https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/news/texts-between-texas-adoption-attorney-inmates-show-pressure-to-sell-unborn-babies/?intcid=CNR-02-0623&ftag=CNM-00-10aab4i&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR28vMBmp0E0_Ivf_ERf_fdR8m8PxEV6vjScgMhmiwZ5n8p9r5WDDZGQxgo_aem_AMyTWX6RQZwKf6p31QEjbA#lzo1v8t22gq2lddgaqo

TARRANT COUNTY — Disturbing new revelations about an adoption attorney accused of trying to purchase unborn children from pregnant women in jail. 

Documents show how much was paid to female inmates in the Tarrant County Jail and messages revealing the pressure they appeared to be getting from the attorney to give up their babies. 

At least two female inmates in the Tarrant County Jail were allegedly given hundreds of dollars and promised more to sell their unborn babies to a Texas adoption agency illegally. 

Jody Hall is out on bond after being arrested and charged with the crime of trying to buy or sell a child. 

Born in 1979 at Daegu Fatima Hospital, he was entrusted to the 8th US Army in November of that year
and set out to find his biological parents after 40 years… Scheduled to enter Korea in May of this year

Kim Bok-sun (German name Regina Brandl , 44 ) , who was adopted to Germany at the age of 4 months, is desperately searching for her biological parents.

Kim was born around September 7, 1979 at the Fatima Hospital in Daegu. She entered the Baekbaekhap Orphanage run by the Sisters of St. Paul of Chartres on October 2. Her Korean name, Kim Bok-sun, was given to her by an orphanage official at the time. Kim was handed over to the 8th US Army on November 1, and was adopted by a family in Aulendorf, Germany, around January of the following year.

Kim has no memories of her biological parents or Korea because she was adopted as a newborn. Furthermore, her adoptive parents, although devout Catholics, were very strict, so she said she never had a comfortable conversation about her biological parents or Korea. Kim is currently working as a teacher and yoga instructor for disabled children in Germany.

She began searching for her bloodline in earnest about two years ago. The advice that a Korean adoptee who was looking for his biological parents gave me was crucial: "Time doesn't wait, so I hope you find your biological parents quickly before they pass away."

Although she grew up as a German citizen since she was four months old, Kim said, “My body instinctively remembers Korea.” When she was suffering from a stomach disorder, she heard that Korean food was good for her health and started making it herself. The first time she tried gochujang, she really liked it. Strangely enough, after she started eating Korean food as her staple food, her stomach disorder that had been bothering her completely disappeared. Kim is a Korean food enthusiast who enjoys eating budaejjigae and makes kimchi herself. Kim

visited Daegu in May of last year to find her biological parents. At the time, she visited the Dongbu Police Station and registered her DNA information. She plans to enter the country this year as well. She will visit Korea with her German husband next month. She also plans to attend the ‘2024 World Korean Adoption Convention’ hosted by the Overseas Koreans Office from May 21 to 24 . "I like gardening and exercising, and I wonder if my biological mother is like this. Right now, my roots feel like fog, and I want to find my biological parents and fill that void." Contact: Sisters of St. Paul of Chartres, Daegu Province, 053)659-3333.

Anna grew up believing she was an orphan.

But she later discovered she’d been lied to. 

And that she's one of many Australian adoptees who has been misled.

This week, reporter Gina McKeon investigates the South Korean agency responsible for it all.

Aug 2 –  The District Child Protection Unit, North Goa has issued a public notice announcing that a four year child staying at Child Care Institution in North Goa will be declared legally free for adoption if no family member come forward to take charge of the child within 60 days.   Family members if any have been asked to contact the District Child Protection Unit, North Goa. “If, no valid claims are made, the said child will be declared legally free for Adoption,” states the public notice. 

By Lumka Oliphant

• South Africa’s adoption framework may change as key international partners withdraw from inter-country adoption.
• The Netherlands and Denmark have informed the country of their plans to phase out adoptions from South Africa by 2025,citing challenges in tracing biological parents as a key factor. 
• This shift will force South Africa to bolster its domestic adoption program,which has already identified irregularities in the private adoption sector.

South Africa will soon need to strengthen its national adoption program as countries are beginning to withdraw from the inter-country program. This was revealed by social workers during the review of the social development Integrated Justice System (IJS) program underway in Cape Town underway this week.

Dr Tebogo Mabe, Director Adoption Services at the department of social development revealed that the Netherlands and Denmark have written to the department informing it of their intention to stop accepting adoptions from South Africa.  “We have been a sending country to these countries and we have received a notice from these countries of this intention,” said Mabe.

Although, this was not unique to South Africa but a trend globally, he said these trends are giving South Africa an opportunity to strengthen its national adoption program.  He revealed that the two countries did not have too many children adopted from South Africa but they received their notices of intention.  He said the Netherlands has informed the department that it intends to go to its Parliament in September and will take a phased in approach which should  end the program by the end of 2025.

NORTH TEXAS — The founder of a North Texas adoption agency has been arrested on allegations of paying pregnant female inmates in the Tarrant County Jail to put their unborn babies up for adoption. 

