A Roma woman in Bulgaria says police have questioned her about whether she is the mother of a girl found living with an unrelated couple in Greece.
She says she is willing to do a DNA test and take the child back if she is proved to be hers.
The case of the girl, known as “Maria” and believed to be five or six years old, has gained international attention and drawn what some say is unwarranted and unfair attention to the Roma community in Europe.
Greek authorities took custody of the girl after finding her while raiding a Roma camp for illegal weapons and drugs. The child stood out to police because she was blond and fair-skinned, and looked nothing like the couple who claimed to be her parents. After a DNA test proved she wasn’t theirs, an international search was launched to find the child’s real parents, while the couple she had been living with were arrested. The search apparently led to central Bulgaria, where police tracked down 38-year-old Sasha Ruseva in the town of Nikolaevo.
Ms Ruseva said she gave birth to a girl while working in Greece “several years ago”, but that she had to leave the child because she didn’t have enough money to take her home. She has had eight children.
“I intended to go back and take my child home, but meanwhile I gave birth to two more kids so I was not able to go back,” she said, insisting that she did not get paid for giving up the girl. Police in Bulgaria declined to immediately comment on the case.