In 2016, LWB decided to expand our successful family-based care model to India. We knew that implementing foster care there would be challenging due to cultural and administrative difficulties. Despite the government passing national laws to promote foster care, most Indian families and officials still see orphanages as the default solution for children without parental care. 

It took us three full years to find a locally-run organization that fit with LWB’s child-centered model for foster care. In 2019, we connected with YCDA (Youth Council for Development Alternatives), who are located in rural Odisha, one of the poorest states in India. For the last six years, we have worked together to help orphaned and vulnerable children grow up in families, not institutions. 

Recently, our local team member, Rini, spent time with the children in our foster care program, asking them simple questions about their daily lives, dreams, and favorite things. Their answers, some quite touching, reveal how much a nurturing foster home can mean to a child who once faced uncertainty.

In this story, we’re sharing some of the children’s responses along with a closer look at how foster care in India is helping children in Odisha grow up surrounded by compassion and hope.

The news

The state government is backtracking on a much-criticised decision that made it difficult for Queenslanders separated by adoption to reconnect with their families.

The Justice Department wrote to Jigsaw Queensland, a forced adoption support service provider, on Tuesday to confirm the reversal of its stance on access to information, based on “further advice”.

This came two months after what had been described as a privacy-related crackdown.

Jigsaw welcomed the change, but lamented the distress and confusion the situation had caused members of the community and called for the rights to be enshrined in law to ensure a similar scenario did not occur again.

What You Need to Know

In Karnataka, nearly 70% of foreign adopters choose children with special needs, while less than 2% of Indian parents do. This disparity stems from greater foreign awareness, social acceptance, and shorter waiting periods versus Indian societal stigma and preference for healthy children. Officials are launching awareness drives to encourage more domestic adoption of special needs children.

*AI-generated summary. Check context in original text.

In a revealing trend highlighting contrasting attitudes toward adoption, data from the Directorate of Child Protection shows that nearly 70% of foreign adopters from Karnataka in the past six years have chosen children with special needs, while less than 2% of Indian adoptive parents have done the same.

Between 2020–21 and 2025, Karnataka recorded 155 inter-country adoptions, out of which 108 involved special children. Most of these adoptions were by parents from the United States, Canada, Italy, and France. The special needs ranged from speech and hearing impairments to cleft lip, limb deformities, and minor cardiac conditions.

Citing the 'best interest of the child', the Supreme Court reunited two kids with their adoptive parents, even as the criminal probe continues.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court, in a Monday order, invoked its extraordinary jurisdiction to unite two children separated from their adoptive parents, who are facing criminal prosecution in Telangana. The parents are accused of allegedly paying a tout to buy the children, in contravention of the statutory framework for adoptions.

A bench led by B.V. Nagarathna took an “empathetic” view in the case as it directed the state to return the children to the adoptive parents. The direction was issued even though a criminal probe is pending against the parents for allegedly violating the adoption rulebook.

The state has had the custody of the children since an investigation into the allegations of child trafficking began last year.

In its order, which came on the parents’ appeal, the bench observed that the children had lived with their adoptive parents for nearly 20 months before the state took their custody when the trafficking charges surfaced. In the interests of the children who had spent considerable time with their parents, the bench allowed the kids to return home.

BHUBANESWAR: A 21-year-old US-based woman has accused her adoptive parents of torturing her and forcing her to convert to Christianity, reports Hemanta Pradhan. She has sought Odisha CM Mohan Majhi's help to return to India, claiming her life is in danger in the US.
 

In a video posted on social media, the woman, adopted at 14 by an American couple in 2018, said she could no longer bear the harassment. "They want me to accept Christianity, but as a Hindu, I cannot. My life is in danger," she said, alleging her adoptive mother made her do household chores without giving her food.

"It is my request to Odisha govt to take me home. I am still an Indian girl and not happy in the US," she added.

Officials who saw the social media post contacted the State Adoption Resource Agency and Central Adoption Resource Authority. "They will act as per rules," Balasore collector Suryawanshi Mayur Vikas said, adding SARA has informed MEA.
 