Jody Hall, head of Adoptions International Inc., posted a $50,000 bond after being booked into a Central Texas jail last week. She is an attorney and founder of an adoption agency promoted as a licensed nonprofit. 

Back in May, the Tarrant County Sheriff's Office said it began looking into what it calls unethical adoption practices involving Hall.

"During this investigation, information was discovered that Jody Hall was paying money to multiple, pregnant Tarrant County inmates for the purpose of placing their unborn children up for adoption with Hall's agency," the sheriff's office said in a statement. 

Two months later, sheriff's detectives served arrest warrants on Hall at her home in Kyle, Texas. 

A Thane couple residing in Germany will be allowed to meet their 3.6-year-old daughter, who was placed in foster care in 2021, once every month. The Indian government is working to ensure she is exposed to her cultural heritage and language, with efforts underway to bring her back to India.

THANE: A Thane couple employed in Germany will be able to meet their 3.6-year-old daughter-who was separated from them and assigned to a foster care by German courts in Sept 2021-once every month, said Shiv Sena MP Naresh Mhaske.

Mhaske said the Indian govt is likely to communicate with their German counterparts to ensure that the girl, who hails from the Jain community, is introduced to her native language and cultural heritage by being taken for temple visits regularly while she remains in foster care in Germany.

Mhaske made the announcement following communication from S Jaishankar, Union minister of external affairs (MEA), informing him about the steps being taken by govt to not only ensure the girl is exposed to her native culture, but also efforts being taken to request their German counterparts to allow her to be brought to India.

It may be recalled that the custody of the then barely six-month-old girl was assigned to the Youth Welfare Authority (YWA) by German courts after local authorities suspected she was assaulted while under the care of her parents, who had shifted to the country for work.

The case was heard in the lower courts that granted custody of the child to the YWA. The Berlin Court of Appeals that later heard the case upheld the custody decision in July 2024, said Mhaske, citing the MEA communication.

"The family is from Mira-Bhayander and belongs to the Jain community, whose representatives have been requesting our govt and also approached me to assist them in bringing the child back... One of their major fears is the girl may lose touch with her native upbringing and get exposed to foreign culture. I raised the issue in the Lok Sabha early this month, following which the MEA interacted with their German counterparts," said Mhaske.

Girl who went to school after mom’s death, dad who kept quiet, boyfriend who helped in shradh

KOLKATA: The 14-year-old girl who, along with her 17-year old boyfriend, allegedly killed her mother in Behala on June 6, might have been triggered by the knowledge that she was adopted, which also sparked several behavioural changes in her, cops probing the murder said on Tuesday.

The two accused were produced before the juvenile justice board on Tuesday, which advised tests to gauge the boy’s IQ and maturity, to assess whether he could be treated as an adult. Charged with murder, criminal intimidation and common intent, they were sent to 14 days’ juvenile custody.

The cops said the girl found out only last year that she was adopted, after which people around her started to notice changes in behaviour. Her father said she found out in March 2023 from “someone in the neighbourhood”. Suddenly, the loving daughter changed, he said, adding, “She confronted us and then started misbehaving with us, especially her mother.” She started neglecting her studies and skipping school, spending long hours locked up in her room. There was also friction between her and her mother over the boyfriend, the father said. She had even fled with the boy to Digha after stealing Rs 50,000 from home. Neighbours, too, noticed this stark change.

Although police had said on Monday that the two teenagers had “confessed” to their crime, a senior officer said on Tuesday establishing murder in court would be challenging, as the prosecution only had circumstantial evidence. First, the body is not available, as the accused had reportedly cremated it; second, no postmortem was conducted, as the accused had allegedly obtained a “natural death” certificate from a doctor.

“We are collating as much circumstantial evidence as possible,” said a senior Kolkata Police officer. The cops are also trying to understand the behaviour of the girl’s father and her boyfriend. The boy helped the family arrange everything for the cremation and then even attended to guests during the shradh ceremony, all while staying unruffled.

Petitioner's ex-husband filed for divorce when she was 9 months pregnant & has never seen their son. She asks for exemption from consent requirement so her new husband can adopt the child.

New Delhi: A case involving a former couple has brought a pertinent legal issue before the Supreme Court on the question of consent by a former spouse if a parent and her current spouse want to adopt a child of the former couple. 

The petitioner, a Supreme Court lawyer, approached the top court demanding a direction to the registrar of birth and death in New Delhi to register the adoption deed by her and her now-husband, the child’s stepfather. 

She demanded that this adoption be allowed without her former husband’s consent, asserting that “the peculiar facts in the present case put the petitioner in an impossible situation to seek the requisite consent from her former husband”. 

Among other things, she pointed out that “the former husband has not seen the child even once till date, including the time of the birth”. Narrating the facts of her case, she highlighted the difficulty she faced in approaching her former husband, also a lawyer, for his consent for the adoption.

Recommendations for the implementation of the EU Anti-Trafficking Directive: Turning children’s rights commitment to good practices