Print media framings of those blonde Roma children

On October 16th 2013 Police carried out a raid on a Roma camp in Farsala in Central Greece. They rescued ‘Maria’, a four year old child who was presumed to be the victim of child abduction (Okely 2014). Blonde, with fair skin and green-blue eyes, it was believed that she could not be related to the Roma gypsies claiming to be her family. DNA tests revealed the child was not a blood relative of her Roma parents, who were arrested on suspicion of child abduction. The child was subsequently removed from the camp and placed in the care of a local charity. Greek Police appealed to the international community to help identify Maria. Old myths of child abduction were quickly resurrected within media discourse. Children, it was said, were bought and sold for begging or for claiming social welfare payments. Media commentators asked how many other children might be hidden in such camps, and references were made to high profile missing children such as Madeleine McCann and Ben Needham (Richardson 2014).