The Romanian Child Protection Agency, the official guardian of Mihaela Florica-Porumbaru, is to give a press conference later today to outline the situation of the disabled child who is currently in Dundalk.
The four-year-old is at the centre of a growing controversy after Dundalk woman Mrs Briege Hughes mounted a vigorous campaign to keep Mihaela in Ireland after she was due to return to Romania. Mrs Hughes told reporters that Mihaela was being forced to return to Romania to a life of misery in a squalid orphanage.
Some reports said she would even be incarcerated in an adult psychiatric ward because a place at an orphanage was not available.
However, it has since emerged that Mihaela has been fostered by a Romanian family for over a year and has a comfortable life in a detached house with a garden.
They have said they are very anxious about Mihaela's well being. In a previous statement, Corneliu Voica, vice-president of Dambovita Child Protection Agency, said he could not understand reports about the child's situation in Romania.
"Since August 1st, 2000, Mihaela has been in a family of foster parents who are very good, kind and dependable. She has not been in an orphanage for over a year and there is no question of her being sent to a mental institution," he said. He also said that the organisation which arranged Mihaela's visit to Ireland had signed a sworn statement promising to bring her back on Monday and the Child Protection Agency was obliged to seek her return.
A caption with yesterday's report stated incorrectly due to an editing error that Ms Elena Gherase was shown holding a photograph of her granddaughter and Mihaela. The second child was not Ms Gherase's granddaughter.