A New York adoption agency deliberately split up infant twins in the 1960s as part of a controversial study. Melissa Hogenboom tracks down some of those involved to find out why they are still searching for answers about this intrusive experiment.

Kathy Seckler was 16 years old when she made an unexpected discovery that changed her life completely – she had an identical twin sister. It was 4 September 1977 – she recalls with utmost clarity, her voice wobbling only slightly – when a friend told her that she resembled a girl she knew called Lori Pritzl, and asked if she was adopted. Seckler's birthday was the same date as Pritzl's and the two girls looked exactly the same. Seckler had known she was adopted since a young age, enjoying a happy and loved upbringing, but she then learned that Pritzl had also been adopted from the same agency as her.

The girls immediately spoke on the phone and realised their friend's suspicions must have been true – that they were twins. Seckler recalls breaking down in tears when she met her twin sister for the first time. "I saw Lori crossing the street… a big smile on her face," she says. "Then we hugged. It was quite an experience… I felt less alone. Being an adopted child, I always felt different… I felt like, 'Wow, I have a comrade there'."

They were both smokers, had similar artistic interests like dancing and drawing, and both liked music. "It was surreal," says Pritzl. "I felt like I was staring at myself in the mirror."

They could have found out earlier – their similarity to each other had been pointed out previously by acquaintances who knew both families. Pritzl had shrugged it off – doesn't everyone occasionally hear that they look like someone else? However, the girls lived about 15 miles (24km) from each other and they had family friends in common. Unbeknownst to both girls, their parents had known about the other twin for about a decade, but had been told to keep it a secret.

When Cristina Prisco, 42, was growing up as an adopted only child in the Bronx, she always had a clear idea of where she came from — or so she thought.

“There wasn’t really a day that went by that I didn’t think about where I was born and how my story started,” Prisco told The Post exclusively.

Her supposed origin story, long accepted by Prisco and her adoptive parents, was that she had been born to a poor woman in Chile. The birth mother couldn’t afford to raise her baby herself, so she gave Cristina up to a Catholic orphanage.

Prisco’s adoptive father, Benito Zagaglia, travelled to Chile in the spring of 1980, using an Italian passport to enter the country under Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship.

He brought his baby home in May of 1980, holding her close the entire 11 hour flight from Chile to New York City where her adoptive mother Ann Marie Zagaglia anxiously awaited. Little did the newly completed family know that their baby was a victim of child trafficking.

Some parents were also selling their biological children due to their financial condition, and awareness should be created against such practices, he said.

VIJAYAWADA: The process for adopting children should be made easier to check child trafficking, senior advocate and amicus curiae P Sri Raghuram submitted before the High Court of Andhra Pradesh on Tuesday.

Raghuram, appointed as amicus curiae to assist the court in a case related to the sale of infants and human trafficking, also noted the cumbersome adoption procedure in the country. Childless couples, wishing to adopt, have been seeking alternatives to avoid the tedious process.

Some parents were also selling their biological children due to their financial condition, and awareness should be created against such practices, he said. The amicus curiae also opined that child trafficking could be prevented if the police acted swiftly on any complaint related to missing of child.

The high court has taken suo motu cognisance of two separate media on child trafficking as public interest litigations. When the PILs came up for hearing on Tuesday, the amicus curiae opined that ASHA and anganwadi workers should track the expectant mother right from her pregnancy to deliver better results. Raghuram sought more time to seek the views of stakeholders and NGOs concerned to get more details on sale of infants and human trafficking.

District magistrates need to be given training to give decisions on adoption, it added.

NEW DELHI: It is not appropriate for an administrative authority, instead of a judicial body, to issue adoption orders, a Parliamentary panel has noted. The Standing Committee’s views are at variance with the Juvenile Justice Amendment Act, 2021, which was amended to empower district magistrates (DMs) to issue adoption orders. Before this, the power to issue adoption orders was vested in the judiciary.

It was in July last year that the Parliament passed the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Amendment Bill, 2021. The amendment also entrusts the DM to ensure that childcare institutions comply with the provisions of the Act.

However, the Standing Committee, which tabled its recommendations recently on ‘Guardianship and Adoption Laws’ felt that judges have competence and experience to determine whether adoption is in the best interest of the child.

The panel, headed by BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi, said since the new system is yet to be tried and tested, the Committee recommends that training should be imparted to DMs, ADMs and divisional commissioners in this regard. It also told the Ministry of Women and Child Development to review the functioning of the new system and present a report to the Committee.

We launched an investigation into allegations of possible criminality involving Mother and Baby Institutions, Magdalene Laundries and Workhouses on 6th October 2021. Since then, we have received reports from a number of people including mothers who gave birth in these institutions, those who were adopted from different named institutions, people who worked there, and residents. We are pleased that people are having the confidence after all these years to come forward, however we believe there are still people out there who have suffered and not yet made a report.

Help and support available

If you come forward, you will speak with a specialist detective from our Historic Child Abuse Unit within our Public Protection Branch, and will be offered the opportunity to have your account recorded so that a criminal investigation can take place. You will also be offered to be signposted to other services for help and support.

How do I make a report to Police?

