Following VG's revelations about illegal adoption, Minister for Children and Families Kjersti Toppe (Sp) is now inviting adoptees to a meeting. - I want to bring to light what has happened, she says.

VG has told the story of Camilla Austbø (37) who was illegally adopted to Norway.

Camilla was three years old when she was abducted from her own home in Ecuador, sold, and adopted to an unsuspecting couple in Skien.

VG has also told the story of Simon and several other adoptees from Ecuador. All came to Norway via a lawyer who was accused of buying and selling children for adoption.

Now Minister for Children and Families Kjersti Toppe wants to meet them.

Urteil im Prozess

Pforzheimer CDU-Stadträtin Oana Krichbaum diffamiert: Freiheitsstrafe für Angeklagte

Die Pforzheimer Stadträtin Oana Krichbaum wurde in den sozialen Medien und in Mails mehrfach des illegalen Kinderhandels bezichtigt. Nun erhielt die Angeklagte eine Freiheitsstrafe.

Gunther und Oana Krichbaum als Delegierte beim Bundesparteitag der CDU in Hannover

Nebenkläger: Oana und Gunter Krichbaum sahen sich auf Facebook bösen Behauptungen ausgesetzt. Foto: Oana Krichbaum

A woman from the Enz district was sentenced to six months imprisonment without probation by the Foreign Chamber of the Karlsruhe Regional Court on Wednesday for defamation.

The woman was accused of repeatedly calling Oana Krichbaum, the wife of MP Gunther Krichbaum (CDU), both of whom acted as joint plaintiffs, as a child trafficker on Facebook. With the verdict, a story that has been smoldering for years comes to an end – at least for the time being.

4,000 pages of court files have accumulated in the process

In 2019, after five days of hearings, the district court sentenced the woman to six months probation. Both the defendants' defense and the public prosecutor's office had appealed against this. The process, which has now come to an end, dragged on for eleven days of negotiations, during which a mountain of files of around 4,000 pages had accumulated.

In his detailed reasoning, Judge Stefan Bien emphasized that the previously unconvicted defendant could not be dealt with by a suspended sentence. This is shown by the fact that she did not accept the 2019 judgment and then continued her activities. According to Bien, several disciplinary decisions in civil proceedings could not have slowed the woman down. "Only detention will stop them," the judge said.

Pforzheim/Enzkreis. Outbursts of anger by the accused, tears and threats of suicide: In the appeal process for defamation, which Oana Krichbaum - wife of the CDU member of the Bundestag Gunther Krichbaum - met, emotions regularly boiled up. Now the die has been cast: the jury chaired by judge Stefan Bien sentenced a 50-year-old from the Enzkreis district to seven months in prison for defamation in three cases and defamation against people in political life.

According to Bien, one month is already considered to have been executed due to a delay in the proceedings. The subject of the indictment were four posts on Facebook in which the accused allegedly described Oana Krichbaum as a "child trafficker". Three of these posts have now resulted in a conviction.

The 50-year-old repeatedly referred to media reports from which she had information about Oana Krichbaum's alleged involvement in child trafficking. Attorney Hubert Gorka even spoke of the "biggest attack on press freedom since the Spiegel affair" in the event of a conviction. Because: His client only referred to the press releases.

Shot over the target

For Judge Bien, the tables have turned in this regard. "Freedom of expression is essential for the democracy in which we live." But what is decisive is that the accused clearly overshot the mark. For example, Oana Krichbaum is not mentioned in any of the questionable articles that talk about illegal adoptions.

Adoption STAR, the largest adoption agency in WNY, fired employees organizing a union. The fallout has impacted some families trying to adopt.

The complicated process of adopting a child was upended last year after Western New York’s largest adoption agency lost a third of its staff, an exodus triggered by what one labor attorney called the worst case of union busting she has seen.

Adoption STAR, founded in 2000 in Amherst, fired four staff members last April who were attempting to organize a union. The firings resulted in an exodus of the agency’s staff — 13 out of approximately three dozen employees. The departures included the agency’s executive director — who left a month after the firings — and an associate director.

The firings hollowed out some departments, including the one that handles adoptions of older children in foster care.

The departures rocked the agency, former employees said, causing some clients — including expectant parents and families looking to adopt — to feel left in the dark, cut off from communication with case workers and social workers.

