It's never easy for adopted children to find their biological parents decades later, especially when they have little information about them. The challenge, though, has not deterred Mahogany from the United States. The 23-year-old girl is in India with friend Christopher to track down her biological parents. For the past two weeks, the two have been covering Lucknow street by street and meetings officials in the hope of some success.

Mahogany spoke to INDIA TODAY about her past as well as her mission. It was in 2000 that she was found abandoned by the Government Railway Police (GRP) near Charbagh railway station in Lucknow. The police searched hard for the parents, but in vain. Ultimately, the girl was sent to an orphanage from where, two years on, she was adopted by an American woman, Carol, and taken to Minnesota.

Mahogany said her foster mother, before her death in 2018, told her about her adoption. Therein began Mahogany's search. Mahogany, whose Indian name is Rakhi, told her story to Christopher, an artist, and a plan was drawn up to visit India. It took time to arrange for the funds and visa and finally, the two reached Delhi in the second week of September and proceeded to Lucknow.

Mahogany, who works in a cafe in Minnesota, said one of the first things she did in Lucknow was to enquire with the GRP at Charbagh station and also visit her orphanage. But credible leads to her biological parents eluded. Her documents at the orphanage have no details of her parents. Some photographs of her adoption have three women, but their whereabouts are not known.

A lot of South Koreans adopted by Western families in the postwar years grew up believing they were orphans. In many cases, it was a lie.

By Priscilla Ki Sun HwangSep. 27, 2023

Father: No record.

Mother: No record.

The number of adoptions by relatives and step parents has increased significantly since the new adoption regulations were implemen... Read More

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NEW DELHI: Since the new adoption regulations were notified in September last year, data available with the Central Adoption Resource Authority shows a significant rise in the number of orders issued in favour of relatives keen on taking an orphaned child in their family or prospective parents waiting to adopt their step children.

 

Father: No record.

Mother: No record.

Place of birth: Unknown.

Kelly Foston always thought she was an orphan.

That’s because her adoption paperwork, riddled with “no record” and “unknown” and signed by Korean authorities, declared her to be one.

On September 17, 2023 the New York Times published an article titled “World’s Largest ‘Baby Exporter’ Confronts Its Painful Past.'” In response, Holt President and CEO Dan Smith wrote a letter to the editor reinforcing Holt’s long-standing commitment to ethical international adoptions. Below you can read this letter as well as a description of Holt’s history and an explanation of our work on behalf of orphaned and vulnerable children around the world.

To the Editor: 

Holt International Children’s Services commends your story titled World’s Largest ‘Baby Exporter’ Confronts Its Painful Past that sheds light on past adoption practices. But it didn’t tell the whole story. 

Holt International Children’s Services, an accredited child placement agency, has advocated for 65 years for stronger and standardized adoption practices worldwide, which led to U.S. adoption in 2008 of the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption to ensure the interest of children is given priority. 

Holt has a longstanding commitment to ethical standards that emphasize family-strengthening services that result in children remaining with their birth families. For children without the option of remaining with a birth family, we advocate domestic adoption so children grow and thrive in the culture of their birth. 

LUCKNOW: Twenty-one years after she was adopted from a Lucknow shelter home by a US woman, Rakhi - now called Mahogany Emberkai -- is back to her city to trace her roots, shrugging off two decades of abuse by her foster mother.

Rakhi was found abandoned at Lucknow's Charbagh railway station in 2000 when she was just three. Transferred to a local shelter home, she was adopted by one Carol Brand from Minnesota two years later.

However, her ordeal started right when she boarded the US-bound flight. It turned out that Carol had submitted her fake profile for adoption. She was allegedly a drug addict and alcoholic, who left Rakhi with a life-long trauma by her abusive excesses.