If you have been the victim of non-recent abuse or any criminal act arising out of these institutions, or have any information likely to assist an investigation into a criminal act committed, please come forward and report this to us. We care about what you have to say, will listen and support you, and will act to keep you and others safe

KANPUR: Two brothers have reportedly been arrested and sent straight to jail for allegedly raping their sixteen-year-old "adopted" sister in Uttar Pradesh's Kanpur district.

As per reports, during police investigations, it came to notice that the parents of the accused had illegally adopted the victim from the orphanage in 2013 but no documents related to it have been shown. The accused brothers had also reportedly made an obscene video of the minor.

The girl used to receive threats from both of her stepbrothers that they would go viral with the footage. The victim was frequently subjected to rape attempts through extortion.

The victim informed the authorities that she was from the Banda district, that her mother had died in 2013, and that her father had abandoned his three daughters in the care of their mother.

Her maternal relatives placed the child in an orphanage.

The Supreme Court said that a woman's right to avail maternity leave cannot be taken away, if she had earlier availed child care leave for her non-biological kids

The Supreme Court on Tuesday said that a woman's right to avail maternity leave cannot be taken away, if she had earlier availed child care leave for her non-biological kids.

A bench headed by Justice D.Y. Chandrachud said the fact that the woman was given child care leave cannot be used to disentitle her rights under Central Civil Services Rules (CCS Rules). The bench, also comprising justice A.S. Bopanna, added the object and intent of the grant of maternity leave would be defeated.

The bench said the provisions of CCS Rules regarding maternity leave have to be interpreted in line with the object and intent of the Maternity Benefit Act. The petitioner's two children were from husband's previous marriage.

The petitioner is working as a nurse at the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh (PGIMER), and she was denied maternity leave for her biological child. The petitioner was told that she had already availed such leave for two of her elder kids.

'It's a story written in heaven,' says the mom of four

BY LOUISE CHAMBERS TIMEAUGUST 17, 2022

After adopting an orphaned boy who had escaped slavery in Ethiopia, a Tennessee mombegan dreaming of a girl child. Coming across a photo of a 7-year-old orphan in need proved her dream had been a premonition, but after traveling back to Ethiopia to adopt the child, a battle began.

The girl, named Favor, was withheld, and feared at risk of being fostered by a known satanist. Mom-of-four Missy Maxwell Worton, of Franklin, refused to leave Ethiopia without her daughter; bolstered by faith, she eventually succeeded.

“It’s a story written in heaven,” Missy told The Epoch Times. “We saw a need. We went and we rescued Favor from a situation that was going to steal her destiny, possibly her life if she had gotten into this man’s hands.

The Allahabad High Court has dismissed a petition, saying the year in which the petitioner had sought appointment, then the term “adopted son” was not included under the definition of family.

A single-judge bench of Justice Saurabh Shyam Shamshery passed this order while hearing a petition filed by Sanjay Kumar Singh.

The writ petition was filed in 2003 and was dismissed in default on 11.11.2005. A restoration application was filed on 30.08.2007 along with delay condonation application, i.e, after one year and eleven months. Thereafter, the matter remained pending before the Court.

he petitioner claimed to be an adopted son of late Ram Achal Singh through an adoption deed dated 23.10.1990. Ram Achal Singh died in harness on 31.01.1995. The counsel for the petitioner submitted that the petitioner was given assurance for compassionate appointment, therefore, he remained silent. However, on 17.08.1999, he submitted an application for compassionate appointment. Meanwhile, a declaratory suit was also filed by petitioner, which was allowed in his favour and he was declared adopted son of late Ram Achal Singh.

The counsel for the petitioner further submitted that application of petitioner for compassionate appointment remained pending before respondents and on 17.10.2001 Respondent-2 sent a communication to petitioner wherein the adoption deed was doubted. In these circumstances, the petitioner again moved an application on 12.11.2001. However, by means of the order dated 15.09.2003, the claim of petitioner was rejected on the ground that adopted son was not included in the definition of ‘family’ under Uttar Pradesh Recruitment of Dependents of Government Servants Dying in Harness Rules, 1974. The order is under challenge in writ petition.

Experts say need to look beyond custodial needs of children and focus on nurturing families

In a country with millions of orphans, there are only 2,430 children available for adoption while the number of parents desiring to bring home a child is growing rapidly. To address this paradox, a Parliamentary panel has recommended district-level surveys to proactively identify orphaned and abandoned children.

A report recently tabled on “Review of Guardianship and Adoption Laws” in Parliament by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances and Law and Justice has said, “it is important to get a true picture of number of children who are orphaned/abandoned through a district-level survey and the data needs to be updated on a regular basis.”

It has suggested that a monthly meeting chaired by the District Magistrate should be held in every district to “ensure that orphan and abandoned children found begging in streets are produced before the Child Welfare Committee and are made available for adoption at the earliest.”

According to the report, there were 27,939 prospective parents registered with the Child Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) as on December 2021, up from nearly 18,000 in 2017. In comparison, though there were a total 6,996 orphaned, abandoned and surrendered children residing in childcare institutions considered adoptable, only 2,430 were declared “legally free” for adoption by Child Welfare Committees. The waiting time for adoption too has increased to three years from one year in the past five years. The total number of children adopted in 2021-2022 was only 3,175.