance) there is nothing but heel dragging.

[limitedperiodonly]

It is not the statutory duty of the police to act on every confused or malicious call they receive - and I imagine they get quite a few.

Sometimes it's quite difficult to rouse them when you have a legitimate complaint. If I'm ever burgled I'll remember to say that gypsies squeezed a little blonde girl through the downstairs loo window.

[cory]

The latest news seems to be that there were no discrepancies with the paperwork, that the birth certificate was in order and that when an independent check was made with the hospital the birth record was found. So, a hospital taking some time to locate its files- who would have believed it? Could never happen to anybody honest, could it?

[Mimishimi]

My husband is Indian. I have dark brown eyes, hair and olive skin from mum's side of the family. My son has fair skin, curly light brown hair and light brown eyes because many on Dad's side are blonde/blue eyed. Not all people in the Roma community are full-blooded as you would expect after centuries of being in Europe. I have a friend whose mum is full-blooded Hungarian gypsy, her own children are all fair haired (blonde or red) with blue/green eyes because both she and her mum married non-gypsies.

[limitedperiodonly]

The police never get anything wrong. And we should carry our papers at all times.

How fortunate that a 'journo' got this story. Because if not, the child might have disappeared into the system. Sadly.

Still, no harm done.

[bkgirl]

I think the problem was in the paperwork. There were discrepancies so it was the statutory duty of the police to establish the truth. It just means we ALL should have birth certs with the right details. Then no problem :) I would be happy to prove my kids are my own. I cannot understand why this case was reported before any dna results. How did a journo get the story? Thank goodness it turned out the child did grow up with her own family. Sadly too many children have gone missing and we cannot let this distract from any ongoing attempts to recover them.

[Herisson]

Bloody hell, this is appalling. I am half Indian and have a blonde, blue-eyed daughter. Do you think I should take to carrying her birth certificate with me at all times?

And, even though I am half-Indian and have dark straight hair as an adult, I had blonde curly hair as a baby/toddler.

[TheFabulousIdiot]

Ah so, the 'righteous' among us were right to be cautious then? See...

[gintastic]

My parents are both brown haired and brown eyed, and they had 3 blond haired blue eyed daughters. We're physically very similar, sort of like a negative of our parents!

I hope the child is returned to her parents forthwith.

[SHRIIIEEEKPoolingBearBlood]

Puddle, DH and I have green eyes. Our DCs' eyes are clearly brown as are the milkman's. As we all learned in GCSE Biology, that's impossible . Good thing they know more really.

[SHRIIIEEEKPoolingBearBlood]

Yes saf. I suppose there's a chance that they think these people are kind and good but taking in children illegally, in which case there's an argument for leaving their own children wih them. However there seems to be an undercurrent of evil child snathcer, and if that IS the case then all children need to be removed from them

[mummytime]

In Ireland there is an unpleasant history of children being taken from Mothers. This case will remind people of a lot of old wounds. As well as two children being taken like this only to be proved to have the parents they thought they had; does make one think of racism against a much maligned community.

[NumptyNameChange]

bloody awful that the poor child's photo has been spread all over the news too - what a massive invasion of privacy before any evidence.

[NumptyNameChange]

and no the authorities should definitely not tiptoe around imo and i would be keen to hear how this matches up with the hospital not knowing of a child born on that date and the other 'facts' that alarmed the police into taking the child away from her home. i do hope we hear the rest of the story.

[NumptyNameChange]

i wasn't defending anything - just explaining the 'term' as you asked.

of course it presents problems hence the whole legal process for adoption existing. realistically though it was far from uncommon here, what, 60yrs ago? in nomadic, fringe cultures it is still common.

[handcream]

Numpty - but he seemed to dismiss it as something that goes on all the time. What if these are stolen children? What if one of them is Maddie? If the docs are forged there is something not right. If the DNA proves she is their child then fine. What are the authorities meant to do - tip toe around in case they upset someone?

[NumptyNameChange]

just seen that. fantastic news.

[geminigirl]

The child has been proven as theirs, DNA test results just revealed.

[NumptyNameChange]

pretty self explanatory surely? someone gives their child away without going through the official channels or paperwork.

[handcream]

I heard a rep from the Roma community yesterday saying that all of this could be an 'informal adoption'. What the hell is that!

[handcream]

Why are the Roma community being investigated in this case.... The docs are forged!!

[IrnBruTheNoo]

It does seem dodgy as f*ck the forging of documents. That is now more than one Roma child case where this has now happened.

[humphryscorner]

thefab why does the forged document merit an "oh dear " comment?

It's seems pretty suspicious to me too.