Don't take little Dylan away from our Sarah

Don't take little Dylan away from our Sarah.
Plea over Romanian orphan who may be returned to his parents.

A DISTRAUGHT Nelson woman is throwing support behind her granddaughter as she begins an emotional battle to keep custody of a little boy she has fostered in Romania.

Mrs Hilda France, of Halifax Road, Nelson, is lobbying to help her granddaughter after hearing news that the Romanian orphan she has cared for for more than three and a half years could be returned to the parents who gave him away as a baby.

Dylan, whose real name is Josef and is also known as "the gypsy kid", was discovered in a Romanian orphanage by 18-year-old student Sarah Wade in 2002.

Sarah, who lives in Luton, went to Romania as part of a gap year before university. However what she discovered on a short-term visit to the country has had a life-changing effect on both her and her family.

Whilst working in an orphanage, Sarah discovered a malnourished boy who appeared to be no older than four-months-old. When she found out that the dishevelled child, who was filthy and tied to his bed, was actually a one-year-old that had been given away by uncaring parents, she was prompted into an unprecedented move.

Mrs. France described the circumstances that her granddaughter found herself in. She said: "The children were in an appalling condition. All the children were strapped to their cots and they would cringe and cry at the slightest sign of human touch."

"Sarah walked past Dylan and was overwhelmed with compassion."

From that point the story of Dylan and Sarah is something of a fairytale. She rescued him and brought him up as her own son, tending to his autism and teaching him both Romanian and English. He has even been to England to visit his new family on numerous occasions, and it is only 12 months since he was in Nelson visiting the woman he now knows as "Great Nanny".

"Sarah kept going back to the orphanage, hoping that someone would adopt Dylan, but nobody wanted him. She asked if she could adopt him and was told 'no', however she was given the right to be his chief guardian. She loves him so much", said Mrs. France.

The problem for Sarah and Dylan arose after Romania started to implement certain changes, widely believed to be aimed at aiding their acceptance into the EU in 2007. One such change is the introduction of child benefits and, according to some reports, this may be a contributing factor to Dylan's parents wanting him back.

Mrs. France has described how caring and loving her family is and how Sarah, in much the same tradition, has inherited these traits. She said: "My daughter, Kathryn, and her husband, Terry, Sarah's mum and dad, have fostered more than 40 children in their lifetime and Sarah is just as generous with love as they are. It would break my heart if they were to take Dylan away from her."

Interest towards the case is rapidly growing, most recently the Sunday Mirror covered Sarah and Dylan's story, and a BBC documentary is due to be aired in September. However, Mrs. France is being proactive in the mission for intervention in the case. She has recently written a letter to Euro-MP Baroness Emma Nicholson, a leading campaigner for protection of children's rights in Romania, in the hope that she may be able to intervene and bring about a possible solution. If there is no solution Sarah will have to officially give Dylan back to his parents on July 1st.

Sarah's father, Mr. Terry Wade, has further reinforced his mother-in-law's comments, and said that if any member of the public wants to support them they should contact their local MP and raise awareness as much as they possibly can.

24 June 2005 C 2005 Johnston Press New Media

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