Romania’s general prosecutor asks court to prevent child adopted by couple in US to leave the country

Romania’s interim general prosecutor Bogdan Licu asked the Mehedinti Court on Monday to issue an order to prevent an 8-year old girl adopted by a Romanian couple in the US from leaving the country with her adoptive parents. He also asked the Craiova Court of Appeal to review the final decision based on which the girl was given for adoption to the respective couple, local G4media.ro reported.

Sorina Lucan, an 8-year old girl from Baia de Arama, a small town in Southwestern Romania, was taken by force from her foster family on June 21 to be entrusted to her adoptive parents. The images of the girl crying and resisting the people who took her away caused powerful emotions and a heated debate in Romania. Many criticized the way the judicial authorities handled this case while some rushed to say that the adoption should be canceled. Labor minister Marius Budai and justice minister Ana Birchall were among those who said the girl should remain in the country.

The girl had been raised by her foster family since she was one and a half. After many failed attempts, the authorities found an adoptive family for the girl, a Romanian couple living in the US. The Craiova Court of Appeal issued a final decision on the adoption in April 2019, overturning an initial decision of the Mehedinti Court against this adoption. However, the girl’s foster mother, who had been paid by the state to raise her and apparently made no attempt to adopt her, refused to give her away.

In May, the authorities revoked the foster mother’s social worker status and stopped paying her. However, she continued to refuse handing over the girl and the adoptive family filed a complaint. Following the complaint, a prosecutor from Craiova went to the girl’s foster home accompanied by special intervention troops and took her away.

The special section for investigating magistrates has opened an investigation to check if the prosecutor was entitled to take the girl away from her foster family. General prosecutor Bogdan Licu asked the Mehedinti Court to forbid the adoptive family from taking the girl out of the country before the investigation is concluded. He also asked that the adoptive parents should provide the girl with a three-month psychological counseling program.

(Photo source: Facebook/Uniti pentru Sorina)