Guatemala has been home to great writers whose works have left an immemorial mark on Literature.

From poetry to novels, these women have demonstrated their talent and commitment in the history of writing, according to Editorial Piedrasanta.

The writers selected by the editorial are part of the " Women's Day " campaign , which aims to commemorate Guatemalan women writers and their great contribution to literature.

These are just some of the most outstanding Guatemalan writers selected by Editorial Piedrasanta:

Mariela SR Coline Fanon

Dozens of national and European NGOs have sent an open letter to the European Commission, saying that Romanian legislation only "formally" reflects European directives regarding the protection of children who have been victims of sexual crimes. The NGOs are demanding that the infringement procedure be activated.

The letter from the 35 NGOs is addressed to the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, the Vice President for Democracy and Demography, Dubravka Suica, the Commissioner for Justice, Didier Reynders, and the Commissioner for Equality, Helena Dali.

The Center for Advocacy and Human Rights, which is among the signatories, says that the situation of children who are victims of sexual crimes "has not significantly improved after the adoption of EU legislation, despite constant international pressure." It argues that national legislation "formally reflects European directives, but is largely unenforceable," and "is formulated in unclear terms, which allows for the perpetuation of practices that lead to the re-victimization of children," according to Digi24.

The letter calls on the Commission to analyze the compliance of Romanian legislation with the EU Directive on victims' rights and the Directive on combating human trafficking and to initiate a dialogue with Romanian authorities to improve the country’s adoption of these directives.

The NGOs also signal the following situations that "impede children victims of sexual crimes' access to justice and indicate inadequate transposition" of European directives: the victim child is questioned in the presence of the defendant; the child’s interview is not video recorded; the child has to participate in repeated interviews; the child is questioned without access to legal representation; the child's identity is not adequately protected throughout the process; the duration of criminal procedures in cases involving a victim child is unreasonable; the victim children's legal aid lawyers change during the criminal proceedings; forced early marriages are not investigated and sanctioned as a form of exploitation.

BAREILLY: The Supreme Court has upheld Delhi high court's decision to give the custody of 'miracle baby' (the court addressed her only as 'S') to her new parents based in Malta, who had adopted her through the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA).

The judgment, delivered on Friday, which finally paved the way for Baby 'S' to be with her parents after months of legal rigmarole, said: "They (adoptive parents) were aware that child 'S' had a medical condition (epilepsy) and were still willing to adopt her. We do not find any reason to interfere with the impugned (HC) judgment."

In 2019, the baby was found abandoned in an earthen pot and got the moniker "miracle baby" since she survived despite all odds.

Later, in December 2022, right-wing activists filed an FIR against the orphanage in Bareilly and the adoptive parents, charging them with "wrongful conversion" alleging that the orphanage had changed the baby's faith and got an Aadhaar with a "new Christian name." As reported by TOI, the HC directed the UP government "not to harass the orphanage staff and create hurdles in the baby's adoption process or her journey to Malta with her adoptive parents".

The nephew of former MLA Pappu Bhartaul aka Rajesh Mishra, Amit, then approached the SC seeking "cancellation of her adoption" alleging "discrepancies in the process".

Digging up painful memories in order to qualify for an 'insulting' payment

It was meant to be the redress scheme that would help to heal some of the wounds endured by those forced into mother and baby homes, but instead it has caused a furious backlash from survivors.

Last year, Children's Minister Roderic O’Gorman announced the biggest compensation package in the history of the State, amounting to an estimated €800m, would roll out this year.

As many as 68,000 people went through the religious-run mother and baby homes, suffering the worst cruelty imaginable — women’s babies were forcibly taken from them and adopted. Many remain separated to this day.

Up to 9,000 children died in institutions all across the country in appalling conditions.

Adopted Malaysian Girl Is Looking For Her Biological Mother

An adopted girl in Malaysia is seeking her biological mother as she has been deemed a non-citizen due to issues with her citizenship application.

Amanda Lim Kai Xin, 17, holds three birth certificates but has no identity card.

She has struggled to obtain her citizenship as the government does not have information about her biological parents.

Because of this, she pays international student fees and faces several other hurdles as a non-citizen of Malaysia.