Adoption of Romanian boy stalled

The birth mother of a Romanian boy is refusing to sign him over to his New Plymouth foster mother, Alana Cleland.

Romanian social workers have finally tracked down the woman who abandoned the boy, now 7, as a baby.

She was initially willing to sign the boy over to authorities as an abandoned child, opening the way for Miss Cleland to adopt him, but she changed her mind.

Miss Cleland said in an email from Romania that social workers would apply to a judge next month for an abandonment order.