What we have in common is that we live in the Netherlands, and perhaps also that we were adopted from Bangladesh. If we go back further, we know nothing except for a few people there. What we do share is the historical past from Bangladesh.

Here we try to indicate how adoption from Bangladesh started until it stopped. We are not detailed about this because we do not have all the information. If you can add a missing piece of information, we would love to hear from you. We hope that this story will be rewritten by you until it is completely complete. We create the plan, will you help us complete it? Perhaps your parents still have information or you were involved in the procedures from Bangladesh or you were an escort. We would like to hear it!

Until 1971, Bangladesh was part of Pakistan and was called East Pakistan. In 1971 there was a bloody war of independence, during which women were raped en masse by Pakistani soldiers. Since Bangladesh is a Muslim country and these women would be rejected or these children would be rejected, the aid agencies at the time decided to make these children eligible for mediation to the Netherlands.

Once the great baby boom was expected to occur (about 9 months later), the mass rejection of children did not occur. The emergency services that had set up everything and had done everything possible to provide adequate assistance, had to stand idly by. The reason is probably that these children did not differ in appearance and were therefore included in the family as their own children. Adoption from Bangladesh started to take off after the great famine, which caused many people to die. This famine was one of the most disastrous in the country's history.

From about 1973 (who were the first? Who knows or are you one yourself) people started adopting children. These children came from various parts of the country and arrived in the Netherlands via Dacca.

Message: 37254

From: JudiKO@...

Received: Mo Okt 06, 2003 3:21

Subject: roll call: Judi and family

Hi,

Message: 37254

From: JudiKO@...

Received: Mo Okt 06, 2003 3:21

Subject: roll call: Judi and family

Hi,

The International Social Service (ISD) receives numerous inquiries asking them to search for the biological father or relatives. The search for the origin of adoptees also takes up a lot of space in the work of the ITS. As soon as adoptees start to deal with questions about their identity and parentage, they inevitably ask themselves the question "How do I get the information that will give me answers to my questions? Where can I get support?" “ We are mainly contacted by those affected whose father was stationed in Germany as a soldier in earlier years, lived and worked here as a migrant or was studying or training.

Characteristic of the activity in both areas is always the foreign connection, ie the cross-border search.

We deal exclusively with searches related to identity issues and the associated establishment of contact with the person sought, if they can be found. We do not help with the search for inheritance matters or for friends, schoolmates and work colleagues.

The specific support that can be provided depends on the data and information already available and on the particularities of the respective country. A prerequisite for a search is, if possible, the complete personal data of the person being searched for as well as background information on the reason for the search query and the current life situation of the person searching.

Before taking action, the ITS charges a one-off fee of €150, which is due regardless of the outcome of the investigation. If the search is extended to other people or another country, an additional fee of €50 will be charged. The flat rate does not include any translation costs that go beyond the necessary correspondence with our working partners. In various countries, there may also be on-site costs, for example for the procurement of certificates, etc.

Our Stories :: In the News :: "Blind Date in Addis", from The New York Times Relative Choices Blog

November 8, 2007

By Dr. Jane Aronson

I met my son Des for the first time in October of 2003. Well, it wasn’t a real meeting — just a video tape meeting. A dear friend who had adopted a child from Ethiopia wanted me to consider an adoption from that country and told me that I could see some nice waiting children on a video if I contacted the agency she used. I had no intention of doing such a thing and that was that. I did not call the agency.

One fall day, I received a video tape from that dear friend and I didn’t open the package. I knew what it was and didn’t dare. I was happy with one child, my partner, and my work and was afraid to make any changes. By about 1 a.m. the next day, I hadn’t opened the package, but had passed it by enough times to want it. Finally, I put the video tape into my TV and watched it by myself as my 3-year-old son, Ben, and my partner, Diana slept upstairs.

Mexicos Sistema Nacional para el Desarollo Integral de la Familia (DIF) will sign agreement with the IAC to launch adoption management system pilot program in one of their 32 states

ATLANTA GA (PRWEB) September 24, 2003 -– On Saturday, September 27, 2003, representatives of the Mexicos Sistema Nacional para el Desarollo Integral de la Familia (DIF) will sign an agreement with the Intercountry Adoption Congress (IAC) to pilot an adoption information management system in one of the countrys 32 states. This historical event will take place during the IACs International Dove Ball at The Ritz-Carlton, Buckhead.

National DIF General Director Ana Teresa Aranda Orozco, General Subdirector Dr. Carlos Pérez López, and Project Coordinator Arturo Cornejo Moreno Valle will travel from Mexico City to Atlanta for this prestigious event. This milestone will mark the culmination of a relationship that began a year ago between the IAC and the DIF.

Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue and First Lady Mary Perdue, who are serving as Dove Ball honorary chairpersons, former Governor George Busbee and First Lady Mary Beth Busbee, Georgia State Senator Jeff Mullis, and Georgia Congressman Mac Collins, to name a few, will be on hand to witness this landmark agreement.

The IAC, a 501 (c) (3) non-profit human rights group, was formed to give orphans a strong advocate and to overhaul adoption systems badly in need of repair. Through a partnership with a technology company, the IAC has been granted a license for an adoption information management software which the organization can offer to government entities gratis.

Last Updated: Monday, 8 September, 2003, 14:49 GMT 15:49 UK

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Scandal threatens EU commissioners

An investigation into the European Commission's statistical bureau - Eurostat - could lead to high-level resignations in the next few weeks, reports the BBC's Tim Franks in Brussels.

Dorte Schmidt-Brown is 37 years old and on indefinite sick leave.

Helping or hurting? Irish charities in Romania

Thu, Sep 4, 2003, 01:00

Madam, - The article by Anne McElhinney and Phelim McAleer on the impact of Irish aid on the crisis in Romania's state orphanages ("Helping or Hurting?", Weekend, August 30th) was interesting, if flawed. It is right that we question the spending and effectiveness of all aid funding, but any such questioning should be intelligent and should stem from a full understanding of the issues involved. Most problems in Romania's childcare system are far more complex than your article would have us believe.

The problems of the early 1990s have not gone away. Until recently, the government of Romania was using statistics and propaganda to deal with the issue, and it found willing co-propagandists among a few tame foreign journalists in Bucharest's café society.

The government had a simple way of dealing with the huge numbers in State care: re-categorise large segments of them, and they disappear from the statistics. It was a lot easier than applying resources to deal with the problem, and gullible people in key areas of politics and the media bought the charade.

Ethica is a non-profit education, assistance and advocacy group, which seeks to be an impartial voice for ethical adoption practices worldwide. In order to maintain our impartiality, Ethica does not accept monetary donations from agencies or other child placing entities, nor are any of our managing Board of Directors currently affiliated with adoption agencies. Ethica strives to develop organizational policy and recommendations based solely on the basic ethical principles that underscore best practices in adoption and speak to the best interest of children. Ethica believes that all children deserve permanent loving homes, preferably within their family of birth. When remaining with their birth families is not possible, and children cannot be adopted by families within their country of birth, intercountry adoption may be in the child's best interest.

Ethica supports the ideals embodied in the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption. It is imperative that countries take measures to ensure that decisions about a child's future are made in their best interests and that adoptions take place in an environment that provides adequate safeguards to the children, and their families. It is equally vital that adoption professionals, both in the United States and abroad, continue to evaluate current adoption processes and identify areas where protections to children can improve.

On November 26, 2002 Guatemala ratified the Hague Convention, and the Convention is due to enter into force in Guatemala on March 1, 2003. In recent years, much attention has been focused on problems within the intercountry adoption process in Guatemala, and Ethica commends the Guatemalan government for the interest it has shown in improving its process. The process of bringing a country's adoption program into compliance with the Hague Convention can be quite daunting, as witnessed by the years-long implementation process undertaken by the United States. Crafting a system which simultaneously balances the pressing needs of children and creates a central adoption authority that conforms to international standards is difficult at best. It is, therefore, imperative that consideration be given to allowing adoptions to continue in the interim, provided that additional protections can be added to strengthen the current process.

There seem to be two divergent points of view regarding the current situation in Guatemala. In 2000, UNICEF commissioned the Latin American Institute for Education and Communication (ILPEC) to conduct a study of Adoption and the Rights of the Child in Guatemala. The report was reportedly designed to "help provide support for the Congress of the Republic of Guatemala by identifying those elements most essential to the formulation of a law on adoption." This report coupled with a report by the UNICEF Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, Ms. Ofelia Calcetas-Santos, has been the source of many of the concerns regarding Guatemalan adoptions. In the conclusion of the ILPEC report, it states, "Until such time that an adoption law becomes a reality, it is recommended that all direct and private adoptions be suspended so as to favor the large number of institutionalized children."

On the opposite end of the spectrum are many attorneys and agencies that currently work within Guatemala to place children through direct and private adoptions. These entities emphatically disagree with much of the information in the ILPEC and UNICEF reports, and protest, quite convincingly, that the private adoption system provides much needed services to the children of Guatemala and that they undertake many of the social service functions that the State fails to provide. They also express understandable concern over the difficulties in realistically implementing a central adoption system within a country which lacks the infrastructure and resources needed to function adequately. It is also noted that DNA testing, which is required by the US Government, serves to ensure that one of the most serious allegations, that children are being kidnapped for adoption, is no longer a concern. Most adoption service providers involved in Guatemala favor a continuation of private and direct adoptions, and assert that the current system already contains protective mechanisms.