0 Catholic adoption agencies pressured unmarried mothers to give up their newborn child. In three episodes, investigative journalist David Van Turnhout examines these practices, but he also looks at the consequences and the current situation. Today he speaks with Benoît Vermeerbergen of Binnenlands Geadoptteerd.

From 1945 to 1980, Catholic adoption agencies such as Thérèse Wante organised thousands of forced adoptions. Unmarried pregnant girls were usually put in touch with centres through clergy or Christian organisations where they had to hide during their pregnancy, because becoming pregnant without being married was a mortal sin. Those who had enough money to spare could give birth anonymously in France, after which the child was smuggled back across the border and placed with a Catholic adoptive family. In this way, they wanted to prevent the pregnancy from ever coming out and society from speaking shame about the girl's family. Those who were less well-off were often sent to Belgian centres, such as De kleine vos in Borgerhout or Tamar in Lommel. The birth was discreet, but not anonymous, as the mother's name was then mentioned on the birth certificate. In France, the mother's name was not mentioned on the birth certificate.

A total of 30 to 40,000 girls and young women are estimated to have given birth in domestic and French centres and hospitals. The number of adopted children still alive today may therefore be in the tens of thousands. Almost all adopted children have questions about their origins and identity. Their search prompted them to unite. In the meantime, there are Facebook groups in which thousands of members try to help each other find their biological mothers. Their cry for attention led to the first recognition in 2015. Both the Belgian state and the Church apologized for the practices they had organised and made possible for decades.

Mother known for 2.5 hoursApologies do not answer the many questions. To help adoptees and birth mothers, Benoît Vermeerbergen De Coninck and Debby Mattys founded the website and support group Binnenlands Geadopteerd around the same time. “With our platform, we primarily offer a listening ear, but we also stand up for the rights of domestic adoptees. We also include people who were brought to Belgium via an anonymous birth in France,” says Vermeerbergen De Coninck. “There were already a few initiatives for adoptees from far abroad, but not for our group.”Vermeerbergen himself was born via an anonymous birth in France and ended up with an Antwerp adoptive family. Although he grew up in a warm nest, the search for his identity and his birth mother dominated his adult life. It was only a few years ago that he met his birth mother for the first time, who was terminally ill. It was just one meeting. “Her husband didn’t allow any further contact. I didn’t know my birth mother for more than two and a half hours.”Benoit Vermeerbergen De Coninck.Benoit Vermeerbergen De Coninck. © Patrick De Roo

David Van Turnhout

Woensdag 6 maart 2025

om 03:00

Vanaf de jaren 50 tot begin de jaren 80 zetten katholieke adoptiebureaus ongehuwde moeders onder druk om hun pasgeboren kind af te staan. In drie afleveringen neemt onderzoeksjournalist David Van Turnhout die activiteiten onder de loep.

Vandaag deel 1: de naam Adoptiewerk Thérèse Wante keert in adoptiedossiers steeds terug, wat was haar rol?

Now that Spoorloos is ending, the government must make money available for adoptees who are looking for relatives. That is what experts and people involved say. Former editors of the TV program will be questioned in court on Thursday.

Shortly after the adopted Iris Kolthof had heard from a Spoorloos editor that she would be reunited with biological family members, it turned out that the TV program would be taken off the air immediately. That decision followed more than a week after the news, in the Volkskrant of February 12, that the editors had linked Marthainès de Vries to the wrong relatives in Colombia .

After a great deal of commotion about De Vries' heartbreaking story, KRO-NCRV decided to stop showing Spoorloos and to throw out the recordings for the coming season. To prevent De Vries and other victims of a mismatch - officially there are eight - from being confronted with the program again.

Kolthof (32) was informed five minutes before the press release. 'I was shocked. I was supposed to travel to Brazil with a team from Spoorloos in mid-March . I knew they had a DNA match. I would hear the rest there.' To her relief, it turned out that the trip would go ahead as planned, because it had already been set in motion. 'But the reunion will not be filmed or broadcast.'

Top guidance

The Kerala High Court has ruled that adoption by step-parent cannot be permitted unless the biological parent of the child gives consent for adoption. The Court further clarified that CARA (Central Adoption Resource Agency) cannot relax the requirement of obtaining biological parent's consent for adoption under the Adoption Regulations due to the legal implications of an adoption.Justice...

Only after several adoptees spoke out did the Minister of Employment say that she would change the rules.

