A pair of Maltese foster parents are still waiting for answers after a young girl in state custody was allegedly abducted by her birth mother in October.

“Four months of living in a dream… always praying the telephone rings and we hear your voice. Four months without knowing if you are alive or not. God help us get answers,” the despondent foster mother wrote in a status on social media.

The child in question, born in Malta to Eritrean parents, has under a care order since she was six months old. Her birth mother was allowed to visit the now seven-year-old girl each weekend – but after a visit last October, she didn’t return home.

Four months since the abduction, her foster parents are still waiting for news.

“If I could just speak to her mother, I’d say ‘please, just call me and tell me that she’s is safe’. I just want to hear her voice and hear her say ‘don’t worry Ma, I’m ok’,” the foster mother had told Lovin Malta.

Police investigations into the case are still underway, while leads at the end of October hinted that the pair were in a European country. 

Now, a court has declared the way she was taken out of Malta is being considered an abduction following an official request by the Social Welfare Ministry.

Madame Justice Jacqueline Padovani Grima declared that the child being taken out of Malta also constituted a breach of international conventions and local law. She has ordered the child to be returned to Malta once found.

What do you make of this heartbreaking case?