NZer's adoption of Romanian boy expected

A New Plymouth woman is hopeful she will soon be able to adopt the orphan she has fostered for four years after news her Romanian residency application is being fast-tracked.

Alana Cleland has spent the past four months in Romania after authorities demanded she return seven-year-old Iani Lingurar, who had been living with her and her family in New Plymouth for two years.

But following extensive high-level lobbying, Ms Cleland has learned her application is likely to be treated as "a special case", allowing her to bypass Romanian law banning inter-country adoptions.

Her mother, Beryl Cleland, said her daughter had initially been told she would probably lose Iani.

"We're just very grateful that she is being treated as a special case and that it won't be the seven-year stint that they initially told her it was going to be," she told National Radio this morning.

- NZPA