Minister of Employment Ane Halsboe-Jørgensen (S) has been in the middle of a storm for a few weeks.

Because it has turned out that the new law on work obligations in connection with cash benefits, which was intended to affect immigrants in particular, would also affect adoptees. This meant that adoptees would not have the same rights as their Danish-born family.

This stirred up emotions among several adoptees and their families, who, among other things, made it clear under #ErJegStadigDanish? that they felt alienated. They were placed in the "immigrant" category in the legislation.

This subsequently caused several parties to raise their voices. And the question of what the minister knew when has been floating in the wind.

When doctors at Wadia Hospital revealed the baby’s HIV status, the ‘adoptive’ mother disowned the child, said Ramkrishna Reddy, district child protection officer, Thane.

The Mumbai police have booked two women from Thane who allegedly adopted a child illegally after tricking the administration of KEM Hospital. A search is on to locate both the accused who hail from Kalyan (East).

According to police sources, one of the women posed as the other person at the hospital and delivered the child. This allowed the ‘adoptive’ mother to procure a birth certificate which stated that she was the child’s biological mother.

The matter, however, came to light after the baby developed health complications and doctors at Wadia Hospital found out that she was HIV+. A First Information Report in this regard was initially lodged at Thane’s Manpada police station on Saturday and was transferred to Mumbai’s Bhoiwada police station by Sunday.

As per sources with the police, the child’s biological parents come from a poor financial background. The baby’s mother, aged 38, tried to abort the pregnancy as her husband is a drunkard and they were struggling to run the family. During this time, she came in contact with another woman, aged 37, who was looking to adopt a child as she was unable to have a baby due to some health complications.

Experts point out that because of the loopholes in the time-consuming CARA procedures, many childless couples prefer the illegal method and are willing to shell down the amounts that are demanded by the likes of Krishnaveni and Vandana.



Hyderabad: Chaitanyapuri police, probing child trafficking cases in the city, arrested and remanded three more persons under the Juvenile Act for their role in illegally selling abandoned or orphaned kids in the name of adoption. The three Umarani, Jayasree and Soni Keerthi are the mediators for the prime accused Kola Krishnaveni and Vandana, who sell infants to desperate childless couples. The mediators identify couples craving to adopt as they are easy targets. Vandana remains elusive.
 

It can be recalled that in a similar case in Medipally last May, 15 kids were rescued and the parents were sent notices, though they were not arrested. In this case, the parents, who adopted infants through illegal means, have been arrested and charged under the Juvenile Act. Meanwhile, a source said they will seek judicial intervention, which could be a setback to the children currently housed in CWC Shelter.
 

Most of the parents in the Medipally case approached the court for custody of the kids they had adopted. The case remains stuck in court and it may take quite a while for the adoption process to be legalised. Experts point out that because of the loopholes in the time-consuming CARA procedures, many childless couples prefer the illegal method and are willing to shell down the amounts that are demanded by the likes of Krishnaveni and Vandana.
 

L’organisme la Famille adoptive
française, soupçonné de trafic d’enfants
dans les années 60, annonce sa
fermeture
 

L’un des plus anciens organismes privés habilités pour l’adoption, en France
et à l’étranger, s’apprête à fermer en catimini. L’annonce, glissée sur leur
site internet le 24 janvier, inquiète les personnes adoptées, dont beaucoup
nées sous X, sur le devenir des dossiers d’archives.

L'organisme d’adoption privé a servi d’intermédiaire pour 8 500 enfants en
France et à l’étranger depuis 1946. (Cyril Zannettacci/VU' pour Libération)
par Marie Piquemal et Willy Le Devin
publié le 21 février 2025 à 17h23

L’information est à peine visible sur leur site internet : un message daté du 24
janvier. «Chers amis […], pour la Famille adoptive française [FAF, ndlr] et les Nids de
Paris, cette année 2025 sera très particulière», entame Damien O’Neill, le président
de cet organisme privé d’adoption, ayant servi d’intermédiaire pour 8 500 enfants en
France et à l’étranger depuis 1946. Dans le paragraphe suivant, Damien O’Neill
annonce la fermeture imminente et inattendue de l’organisme. «Nous sommes
contraints de mettre un terme à cette magnifique aventure.»
L’explication, écrit-il, est liée aux «évolutions de fond vécues par l’adoption
internationale ces dernières décennies et plus récemment, la réforme de l’adoption
menée en France depuis 2000, ont profondément modifié l’environnement de notre
action. Après maintes démarches et malgré toute la tristesse qu’une telle décision a
provoquée, notre Conseil d’administration a conclu que notre association, en dépit de
ses atouts, n’avait plus la possibilité d’agir dans ce contexte actuel».

