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The half-sister of 3-year-old Qian Xun Xue - dubbed Pumpkin by Australian police - is planning to speak to the child's grandmother in the hope of avoiding a potentially messy custody dispute.
Qian Xun remains in foster care in Melbourne, with her grandmother Liu Xiao Ping set to arrive in New Zealand this week to begin adoption proceedings. But possibly complicating matters is an admission by her half-sister Grace Xue that she also may seek custody of the abandoned 3-year-old.
Qian Xun was dumped at a Melbourne railway station by her father Nai Yin Xue before he fled to the United States.
On Wednesday police discovered the body of Qian Xun's mother in the boot of a car in the Auckland suburb of Mt Roskill.
Preliminary autopsy results revealed An An Liu was killed during a "violent episode", but the pathologist could not say when she died.
Grace told the Herald on Sunday that news she had a half-sister had changed her life, and naturally she had to consider adopting the child. "I had my own family and was quite happy and all of a sudden you find there is someone who is related to you and in great need of help so a lot of responsibilities have fallen on my shoulders," she said.
Although she had never met the child, she said: "I want to give her a big cuddle... and see she ends up with a really loving family with loving parents."
"I don't want a situation where we both want the child and we fight over her," Grace said. She and her fiance Shane planned to speak to Qian Xun's grandmother when she arrived in New Zealand this week.
Grace said she and Shane had discussed the idea of adopting Qian Xun "but it's not that simple at this stage".
"I haven't met the grandparents. I just want everyone to sit down and discuss what's best for her," she said.
Inter-country adoption and family law expert Carole Curtis said a decision over Qian Xun's future would be made by the Family Court with "the child's best interests" the only determining factor.
However, given Qian Xun already had a close relationship with her grandmother it seemed likely she would be favoured to win custody. There were unlikely to be any issues with Qian Xun residing in China.
The matter was also likely to be fast-tracked to avoid causing any more trauma for Qian Xun. "Things appear definitely to be in the grandmother's favour," Curtis said.
If you would like to make a donation to the Pumpkin Trust you can call 0900 40000 or visit any National Bank. For more details visit www.littlepumpkintrust.org
