THE MOTHER OF a 10-year-old girl who gave birth recently has said that she is delighted to be a grandmother and cannot understand what all the fuss is about.
Speaking to Spanish newspaper El País the woman, who identified herself as Olimpia, said that she doesn’t understand why the birth has shocked anyone — let alone become an international sensation.
She said that for Romanian Gypsies, or Roma, marrying young is a common custom: “That’s the way we get married,” she said.
Olimpia also told reporters that the baby’s father is a 13-year-old boy who is still in Romania and is no longer in a relationship with her daughter, The Press Association reports.
As Romanian law allows girls to get married at age 16 with parental consent, or at 18 without it, many Roma teenage marriages are unrecognised by the state.
The family moved to Spain about three weeks ago and the girl gave birth in hospital last week in the city of Jerez de la Frontera. “She’s doing well and is very happy with her daughter,” the girl’s mother said.
Meanwhile, the story has caused uproar in Spain. Spanish social welfare authorities are currently trying to determine whether the girl and her family will be able to provide for the baby – or whether the infant should be taken into state care.
If the girl had not been registered for school or had not been taken to see a doctor in her final months of pregnancy, prosecutors may investigate whether the parents might be guilty of any negligence, local media reports.
In Spain, consensual sex with anyone below the age of 13 is classed as child abuse. However – as the father of the infant is also a minor – it is not clear if he can be charged.
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