I don't expect answers to all my questions, but they do keep me busy.

Binita Pinoy (28) traveled from Nepal to Belgium with her Flemish adoptive parents when she was four. She grew up in a suburb of Leuven, but moved to Mechelen with her boyfriend two years ago. "I feel more and more like a Mechelen resident," she says.   

I was born in Nepal but was adopted by a Flemish couple when I was four. I don't have many memories of that period, neither of my first years in Nepal nor of my arrival in Belgium. I was able to reconstruct some of it using photos and videos my adoptive parents took. It's funny: in those videos, you see me speaking Nepali, even though I don't speak a word of Nepali anymore.

It's always been clear to me that I was adopted. There was no secret about it. That was difficult, since I have a different skin color. Only later in life did I delve deeper into my own identity and the topic of adoption, and did I even address the emotional side of it. There was a period when I identified solely as Belgian and wanted to be recognized as such. I wanted little or nothing to do with Nepal. But the reverse also happened, where I valued everything non-Belgian more. Later, I came to embrace both backgrounds more. Today, I still feel more Belgian in some situations and more non-Belgian in others. 

My parents and I always stayed in touch through letters, using an intermediary in Nepal. Little is known about my biological mother, but through that intermediary, I kept in touch with my biological father and sister. That way, we stayed informed about each other's lives. It was my sister who first asked if I wanted to come visit.

The alleged removal of her baby from her in 1980, it was claimed, has had lifelong adverse effects on the woman

A woman who claims she was forced to give up her child for adoption as an unmarried mother in a mother and baby home has settled her High Court action.

The woman was not in the High Court as the settlement of her case was announced. Her counsel, Conor Power SC instructed by McGuigan Solicitors, told the High Court on Thursday that the woman who is now a pensioner is "a very vulnerable individual". 

Counsel told Mr Justice Paul Coffey the court had given the sides time and the case had been resolved after mediation. The case is believed to be the first of several similar actions expected before the courts.

Sources have indicated there are a number of cases in the pipeline relating to alleged forced or alleged illegal adoption and relating to events in the 1980s and as far back as the 1940s. The cases are understood to be complex involving significant issues.

François de Combret, the man in the shadows who propelled Bernard Arnault
towards the LVMH empire
A collaborator of Valéry Giscard d'Estaing and partner at Lazard, François de Combret
died on October 8 at the age of 84. His role in Bernard Arnault's acquisition of Boussac in
1984, as well as his advice to African leaders alongside George Soros, reveals a troubled
man. An investigation.

Herdecke: Emergency personnel stand next to a rescue helicopter. The newly elected mayor of Herdecke, Iris Stalzer (SPD), was found in her apartment with life-threatening injuries.dpa

Shocking new details have emerged in the case of the knife attack on Herdecke's mayor-elect, Iris Stalzer. It's now known what drove the adopted daughter to commit the horrific act. Stalzer's behavior is unusual in one respect.

Shocking details of the investigation are emerging in the drama surrounding the knife attack on the mayor-elect of Herdecke. According to the report, the bloody conflict between the newly elected SPD politician Iris Stalzer and her 17-year-old adopted daughter in the basement of their apartment building is said to have lasted for an extended period. 

New details: Iris Stalzer didn't want to betray her daughter

When adoptees are placed in the right home, they are given chances they might never have had

I never understood adoption jokes growing up. As an adoptee, I could not grasp what was wrong with being adopted. To me, being adopted meant that I had a loving family who wanted me and loved me just the same as any biological child.

It was not until much later that I understood why adoption jokes were made: they only focused on the negative side of adoption. People focus on the implication that you were not wanted or are not related to your adoptive parents, both of which I see as largely inconsequential and not entirely true.

Yes, our biological parent(s) gave us up for adoption. Yes, we are not biologically related to our adoptive parents. But neither of those facts makes adoptive families less of a family.

These implications were personal for me, as my biological mother, Irma, gave me up for adoption because she was a pregnant, unwed woman in predominantly Catholic Guatemala. This, coupled with the fact that she was working to support herself most of the time, meant that she could not raise me and was ostracized by her family due to my very existence. She realized that giving me up for adoption would likely give me the very best chance at a good life, so she made an act of love, however painful it might have been.

HELP a child eV – Children find parents – was founded by adoptive parents at the founding meeting on January 24, 2004.

All board members have adopted one or more children from abroad.

To achieve goals large and small, we need strong employees who, with their personal commitment, guarantee that an organization such as HELP a child eV - Children find parents - which pursues exclusively non-profit and charitable purposes, can operate and exist successfully.

All work on the association's board is carried out on a voluntary basis and is supported by numerous members and adoptive parents who volunteer.

She even had her U.S. passport on her.

ICE agents kidnapped a U.S. citizen in Chicago who had just finished working a double shift because she didn’t “look” American to them.

Maria Greeley, 44, was on her way home from her job at Beach Bar earlier this month when she was surrounded, seized, and zip-tied by three ICE masked agents without cause or warning and interrogated for an hour. ICE determined she was an undocumented immigrant because she didn’t “look like” a Greeley. Greeley, who was born in Illinois, is Latina and adopted. She had her U.S. passport on her when she was detained.

“I am Latina and I am a service worker,” Greeley said. “I fit the description of what they’re looking for now.... They said this isn’t real, they kept telling me I’m lying, I’m a liar,” she told The Chicago Tribune. “I told them to look in the rest of my wallet, I have my credit cards, my insurance.”

Ask for explanation

Ask for explanationon the role of the Flemish Centre for Adoption in the investigation into abuses in historical adoptions

436 (2025-2026)

from Jeremie Vaneeckhout to Minister Caroline Gennez

• View document sheet

It wasn't just nuns who traded in babies, whether or not they had been forcibly relinquished, as seen in the VTM series "De Nonnen" (The Nuns). Fathers and brothers were also active in this industry, in which the Ghent adoption agency De Vreugdezaaiers played a key role. Marie (59) was born in a French hospital to a young Brabant mother and was smuggled by a priest to a home in Hasselt. "No one was allowed to know anything about the pregnancy."

Source rv

This article was written by Jan Stevens Published on October 13, 2025

It is with great joy and gratitude that we announce that HELP a child eV has received official approval from Germany to broker international adoptions from Romania. This is a moving and important step for us – but especially for the children, to whom we hope to give new prospects and a loving home.

Our application is currently being reviewed by the Romanian authorities in Bucharest. We very much hope to be able to accompany the first family on this special journey starting in January 2026.

A heartfelt thank you to everyone who supports us and walks this path with us.

The international adoption of a child from Romania is regulated by Article 60 of the Law