Girl Taken From Roma Family in Ireland
Irish police say they have removed a seven-year-old blond girl from a Roma family in the Dublin suburb of Tallaght.
Police say they're not convinced the girl belongs to the family she lived with when she was removed Monday. The girl is now in the care of social services.
Few other details are known about the girl in Ireland. But the situation echoes a similar case in Greece that has grabbed the attention of authorities and parents around the world.
Greek authorities say a girl believed to be five to six years old may have been abducted by a Roma couple there. Authorities have charged the couple with abducting the child they call Maria.
But that girl's DNA didn't match any profile in Interpol's database, the international law enforcement agency said Tuesday.
Interpol said Greek authorities have asked for its help in finding out Maria's identity. "Until now, a comparison of the girl's profile against Interpol's global DNA database has not produced a match," Interpol said in a news release.
Interpol said it would make the database available to authorities in countries where someone who claims to be a possible blood relative to the child has submitted a DNA profile.
The agency has more than 600 missing people listed on its website, 32 of whom are five or six years old.
A spokesman for a Greek children's charity said about ten cases of missing children around the world are "being taken very seriously" in connection with Maria's case.
"They include children from the United States, Canada, Poland and France," said Panagiotis Pardalis of the Smile of the Child charity.
“Though Interpol says Maria's DNA doesn't match any profile in its database, it is still being compared to that of Lisa Irwin,” reports CNN’s Erin McLaughlin.
“Lisa vanished from her parents’ Kansas City home two years ago... and though they believe Maria is too old to be a match, U.S. authorities want to be certain.”
Roma Mystery Child Could Be Missing American Girl
About 10 cases of missing children are "being taken very seriously" in connection with the suspected abduction of a girl by a Roma couple in Greece, a spokesman for a Greek children's charity said Tuesday.
"They include children from the United States, Canada, Poland and France," said Panagiotis Pardalis, of the Smile of the Child charity.
In a case that has generated huge interest in Greece, authorities have charged the Roma couple with abducting the child they call "Maria." They appeared in court Monday and were remanded into custody pending a trial.
The parents of a Missouri girl missing since 2011 are now raising the alarm that the child could be their daughter and the FBI is getting involved.
Meanwhile, the parents of a Missouri girl missing since 2011 are now raising the alarm that the child could be their daughter, Baby Lisa Irwin, and the FBI is getting involved.
But some things don’t add up.
“Lisa would be 3 years old. According to a spokesman from Smile of the Child, Maria is to be around 5 or 6 but all possibilities must be ruled out,” reports CNN’s George Howell.
And Greek authorities are taking the possibility that Maria may actually be Baby Lisa very seriously.
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