I. GENERAL MEASURES OF IMPLEMENTATION

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B. Measures taken to harmonize law and policy with the provisions of the Convention

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11. In the context of the improved legal framework for the protection of children, appropriate strategies have been developed on the basis of the following principles, which are to be found in the text of the Convention: assistance for families with one or more children to care for; every child has the right to a permanent family; every effort must be made to ensure that children placed in institutional care are reintegrated into their own family; when the natural or adoptive parents are incapable of caring for the child, the latter shall be considered to be in need of placement, temporarily or permanently, in a substitute family; every special measure for the protection of the minor must take into account the general principle according to which "the needs of the child come first" and must take the wishes of the child into consideration; the development of minors who are the subject of a protective measure must be monitored and that measure must be changed if the needs and interests of the child so require; preventive steps must be taken to ensure that the minor is not exploited, neglected or abused; everything must be done to enable all the rights accorded to the child by the law to be exercised, solely in his interests.

A lack of formal Government apology to unmarried mothers who faced “appalling treatment” in decades past, including unwanted adoptions, has been labelled “disappointing”.

The Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR) had called on the Government to issue an apology to women who had their babies taken from them for adoption between 1949 and 1976.

The committee, in a report published in July, argued that the Government “bears ultimate responsibility for the pain and suffering caused by public institutions and state employees that railroaded mothers into unwanted adoptions”.

It said an apology by the Government “and an official recognition that what happened to these mothers was dreadful and wrong… would go some way to mitigate the pain and suffering of to those affected”.

It gave examples of other formal apologies by the UK Government, where statements were made to the House of Commons.

Recent reports that adoptees were taken without the consent of the parents have jumpstarted an effort by the Northern European nation to look into the history of overseas adoption

Silje Hjemdal, a Norwegian lawmaker, speaks with the Hankyoreh in Seoul on March 1. (Kang Chang-kwang/The Hankyoreh)

The Norwegian government has recently taken action to set up an independent body to look into illegal adoptions that have taken place in the past.

Over the past three years, Norwegian society has been stunned by local news reports about children adopted from Korea, Ecuador, Colombia and other countries. According to the reports, some children were shipped off without the consent of their birth parents and others were fraudulently depicted as orphans despite their parents being alive.

The discussion about setting up an investigative body in Norway has picked up speed since the South Korean government moved ahead with an investigation of its own this past December.

HARRISBURG - The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced today that Shelley Noreika, age 49, of Dillsburg, PA, was sentenced to 30 months’ incarceration by United States District Judge Sylvia H. Rambo for making False Statements Relating to Health Care Matters.

According to United States Attorney Gerard M. Karam, Noreika fabricated serious illnesses and made fraudulent statements to healthcare providers in connection with her 5-year-old adoptive daughter. As result of Noreika’s false statements, the minor child was subjected to unnecessary medical treatment and the downstream insurers incurred monetary losses in the six-figures. In particular, and as admitted by Noreika to federal investigators, Noreika told her daughter to pretend and fake having a seizure while Noreika videotaped her. Noreika then emailed the video clip of the fake seizure to her daughter’s pediatric neurologist, along with false statements concerning the minor child’s medical condition. On multiple other occasions, Noreika likewise falsely reported to medical providers that her daughter experienced seizures, when in fact no such seizures occurred. In fact, at no point did Noreika ever witness her daughter have an actual seizure.

As recognized by both the government and defense, Noreika’s conduct is consistent with factitious disorder imposed on another, formerly known as munchausen syndrome by proxy, a mental illness in which a caregiver makes up or causes an illness or injury to a person under their care, to gain attention and sympathy for themselves. However, the government pointed out to the Court there was also a clear financial motive – Noreika received enhanced Medicare and adoption subsidiaries for taking care of a medically ill child, and she promoted the minor child’s purported conditions to seek donations from local organizations and through online fundraising efforts.

“Today’s sentencing sends a strong message that protecting children is a top priority,” said Special Agent in Charge Maureen R. Dixon of the Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG) Philadelphia Regional Office. “HHS-OIG will continue to work closely with our law enforcement partners to thoroughly investigate allegations of abuse against children and ensure claims submitted to federal and state programs by caregivers are truthful and accurate. We would like to thank the Pennsylvania State Police and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for their partnership and commitment in this investigation.”

In addition to the 30-month prison sentence, the Court ordered Shelley Noreika to serve three years of supervised release following incarceration, and to pay a fine of $500 and restitution of $137,710.86 to the victims of the offense. Noreika is no longer in care of the minor child, and she also faces related state charges which are pending.

A man who found the identity of his birth mother after 41 years of searching says he can’t wait to finally meet her in person.

Auckland resident Jozsef Szabo, 49, was adopted as a baby in Hungary in 1974. His mother, Ilona Huszar, gave him up because she couldn’t keep him.

After finally tracking her down last year, she has had a heart scare and he’s determined to reunite with her again before it's too late.

From the age of 8, Szabo knew he was adopted after his parents told him he wasn’t their son by birth.

“My adopted family raised me in very hard conditions,” he said.

Billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s group is getting into genetic mapping, looking to make a health care trend led by disruptive US startups like 23andMe more affordable and widespread in India’s growing consumer market.

