Family of former BJP MLA Rajesh Mishra, who helped rescue the child, has claimed nodal adoption agency flouted rules to favour a couple from Malta. Case is now in Supreme Court.

New Delhi: An ‘unwanted’ baby girl who was buried alive shortly after her birth and left for dead three years ago in Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, now has two families fighting a hotly contested legal battle over her. One is a former local BJP MLA’s family, and the other is a couple from Malta.

The government has started to accept foster family applications for temporary homes for little quake survivors, with over 283,000 families already applying to the Ministry of Family and Social Services via the e-Government platform to open their doors to the homeless youngsters

The government Wednesday announced the opening of foster family applications in which over 283,000 families applied to the Ministry of Family and Social Services via the e-Government platform to become foster families for quake-survivor children following the deadly disaster.

Türkiye's recent twin earthquakes affected over 14 million people, nearly 16% of the national population, and occurred in southeastern Türkiye – mainly in Adana, Adiyaman, Diyarbak?r, Gaziantep, Hatay, Kilis, Malatya, Osmaniye and ?anl?urfa – also resulted in strong tremors in several countries in the region, including Syria and Lebanon.

It's the 10th day of the deadly quakes, and the death toll has reached over 35,000, according to the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD).

Although the number of children who have lost parents or caregivers in these devastating earthquakes has not been specified, it is critical to find these children appropriate care and support in the short term. Displaced children, especially those who are unaccompanied or separated from families, are vulnerable to violence, exploitation and abuse, including the risk of trafficking or gender-based violence.

A seven-year-old girl was allegedly burnt with tongs and beaten up by her adoptive mother and her son in Delhi's RK Puram, police said on Wednesday. The 50-year-accused woman works as a nurse at a central government hospital and is absconding. Her son was arrested and sent to judicial custody, police said.

The girl's biological parents are relatives of the accused, police said. RK Puram police station received information on February 9 regarding a minor being physically abused by her adoptive mother. There were scars and injuries on her body, a senior police officer said.

The girl was medically examined and a case under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code, Juvenile Justice Act and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act Act was registered, the officer said. The girl has been sent to a child welfare facility, police said.

The Bombay High Court recently granted bail to a woman accused of buying a one-year-old child from the biological mother, who needed money as her husband was in jail. [Ashwini Babar v. State of Maharashtra & Ors]

Justice SM Modak expressed “great pains” that even in the 21st century, there were incidents where girls were being treated as commodities for financial benefits.

“We are in the 21st century, still there are incidents wherein the girls are treated as commodity and they have been used as a medium for financial benefits. It is highly objectionable to the principles of morality and human rights that a girl of one year is being sold by the natural mother,” the Bench observed.

However, the judge noted that the ‘sale’ took place because the biological mother’s husband was behind bars and they were in need of money.

After the sale, the biological mother had managed to repay the loan to the applicant, and sought the return her child. The applicant woman and her husband, however, refused to return the child, after which a complaint was lodged against them.

The observations were made by a division bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Yashwant Varma on February 13 while hearing a plea of a man whose adopted son suffers from severe mental retardation.

The Delhi High Court recently held that a foreigner cannot claim a vested right to be appointed the legal guardian of a person with disabilities or claim protection guaranteed under Part III of the constitution as are available to Indian citizens.

The observations were made by a division bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Yashwant Varma on February 13 while hearing the plea of a man whose adopted son suffers from severe mental retardation. The father had challenged the validity of certain rules and regulations prescribed National Trust for Welfare of Persons with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation and Multiple Disabilities Rules, 20001 and Board of the Trust Regulations, 2012 which “restrict the appointment of a guardian to a person who is an Indian citizen”.

The father alleged that Rule 17 as well as Regulation 12 are “ultra vires” the provisions of the National Trust for the Welfare of Persons with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation and Multiple Disabilities Act, 19993 (National Trust Act) which is the parent Act. It was argued that if the parent act does not disable a non-citizen from applying to be appointed as a guardian of a person with disabilities, then the rules and regulations cannot do so which are delegation legislation in this case.

The father and his adopted son are US citizens who relocated to India, after the breakdown of marital relations between the man and his wife, pursuant to which they legally separated. The father claimed that he had been granted legal custody of his son and has been acting as his primary caregiver since the time of adoption. Both the father and the son relocated to India in 2009 and hold Overseas Citizenship of India cards. The father sought to be appointed as the guardian of his son under the National Trust Act and claimed that his application for guardianship is barred by the said provisions of the rules and regulations which prescribe “citizenship to be an essential qualification”.

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Candidate adoptive parents are available for children from Turkey and Syria. Not a good idea, academics write.

In The Seventh Day last Sunday, a Belgian-Turkish entrepreneur who traveled to Turkey to provide assistance after the earthquake testified. He outlined the extent of the damage and what is needed at this time. His report was announced on the VRT website under the title 'Saïd testifies from Turkey: There are many orphans. I'm looking at adopting.” Said did indeed say that, but it was not his full message. In the meantime, the title of the piece has changed, and rightly so. Because no matter how sincere and well-intentioned, his comment about adoption was inappropriate.

Let's return to the spring of 2019. Then the Flemish Parliament organized a hearing on fraud in adoptions from Ethiopia. This showed that the government and adoption services have failed to protect children adopted in Belgium from other countries. Some files even contain lies or fraud. How could that happen? Pressure from well-meaning citizens to help children out of poverty. Insufficient attention to the interests of those children. Many people in their thirties and forties who were adopted from India as children , and many people in their twenties who were adopted from Ethiopia as children, have already testified about their difficult identity formation and the frustrating search for their roots. Many wondered not only why their biological parents could not care for them, but also why they were taken abroad when there were also shelters in their native country.

