Doe-het-zelf-adoptie steeds populairder

(Trouw) Beeld

(Trouw)

De adoptiebureaus hebben ellenlange wachtlijsten. Een groeiend aantal aspirant-ouders wil de adoptie daarom (deels) zelf regelen. Minister Hirsch Ballin wil dat juist verbieden.

Iris Pronk14 april 2009, 00:00

Woman moves HC to get back grandkids
11 Apr 2009, 0154 hrs IST, Swati Deshpande, TNN
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MUMBAI: Kisabai Lokhande, a 66-year-old illiterate woman from a Satara slum has filed a habeas corpus petition in the Bombay high court to get
 
back her two granddaughters who were given in an inter-country adoption and sent to Spain.

The issue which highlights the need for greater check in processing eligibility for adoptions, is that the agency had claimed that the two minor girls were abandoned and no consent was required from family members.

Lokhande had initiated a search for her grandchildren last year although they had been adopted in 2005. She moved court as the last resort, wanting the HC to direct the DGP and the local cops to register complaints for various offences including kidnapping, cheating, using forged documents and illegally declaring a child under 12 as being abandoned-an offence attracting up to seven years in jail.

She had complained to the police this January but to no avail, her lawyer Pradeep Havnur said. He added, "She is aggrieved at the police apathy in not registering an FIR against the accused, including Preet Mandir, an adoption agency in Pune. The agency allegedly colluded with the Satara Child Welfare Committee to declare the girls as destitute.''

Reema (name changed) needs an injection that costs Rs 250 every day to ensure her steady growth. Identified with a growth hormone deficiency, Reema also needs a loving family that will look after her.

“But that is easier said than done,” rues Madhuri Abhyankar, director of Society of Friends of Sassoon Hospital (SOFOSH) that has given 2,500 children for adoption from their centre. Children with special needs find no takers among adoptive parents, says Abhyankar and now, SOFOSH will try to convince parents at a post-adoption meet on April 18. This time, the society has specifically targetted young couples and has used the Internet apart from meetings with parents to encourage such adoptions.

Like Reema, there are three other children at SOFOSH who are yet to be adopted. While one child also has a blood disorder problem and requires a transfusion, another has not been adopted owing to her age. All these factors prove deterrents, as most adoptive parents want a child who is not very old and has no medical problems. “However, this time, we will generate awareness about this problem at our post-adoption meeting,” she says.

Childcare activities were initiated in 1973 at Sofosh’s centre ‘Shreevatsa’ which has provided shelter and hope to orphans ranging from newborns to six-year-olds.

“Hence, we named our centre Shreevatsa, which means children of God,” she said.

 
Russia, U.S. discuss treaty on child adoption
19:31|07/ 04/ 2009

MOSCOW, April 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's Science and Education Ministry is in talks with the United States on a bilateral treaty to specify the responsibilities of U.S. parents who adopt Russian children, the minister said on Tuesday.
The treaty, if signed, would oblige U.S. parents to show more responsibility when raising adopted Russian children. Russia has already concluded a similar treaty with Italy.
"The United States has for the first time shown its interest by requesting documents on this bilateral treaty," Andrei Fursenko said. "They are ready to study it."
The lower house of parliament, the State Duma, has asked Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to speed up the process of concluding bilateral international treaties on child adoption following the death of 18-month-old Dima Yakovlev, who was adopted by a U.S. couple.
The boy died on July 8, 2008, when his adoptive father, Miles Harrison, left the boy shut in his car for nine hours during 50-degree Celsius (122-degree Fahrenheit) heat.
The minister also said that Russia should as soon as possible ratify the Hague Adoption Convention, which it signed on September 7, 2000.
"We think that the convention should be ratified - it poses no threat to our children, on the contrary, it defends their rights to a greater extent," Fursenko said.

---------- Forwarded message ---------

From: hilbrand westra

Date: Tue, 7 Apr 2009 at 13:15

Subject: Re: afspraken etc

To: Hillen, Pauline

From Times Online April 4, 2009

Ethiopia's orphans face life of hardship

Jonathan Clayton

The Ethiopian peasant farmer and his wife shuffled painfully into the orphanage. They were in the last stages of Aids and had only weeks to live. However, they were happy. They had heard the Franciscan nuns had found a home for their three children and had come to say farewell.

“I am so happy, they are going to stay together,” the father, Solomon, whispered as he embraced a middle-aged Mormon couple from Salt Lake City, Utah. “Now, I can die peacefully. They will go to school in America and have a future. It is good they leave here.” As they embraced their two daughters, aged 8 and 6, for the last time the tears ran freely. Their four-year-old son did not appreciate the significance of the moment and ran off to play with friends.

Deported mom's case could be 'tip of iceberg'

Tragic end to troubled journey

By HAYLEY GALE - The Nelson Mail

Last updated 12:00 04/04/2009

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April 03, 2009
Harvard Law School Professor Elizabeth Bartholet ’65 has issued a public letter in support of international adoption as news that a court in Malawi denied a petition for adoption by the entertainer Madonna. Bartholet was joined in the statement by a  group of experts in child welfare. The text of the letter is below.
Save the Children from Save the Children
An appeals court in Malawi will now make a life-changing decision about Mercy James. Will Mercy be allowed to grow up in a permanent family with Madonna as her adoptive mother?
Spokesman for Save the Children, UK, Dominic Nutt, says that Mercy and other children in her position should remain in a Malawi orphanage. For no better reason than that these children may have living relatives, he believes that they should always remain in their original communities. Unfortunately, Nutt ignores the fact that these children's presence in an orphanage is the surest indication that their relatives are deceased or, if alive, unable to care for them.
The usual justification for Save the Children's approach is that children who remain in their country of origin can enjoy their racial, ethnic and national heritage. But children doomed to grow up in orphanages or on the streets cannot expect to enjoy their cultural heritage in any meaningful way. And the real choice today for most existing homeless children in most of the countries of the world is between life - and often death - in orphanages or on the streets in their home country and, for a lucky few, life in an adoptive home abroad. Research on children who started their early life in orphanages demonstrates vividly the damage such institutions do.
International Adoption has come under fire recently from UNICEF and others who share Save the Children's views. But International Adoption provides children the possibility of finding the permanent nurturing homes they need to thrive, homes that are typically simply not available in their countries of origin. And International Adoption is completely consistent with other positive social responses to the problems of unparented children, bringing new resources into poor countries to support such efforts, and developing new awareness of and concern for the plight of poor children and poor communities worldwide.
We are not in possession of all the facts relevant to appropriate resolution of Mercy's particular case. But we urge policy-makers, including judges making decisions in such cases, to review and consider the International Adoption Policy Statement and Supporting Report, endorsed by the American Academy of Adoption Attorneys, the Center for Adoption Policy, the Harvard Law School Child Advocacy Program, and the National Council For Adoption -click here.

Bartholet speaks out on international adoption
 

Deported mom wants to bring her children to India from US