Plusieurs enquêtes de «Libé»

The tools and resources at our disposal are different–but the focus on the protection of vulnerable children is the same. 

The Peterson family first met 12-year-old Natasha when she came to their Florida home to participate in a summer hosting program for Ukrainian orphans. Soon after her six-week visit, they decided to adopt her and had just finalized the adoption in the Ukrainian courts and were preparing to bring her home when the Russian invasion began. Panicked about Natasha’s safety but unable to reach her, the Petersons coordinated with their adoption service provider, the Department of State, and humanitarian aid organizations on the ground to arrange Natasha’s safe passage across the border into Poland.  

There, the U.S. Embassy in Warsaw facilitated further coordination with the Ukrainian government to verify her identity, final adoption, and eligibility to immigrate to the United States. Natasha is safely home with her new family, who are ensuring she receives the love and care needed to overcome her traumatic experiences during her evacuation from Ukraine.   

While Natasha’s story may sound unique, it is the type of challenge my colleagues and I face every day. 

As the Special Advisor for Children’s Issues in the Department of State’s Bureau of Consular Affairs, I have the privilege of focusing on two critical issues: International Parental Child Abduction, and Intercountry Adoption. I work closely with the Office of Children’s Issues (CA/OCS/CI), which serves as the U.S. Central Authority for the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of Child Abduction, as well as the 1993 Hague Convention on the Protection of Children and Cooperation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption.  Together, we develop strategies to encourage countries’ accession to both conventions and implement them fully and effectively. CA/OCS/CI also handles parental abductions and adoption policies in countries that have not yet joined the Conventions, or with which the U.S. has not yet partnered. The challenges inherent in each issue are different, the stakeholders are different, and the tools and resources at our disposal are different—but the focus on the protection of vulnerable children is the same. And for both issues, diplomacy is a critical aspect of promoting that protection.

Establishment of the Adoption Business Headquarters with 1 Headquarters and 3 Departments…
Relocation of the organization to the vicinity of Seoul City Hall at the end of this month

[Seoul = Newsis] The Child Rights Protection Agency is organizing and inspecting adoption-related records at the Busan Metropolitan City Archives. (Photo = Provided by the Child Rights Protection Agency) 2024.09.27. photo @ newsis.com *Resale and DB prohibited

[Sejong=Newsis] Reporter Park Young-joo = The Child Rights Protection Center announced on the 20th that it will push forward with an organizational restructuring effective the 24th with the strengthening of the adoption work system as its top priority.

This is a strategic measure to prepare for the implementation of the 'Special Act on Domestic Adoption' and the 'Act on International Adoption' starting July 19th without a hitch.

The Child Rights Protection Center will support the ratification of the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption, operate the Adoption Policy Committee Secretariat, and directly perform all aspects of domestic and international adoption procedures as the competent authority for international adoption. Accordingly, the organization that was previously operated as a single department will be promoted and expanded into a 1-headquarters /3-

division system. With this restructuring, the Adoption Business Headquarters will be newly established to stabilize the public adoption system. The Adoption Business Headquarters consists of ▲ the 'Adoption Support Department', which operates the Adoption Policy Committee Secretariat and promotes the overall domestic and international adoption process, ▲ the 'Adoption Information Disclosure Support Department', which supports adoptees' search for their families and manages records, and ▲ the 'Family Protection Support Department', which integrates foster care and adoption policy planning.

In particular, the Adoption Information Disclosure Support Department provides one-stop services for adoption information disclosure requests. The Records Management Team, which is operated separately, plans to fully promote comprehensive investigations, preservation facility operation, and computerization in order to thoroughly manage private adoption records from existing adoption organizations and others as public records.

In addition, through this reorganization, the 'Child Protection Headquarters', which integrates the child protection system and child abuse prevention functions, was newly established and overlapping functions between departments were adjusted. In addition, along with this reorganization, the organization will be relocated to the vicinity of Seoul City Hall at the end of this month.

Jeong Ik-joong, the director of the Child Rights Protection Center, expected that "this reorganization will be an important opportunity to bring about fundamental changes in the public adoption system and establish a system that best protects the interests of children."

 

Reporter Park Young-joo (gogogirl@newsis.com)