The energy-to-ecommerce conglomerate will roll out within weeks a comprehensive 12,000-rupee ($145) genome sequencing test, according to Ramesh Hariharan, chief executive officer of Strand Life Sciences Pvt., which has developed the product. Reliance Industries Ltd., led by Asia’s richest person, acquired the Bengaluru-based firm in 2021 and now owns about 80% of it.

The genome test, which is about 86% cheaper than other offerings available locally, can reveal a person’s predisposition to cancers, cardiac and neuro-degenerative ailments as well as identify inherited genetic disorders, he said.

The project to bring affordable personal gene-mapping to India’s 1.4 billion people — on track to be the world’s most populous nation — will potentially create a treasure trove of biological data that can aid drug development and disease prevention in the region. It also dovetails with Ambani’s ambitions to dive further into the world of data — he has often called it the “new oil” — as he pivots his $192 billion empire beyond refining into consumer and digital services.

“It’ll be the cheapest such genomic profile in the world,” Hariharan said, who also co-founded Strand Life Sciences. “We’re going out at an aggressive price point to drive adoption as it gives us a chance to build a viable business in preventive health care.”

What you need to know:

The couple; Mr Nicholas Spencer and Ms Mackenzie Leing Mathias Spencer that is facing charges of aggravated trafficking and aggravated torture of a 10-year-old, has listed eight grounds for consideration for their release.

An American couple that has been on remand at Luzira prison since late last year, is seeking the intervention of the High Court to release them on bail.

The couple; Mr Nicholas Spencer and Ms Mackenzie Leing Mathias Spencer that is facing charges of aggravated trafficking and aggravated torture of a 10-year-old, has listed eight grounds for consideration for their release.

The couple states that they are responsible citizens of the United States of America with good character who until their arrest resided at Apartment 304 Plot 29 Ntinda View Crescent in Kampala District.

Dir: Margo Harkin. Ireland. 2023. 103 mins

The horrors of the Irish Mother and Baby Homes have been vividly conveyed in both drama (2013’s Philomena) and documentary (The Missing Children in 2021, and more). Familiarity does nothing to blunt the power and emotional charge of Stolen. Previously entitled Limbo, Margo Harkin’s heartbreaker of a documentary gives a voice to those silenced for far too long. An elegant layering of chapter and verse testimony underpins a wide-ranging portrait balancing individual suffering with an understanding of the bigger societal issues. Essential viewing in Ireland, Stolen should provoke outrage in audiences far and wide.

The homes and their horrors were the product of an Ireland determined to punish the transgressive

Harkin sets the scene by asserting her love for Ireland but also recognising it as a country with “dark secrets” buried beneath its “waterlogged surfaces”. Mournful shots of bleak rural settings punctuate the narrative, adding to the melancholy air. The first individual we encounter is Michael O’Donovan, a gardener at Sean Ross Abbey Mother and Baby Home in Tipperary from 1988 to 1991. He recalls the discovery of lots of small bones and a policy of planting trees that felt like a deliberate act of concealment. His many unanswered questions lay out the themes of a film which confronts shame, guilt , collusion and cover-up.

We move on to the site of the Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home that operated at Tuam between 1925 and 1961. Subsidence exposed a children’s graveyard on a site that is now a playground, adding to the sense that the horrors of the past are seeping to the surface. Historian Catherine Corliss is interviewed about her tireless, ground-breaking research into Tuam and the 796 babies and children who died there.

Unforgettable moment for Maria Paola. For the very first time in 37 years, she met her biological mother. “I dropped all my bags to hug her.” Maria Paola was only a few days old when she flew from Guatemala to Belgium. She was received at Zaventem airport by her adoptive parents and her brother. She spent all her childhood in Belgium, but as a young woman she began to question her identity. That's why she went looking for who she was. She flew to Guatemala to consult the local database and came up with something surprising.

“According to the state, I never left Guatemala and I was not adopted at all,” says Maria Paola. "I have my doubts about how the adoption came about, but I have no idea about the extent of the smuggling and the falsification of documents."

She did not stop there and continued to look for her biological family. She found out with a DNA test that she has a half-sister with the same mother. This is how she first came into contact with her biological mother via FaceTime. "She saw me on the screen and she knew I was her daughter." When she meets her mother, Maria Paola has no more questions about who she is.

SPRING, Texas (KTRK) -- A judge raised the bond of a woman who is accused of playing a part in her adopted 7-year-old son's death after his body was found in a washing machine.

The video above is from a previous report about the 7-year-old's parents being charged after his murder.

Tiffany Thomas, 35, is accused of contributing to what prosecutors call "chronic abuse" of Troy Koehler, 7. They allege she didn't protect him from the boy's father, as well as possibly mistreating and hurting him herself.

Jemaine Thomas, 42, was charged with capital murder, while Tiffany faced a charge of injury to a child by omission after Troy's body was found in the washing machine at the Thomas home in Spring back in July. Tiffany was reportedly the one who initially called 911 to report her son missing.

ORIGINAL STORY: 7-year-old boy reported missing in Spring found dead in washing machine, HCSO says