The couple suspected of abducting the blonde-haired, blue eyed, four-year-old girl who was found living in the Roma Gypsy settlement last week after an official raid said "Maria" was given to them by her biological mother, Reuters reported.
Kostas Katsavos, one of the couple's lawyers, told Reuters they adopted Maria with the permission of her biological mother.
"It was an adoption that was not exactly legal but took place with the mother's consent," Katsavos said.
He added the girl's mother will be found shortly and will confirm what the couple has said. The Roma community where Maria was found is rallying around the couple and say they looked after her well, according to BBC News.
Haralambos Dimitriou, head of the local Roma community said the couple took the girl in because her Bulgarian mother couldn't keep her. He said Maria was raised like a "normal" child, according to CNN.
Roma members are also known as gypsies and are descendants from Indian nomads who have faced discrimination in Europe for many years, CNN reported.
Greek authorities say the couple registered different numbers of children with different regional family registries, and were in possession of false papers which suggested the woman had given birth to six children within a 10-month period, according to BBC.
USA Today reported that 10 of the 14 children the couple had registered as their own were not found. According to Investigators, it's unclear whether all the children exist or were falsified to qualify for child care payments from the Greek welfare system. The couple was receiving over $3,000 a month in child care payments.
Another attorney representing the couple, Marietta Palavra, said DNA tests will show that five of the children belong to the man claiming to be their father, but there aren't conclusive results for the others, CNN reported.
The case has caused heightened tensions between Roma and the Greek authorities as suspicions are raised on whether children are being taken for income, or part of a child trafficking ring, CNN reported.
Andreas Hieronymous, a researcher at the European Network Against Racism in Hamburg, Germany said "the allegation that Roma steal children is a long-lasting myth about the Roma minority," according to USA Today.
By Monday, thousands of calls have been heard by "Smile Of The Child," the charity in Athens caring for Maria, but she does not match any descriptions for any of the missing children, and no leads on her parents have been made, USA Today reported.