It will be impossible to adopt a child from Vietnam from Flanders. Flanders is stopping cooperation with that country because there are insufficient guarantees that the rights of children eligible for adoption and those of their families are guaranteed.

Flemish Minister of Welfare, Hilde Crevits (CD&V), has confirmed this in the Welfare Committee. The decision comes after a first round of screening of countries of origin for adoption, in which adoptees and adoption services were able to participate. Among the adoptees was Mai Linh Verdonck (27) from Bruges, who was adopted as a baby in Vietnam by a Belgian couple. 'I had to go through a lot of information, it was a complex matter: procedures, financing, legislation. For example, I noticed that Vietnam is not transparent about how they prepare adoptions. They also think that children should only be allowed to have a say from the age of nine. Plus: it is actually illegal to give up your child. Adoptes can ask the government for help if they want to find their origin, but the only answer I got,

To be clear: Verdonck did not have to decide on the final verdict. This was done by the Growing Up agency, in collaboration with the minister. "I had not anticipated that the decision would be so concrete," says the Bruges-Vietnamese. 'It is positive that the interest of the child prevails. Personally, I also found it positive that I was involved for the first time in my life and was allowed to contribute.'

No central database

In the Welfare committee, Bruno Vanobbergen, CEO of the Growing Up Agency, explained how the screening was done in consultation with European organizations, Unicef, the intercountry adoption services and adoptees from the country in question. He said that Vietnam does not have a central database on adopted children: there is insufficient insight into which and how many children have left. There is also no insight into the informed consent that parents can give or the financial transactions.

Flanders stops intercountry adoptions from Vietnam. An initial screening round of five countries of origin shows that there are insufficient guarantees that malpractice with adoptions from Vietnam is excluded, concludes Flemish Minister of Health and Welfare Hilde Crevits. The light is green for adoptions from Portugal, Colombia and South Africa. There will be an additional site visit for Kazakhstan. The screening of 15 other countries of origin is still ongoing.

After reports of malpractice with intercountry adoptions from Ethiopia in 2019, the Flemish government decided to set up an expert panel on intercountry adoptions. After the publication of the final report of that panel, former Minister of Welfare Wouter Beke (CD&V) decided to have the cooperation with all countries of origin screened. This screening, in which adoptees and the intercountry adoption services were also heard, was supposed to help prevent abuses in the future.

Five countries were part of the first round of screening: Portugal, Colombia, South Africa, Kazakhstan and Vietnam. The screening gave the green light for Portugal, Colombia and South Africa. Adoption cooperation remains possible for those countries. Kazakhstan turns orange. This means that an on-site visit is necessary before a final decision can be made.

Red for Vietnam

The light is on red for one country: Vietnam. "There is too little confidence to be able to say that abuses can be ruled out," says Minister Crevits. "That says nothing about past adoptions, but new adoptions are excluded.”

The first screening round of countries of origin with which Flanders collaborates for intercountry adoption has been completed by the Growing Up Agency. Five countries were examined. Collaboration with Portugal, Colombia and South Africa will continue. For the cooperation with Kazakhstan, an on-site visit will take place to gain more clarity on a number of important issues. Cooperation with Vietnam is being terminated because there are insufficient guarantees that the rights of children eligible for adoption and their families are guaranteed. Minister Crevits confirmed this during an exchange of views in the Welfare Committee.

If there are children for whom we can do something, we should not close our eyes to them. That is precisely why we believe in a future for intercountry adoption. But we can only guarantee that future if we give society at large and all those involved, the children themselves, but also their parents and adoptive parents, the best possible guarantees that we have done everything we can to rule out abuses. The Growing Up Agency has carried out a very intensive screening. We want to make sure that families are not pressured to give up children, that the rights of the child are not affected or that there are no financial interests involved in an adoption.” - Hilde Crevits

In mid-2021, the Flemish Government instructed to screen cooperation with countries of origin in the context of intercountry adoption. This screening must sharpen the context in which intercountry adoptions take place in order to avoid possible malpractice in the future. The Growing Up Agency developed a detailed decision framework based on the guidelines established by the government . International organizations with expertise in youth protection and children's rights such as UNICEF, International Social Service (ISS) and Child Identity Protection (CHIP) were called in to provide the most accurate possible picture of the cooperative relationship in each country of origin based on contacts with local authorities, NGOs and organizations involved in youth care and adoption processes. Both adoptees and the intercountry adoption services in Flanders were given the opportunity to assess all information. The Flemish Center for Adoption of the Growing Up agency made the final decision.  

First round of screening

Five countries were part of the first round of screening: Portugal, Colombia, South Africa, Kazakhstan and Vietnam. For Portugal, Colombia and South Africa, the screening provided confirmation that a further direct cooperation relationship with Flanders is appropriate and that further agreements can be made. Kazakhstan turns orange: this means that an on-site visit is necessary before a final decision can be made. For the time being, contact with the competent authorities in the country was only possible to a very limited extent. A working visit should provide an answer to the question of whether a sustainable cooperative relationship for adoption with Kazakhstan is possible. Pending more clarity, the collaboration will continue in the meantime. In the coming months, the 15 other countries of origin with which Flanders currently has an adoption relationship will also be examined.