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The Bulgarian and Greek authorities must take urgent and effective action against baby trafficking as unanimously stated by GRReporter readers, the most explicit being the position of the readers of the Bulgarian version of the website with 43% of the votes. In the Greek and English versions, this position is supported by 35% of readers.

Our poll was prompted by the debate about whether Maria, who was found in a Roma camp near Farsala, should be given up for adoption in Greece or sent to a home for abandoned children in Bulgaria after it became clear that her biological parents were Bulgarian citizens. The decision of the court on the custody of the child is expected with great interest after the Bulgarian government has formally presented claims about it. The case is scheduled for 18 March.

The fact that the same percentage of readers of the Greek version of the website support the opinion that Maria should remain in Greece as, according to her documents, she is a Greek citizen is indicative of the attitudes. This position is supported by 23% of readers in the English version and 20% of respondents in the Bulgarian version of the website.

The case of Maria had provoked reactions worldwide. Representatives of the major media in Europe and the United States arrived in Greece, then in Bulgaria, to follow the story of the now notorious "blond angel". Since then, Maria has been under the care of the social workers at "The Smile of the Child" foundation where she is awaiting the decision on her future.

Meanwhile, the Greek police had revealed several cases in which Bulgarian citizens had tried to sell their babies to childless Greek couples. In January, the police broke up in Volos a child trafficking network which involved a Bulgarian couple, a Greek lawyer and a former member of the coast guard. Meanwhile, head of the gynaecological clinic at the hospital in Lamia Dr. Anastasia Fouka said in an interview for GRReporter that almost half of the Bulgarian babies who are born there are given up for adoption.

As revealed by the release of the police headquarters of Attica, in early February a baby trafficking network in Thessaloniki had stolen the child of a Bulgarian woman in order to sell the baby for 6,500 euro. In connection with the case, the authorities arrested in Athens four Bulgarian nationals, namely two women and two men. A few days after the abduction of the child both Bulgarian women, members of the network, went to a notary, where the younger of them presented herself as the biological mother of the child and the elder as a translator. They signed a special power of attorney, a declaration to grant consent for the adoption of the baby from a Greek couple. Meanwhile, however, the real mother of the baby reported the abduction to the police and the perpetrators were revealed. The police investigation had established that the network members had often "hosted" pregnant women from Bulgaria, whose children they had subsequently sold.

After the arrest of the traffickers the babies end up in "The Smile of the Child" where they await the decision of the court, "which always seeks for the best option for the child," as indicated by the foundation. Sometimes the children are given up for adoption, in other cases they return to the countries where their biological parents live and in others, they remain at the foundation. In the case of Maria over 20% of readers in all three language versions of GRReporter believe that she should not be sent to a Bulgarian institution, as another change in her environment within a few months would not be good for her.

The option that Maria should be placed in a home for abandoned children in Bulgaria collects the lowest number of votes, namely 22% in the English version, 15% in the Bulgarian and only 9% in the Greek version of the website.

Thank you for your participation and we are looking forward to your votes in our new poll: Do you observe the fast for Easter?