Police and government agencies in the United States and Northern Ireland have joined forces to hunt for a two-and-a-half-year-old Californian girl believed to have been brought to Belfast.
The girl was named as Alexis Morgan O'Brien, also known as Underhill, by Belfast solicitors retained by the US State Department.
They said the child was wrongly removed from America and was believed to be with her 37-year-old Belfast-born mother Ms Angela O'Brien, whose married name is Underhill.
Lawyers had the child was made a ward of court in the Belfast High Court on Monday, meaning she cannot legally be taken out of Northern Ireland without the Court's approval.
Mother and child are believed to have been in Northern Ireland for six months and recently to have been living in the Finaghy, Andersonstown and Dublin Road areas of Belfast.
Mr William Cross, of solicitors Cleaver, Fulton and Rankin, said today there were concerns about the child's welfare and the authorities were anxious to find her.
"Both social services and the police are extremely concerned about the well-being of the child and anyone with any information about the mother or the child should give it to the police or social services," he said.
"We would obviously urge Alexis's mother to come forward with her daughter to either the police or social services as soon as possible," he added.
Alexis has shoulder-length brown hair, is of average height for her age and slim. Her mother, who speaks with a slight American accent, is about 5ft 7in tall, of slim build with shoulder-length fair hair.
Police have confirmed they were involved in trying to find the child.
PA