Mrs Briege Hughes, foster mother to Mihaela Porumbaru (4), says the first time she heard the girl had a foster family in Romania was when she read The Irish Times yesterday.
At no time did the Romanian authorities tell her the child, who is paralysed from the waist down, would be going to a foster home, she said.
Indeed, Mrs Hughes said the solicitor for the Romanian organisation for abandoned children (FAMA) had told her that but for her interest in Mihaela and her desire to adopt her, the child would be going to a psychiatric hospital.
Mrs Hughes said the interview with the Romanian foster mother, Ms Elena Gherase, would not deter her from continuing the adoption process and continuing to seek medical care in Ireland for the child.
The Romanian Child Protection Agency, the official guardian of Mihaela Florica-Porumbaru, is to give a press conference later today to outline the situation of the disabled child who is currently in Dundalk.
Mihaela and the now 12-yearold Codruta Ciripan Marusia, depicted in a photograph with Mihaela in yesterday's Irish Times, were part of a group of 13 Romanian children who were on a visit to Ireland arranged by the Frank Hughes Memorial Foundation - named in honour of Mrs Hughes's deceased husband.
The foundation is a registered charity and has as one of its objectives that the host families of the Romanian children would try to adopt them.
The picture was taken by Mr Pat Sheridan, an amateur photographer from Dundalk, on New Year's Eve, 1999.
Mrs Hughes also confirmed yesterday that on February 21st this year Ms Gabriela Stanescu, solicitor for the FAMA, wrote to her saying that Mihaela was an abandoned child and that she could adopt her.
Ms Stanescu informed her on June 15th last that Mihaela could come to Ireland for the summer and that she was on a medical visa which authorises her to stay in Ireland for any medical treatment required.
Before Mihaela and the other children arrived in Dundalk this July for their now annual summer holiday, Mrs Hughes contacted a consultant paediatrician and urologist to assess the youngsters' condition.
There are appointments with both consultants for September.
It was not until last Saturday that Mrs Hughes was informed that in fact Mihaela was in Ireland on a tourist visa which expired on August 27th.
Campaign mounted to keep Romanian baby in Ireland: page 4