Nearly forty years after Jyoti Weststrate (41) was given as a 'gift' to a priest, she is receiving something that has never happened before. An international Catholic organization is offering the Deventer woman an apology for her adoption.

Niek Verhoeven

11 november 2025, 16:01•Laatste update: 18:39

The apology from the Jesuit Order, an international Catholic organization, feels like a breakthrough for Jyoti Weststrate (41). She finally receives recognition for the injustice done to her.

Bengaluru: Marking the observance of National Adoption Awareness Month, the District Child Protection Unit (DCPU) - Bengaluru East, in a landmark association with Shishu Mandir, successfully launched its month-long adoption awareness initiative, AASARE (Adoption Assistance and Support for Abandoned, Surrendered and Orphan Children Responsibly & Ethically), tcovering the Bengaluru East area.

The flagship event, "Drive for Aasare," featured a vibrant Women’s E-Auto Rally, effectively drawing public attention to the critical need for legal adoption and securing the fundamental right of every child to a loving family.

Family games

The rally commenced at the DCPU Office in K.R. Puram and culminated at Shishu Mandir, symbolizing the journey toward providing permanent, family-based care for abandoned, surrendered, and orphaned children.

Under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, parents who cannot care for their newborns can legally surrender them to any authorised adoption agency or Child Welfare Committee (CWC) office.

In recent months, Mumbai has witnessed a disturbing rise in cases of newborns being found abandoned in various parts of the city — from railway station areas to secluded lanes and public toilets. These incidents raise serious social and moral questions about the safety net for vulnerable infants and the desperation that drives some parents to such extreme actions.

Between late September and October, four such incidents were reported across the city.

On October 27, a newborn baby girl was found in a nullah at Ashokvan, Borivali East, and was immediately rescued and taken to Shatabdi Hospital, Kandivali West. The investigation revealed that the child’s parents the mother, a domestic help, and the father, a daily wage labourer had abandoned the baby due to financial distress. The couple already had three daughters and had given birth to a fourth girl.

On October 20, a newborn girl with ant bites was discovered behind Anthony Tower in Malad West. She was rushed to Shatabdi Hospital, and police registered a case against an unidentified person.

The woman also said that she had earned Rs 10 lakh by working during her holidays but her foster mother took away all her money due to which she was unable to return to her own country.

BHUBANESWAR: A 21-year-old Odia woman adopted by an American couple has sought the intervention of Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi alleging she was facing harassment at the hands of her foster mother and two murder attempts had also been made on her.

In two separate video messages in Odia and English, the woman further requested the chief minister to facilitate her return journey to Odisha. In the video, the woman said her passport was valid from 2018 to 2023. However, even after the expiry of her passport, her foster mother was not arranging the required documents for her return journey, she alleged.

“I was staying and studying at a hostel in Bhubaneswar and was very happy. Since I came to America, I am not happy at all. My foster mother forces me to do a lot of household work after I return from school,” the woman said, breaking down in tears. She claimed that two murder attempts had been made on her in the United States. “I am a Hindu but my foster mother is forcing me to change my faith,” she further alleged.

The woman also said that she had earned Rs 10 lakh by working during her holidays but her foster mother took away all her money due to which she was unable to return to her own country. She requested the chief minister to facilitate her return journey to Odisha at the earliest so that she can find her parents with whom she got separated several years back.

Bhubaneswar, Nov 9: A heart-wrenching video shared by a young girl named Puja, originally from Odisha, has sparked concern after she alleged severe abuse by her adoptive mother in the United States.

 The video, recorded on a home computer and sent to her childhood friend Amar Nayak in Balasore, shows Puja in tears, pleading for help.

 Puja, now known as Sejal John in the US, was adopted by an American couple in 2018 from a Bhubaneswar-based NGO named Divine Path.

 Her journey began tragically when she was separated from her biological parents during a train journey in Odisha. She was later placed in Nilgiri Balikashram in Balasore by child welfare officials.

Eventually, Puja was transferred to Divine Path, where she was adopted and taken to the US. While her adoption was seen as a new beginning, her recent video reveals a disturbing reality. She alleges that her adoptive mother has been subjecting her to unspeakable abuse.