Woman who claims she’s Madeleine McCann says she ‘finally has family who cares’

Julia Wandelt (21), who also goes by Julia Faustyna or Julia Wendell, attracted worldwide attention when she shared a series of videos online claiming to be the young British girl who disappeared from Praia da Luz in 2007.

And while she is 21 years old and Madeleine would only be 19 today, Julia believes that her age may have been changed by potential kidnappers to avoid suspicion.

She has reportedly submitted DNA samples to determine whether she has any ties to Kate and Gerry McCann.

The Polish woman’s quest to find out her true identity led her to Dr Fia Johansson, an “award-winning Psychic Medium” who claims to have helped law enforcements to solve numerous cold cases and locate the bodies of missing people.

Dr Johansson recently travelled to Poland to visit Julia and the pair are now in the US together as they continue to search for answers.

She shared an update on the “angelic” young woman on Instagram as she posted photos of Julia enjoying the Hollywood Walk of Fame and Universal Studios and wrote that the young woman thinks Americans are “lovely and welcoming".

She later posted a photo of her smiling in front of a mini Hollywood sign at an outdoor dining area in Los Angeles, revealing that Julia told her she finally feels like someone cares about her.

“She said this is the first time she feels she has a family that cares. My kids and my dogs love her angelic personality,” Dr Johansson said.

She previously claimed that Julia’s family are refusing to take a DNA test after they issued a statement calling out “her lies”.

The statement, shared to a Polish missing persons page on Facebook, said: “It is obvious to us as a family that Julia is our daughter, granddaughter, sister, niece, cousin and stepdaughter. We have memories, we have pictures.

“Julia also owns these photos because she took them from the family home along with her birth certificate.

“We have always tried to understand any situations that happened with Julia. Numerous therapies, medications, psychologists and psychiatrists were all provided to Julia.

"She was not left alone. Threats at our address from Julia, her lies and manipulations, activities on the Internet. We've seen it all, and we've tried to prevent it, explain it, we've asked her to stop”.

They continued: “We always tried to help her get back on her feet. Julia has been of age for several years. She moved out of the house.

"She refuses treatment, does not take medication regularly. She also did not take advantage of the possibility of treatment at a very good centre in Poland, which agreed to accept her.

“Julia once wanted to be a singer, a model. She always wanted to be popular. What's happening now has given her 1 million followers.

"We're scared if Julia will carry the inevitable. The Internet does not forget, and it is obvious that Julia is not Maddie.

“We are devastated by the current situation. At the same time, we want to state that we will not give interviews, publish any photos, comment on articles.”