have to agree with you unfortunately .She wasn't the only Roma child taken from their parents.
http://www.google.ie/url?sa=t&rct=j&...,d.ZGU&cad=rja

Yeah just heard about this, tbf though the police spent two hours with them before they took the girl away and they weren't able to produce any birth cert or documentation for the girl and the hospital where she was born couldn't find a record for her (although they did after she'd been taken away)

I think whats worrying about these cases Niamh is that the Garda did not arrive at their homes because of neglect or concern for their well being but because of the colour of their hair and eyes and posts on facebook http://itonlyencouragesthem.wordpres...machilddublin/.

I really don't get the assumption made by athourities that Roma people can't produce blond haired/blue eyed children considering how many Roma women were raped in prison camps during WW2.Is it really surprising that some now have blonde hair.

Yeah, yeah, you're right of course. Seems like a bit of a hysterical reaction from the public (I assume it was public who reported this in the first place?) after that case of Maria in Greece. I just don't think blame should be laid at the Gardís feet.

Right but... Myself and my partner have dark brunette hair, as does my one year old daughter... But my 4 year old daughter is blonde. It would also almost certainly take me more than 2 hours to dig out her birth certificate - it's been through two housemoves and resides somewhere in the cupboard from hell... A mass of random paper, bills, old drawings etc.

Does that mean that we can reasonably expect the police to turn up and take her into care because her hair colour doesn't match ours?? That such an action could hinge purely on whether or not the admin department of the hospital she was born in is competent, amidst massive cutbacks in NHS admin? Terrifying thought really.

But wait... No... It wouldn't happen to us because we're middle class blue-eyed Caucasians.

That's what makes it seriously distasteful. It's not even really about the fact that her hair is a different colour, that's not what lead to such a knee-jerk reaction... It's that thought process will have been "yeah she must be stolen! They're gypsies! And that's what gypsies do, right? Steal children!".

It went from being a highly unlikely scenario to one that everyone found perfectly realistic, simply because of who they are.

I agree,I think that the Garda acted in good faith,They consulted with the HSE for hours before arriving at these kids homes.
It was the HSE that told them that it was highly unlikely that two Roma parents could produce a blonde haired blue eyed child which is either ignorant or naive..haven't made my mind up which one yet.

Thing about it is, is that there are so many valid cases here of children genuinely in need of interjection from the HSE that aren't getting it, It was definitely a knee jerk thing after the Greece case.

I havent been following this much, but is it really that unusual for parents not to have a birth certificate for their kids? My mum and dad didnt have one for me from me being about 8 til I needed one for ID to open a bank account :S

I don't know, I have them for my kids and I know where they are but that's not to say everyone else is the same. I don't think it was just that reason though, the hospital where the girl was born was contacted and said they had no record of her (which was a mistake because they later found it)

I had to send my kids BC off somewhere and they lost them!
:mad:

Yes this is what happened to my parents too apparently.