"Gradually I took care of my studies and subsistence. At the age of 12, I became a babysitter in order to pay rent to live with Carol. After I turned 18, Carol forced me out of the house and I started living on the University campus," said Rakhi, who changed her name to Mahogany Emberkai at the age of 20, which reflected her strong character as a tough wood. Mahogany is a straight-grained, reddish-brown hardwood and Emberkai is derived from Ember which means low burning wood.

"As a child I have suffered verbal, physical, mental and even sexual abuse from Carol. She was a fraud investigator in the health insurance sector in Minnesota, but she faked her profile to adopt me. Due to her cruel nature, none of my classmates dare come to console me. As a kid, I, too, was very afraid of her and never went against her to complain about her behaviour. Although I did try to inform her sister Nancy, I hardly got any support," said the 26-year-old who wanted to become doctor, but was never supported by her foster mother.

In 2002, when Mahogany was Rakhi, at Lucknow shelter home. Her poster mother Carol Brand is also seen in the photo.

Mahogany graduated from University of Minnesota in health science.

CHENNAI: Social worker Shaila Samuel said, in a recent statement to TNIE, that baseless and vexatious allegations by the then Chennai Child Welfare Committee chairperson have completely undone her good work over past three decades.

She referred to a series of articles published in TNIE on June 23, 26, and 30, of 2010 in which the then CWC, Chennai chairperson was quoted as referring to Shaila as the “queen-pin of adoption ring” and an alleged “child trafficker” and “she used Guild of Service (GoS) name, stamp and other related documents to carry out the unlawful adoption when she was working with GoS.”

Rebutting the articles, Shaila said the allegations were made by a statutory authority without any inquiry or an explanation being sought from her. “Everything I toiled to build over 30 years of unwavering effort, unconditional social service and unyielding sacrifice, all came crumbling down solely due to such allegations,” she said. She said she was scorned by her peers and despised by members of her community. 

“All my good work was completely undone without any recourse to defend myself,” she said. According to Shaila, on October 7, 2009, the Commissioner of Social Welfare issued a letter to Cheshire Homes, India to grant permission to transfer five medically challenged children to rehabilitate them. On December 4, 2009, the then CWC, Chennai chairperson certified her to be the fittest person to take temporary custody of the children, she said. On April 7, 2010, the Probation Officer of Coimbatore declared the child legally free for adoption.

“Yet, out of the blue, the then chairperson of the CWC directed the Probation Officer, Erode to conduct further inquiries. The officer submitted a report dated June 16, 2010, stating he had traced the child’s parents and they had abandoned the child in the hospital as chances of the child surviving were very bleak. After five years, on learning that the child was still alive, the biological parents wanted the child back,” she said.

After her American foster mother died, Mahogany found out she was adopted and now wants to know more.

Over 23 years later, Mahogany has returned to Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh where she's running from pillar to post, trying to find her identity, roots, and any connection to her biological family in the city.

"I was given the name Rakhi at birth, said 26-year-old Mahogany who found out about her real name only a few years ago," she said.

Back in 2002, railway officials found her abandoned at the Charbagh Railway Station and sent her to an orphanage called Lilavati Munsi Bal Greh.

Speaking to The Quint, Mahogany said, "I was adopted by a US woman in America. I was taken there in 2002. I was taught to reject my culture and I didn't know anything about my history. She didn't tell me where I was adopted from or anything about it."

Maryland family faces international adoption nightmare: Their daughter is stuck in Nepal

Jimmy Lippert Thyden of Ashburn, Virginia told Chilean President Gabriel Boric during a visit to Washington: 'You can't make this right, but you can make it better.'

A group of U. S. citizens stolen from their birth mothers in Chile converged on the U.S. capital Saturday to confront visiting Chilean President Gabriel Boric.

They left with a promise.

"How can I help?" Boric told Jimmy Lippert Thyden, an Ashburn, Virginia man who was taken from his mother in Chile as a baby and adopted out to unsuspecting parents in the U.S. about 40 years ago.

It was a major victory for Thyden and other stolen children, who have struggled for years to get the attention of Chile's government.