LONDON: British couples adopting children in Pakistan have been left stuck in the country due to visa processing delays caused by the sudden Ukraine refugee crisis, the Guardian reported.

The British newspaper found that Home Office visa delays were part of “wider failings” in processing, with families seeking adoption around the world prevented from returning to the UK.

One Briton, stranded in Pakistan’s largest city, Karachi, since November, told the paper: “It’s 37 degrees here, there are shortages of gas and water, and the electricity goes off for several hours a day. I’m afraid to go outside because of the kidnapping risk and political instability here.

“I’ve been here since November. Getting our baby took three weeks, then we applied for her visa on Jan. 18. Initially, the Home Office told us it would be 12 weeks — that was 21 weeks ago.

“My older son misses nursery, my husband is at work in the UK, my father is sick and I can’t be with him, and my employer wants to know when I’m coming back.

Cases involving adoption of children are now administrative instead of judicial proceedings and should be filed before the National Authority for Child Care (NACC) of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and not with the trial courts.

Adoption cases now pending before the trial courts should be withdrawn first before they can be transferred to NACC for resolution, the Supreme Court (SC) said.

After Andrea Kelley and her husband adopted their first child from Ethiopia in 2000, she set out on a mission to fill in the missing pieces of her son’s history by finding his mother. After thousands of hours and dollars spent, Andrea had no luck. So she created the Beteseb Felega – Ethiopian Adoption Connection organization in 2014 to help other family members and adoptees find resources to complete their history.

Andrea operates the organization full-time in Shawnee, Kansas, and has grown the Beteseb Felega – Ethiopian Adoption Connection to feature a database and new DNA project in order to help others navigate searches and provide post-adoption services.

DESCRIBE YOUR VOLUNTEER ROLE WITHIN BETESEB FELEGA – ETHIOPIAN ADOPTION CONNECTION.

I started Beteseb Felega – Ethiopian Adoption Connection after a 10-year failed search for the mother of one of my children born in Ethiopia because we didn’t have enough information in our adoption paperwork to find the family. I founded and now run the organization from my home office in Kansas City. I manage and coordinate our team of three social workers from different parts of Ethiopia and I specifically work with adult adoptees and adoptive parents who want to search for their birth family in Ethiopia. I also handle all the administrative work for the organization including running the website and our Ethiopian Adoption Search Registry Database.

The organization now provides access to birth and adoption histories for Ethiopian adoptees. We want to restore the history and relationships that have been lost through international adoption. It’s a basic human right that is sometimes overlooked in the adoption process because it’s commonly believed that children will have a better life after being adopted. I realized that if Ethiopian birth families could reach out and search for their children, there would be a higher likelihood of success for everyone. That’s why I created our Ethiopian Adoption Search Registry in 2014 — to give a voice to Ethiopian birth families.

British couples who travelled to Pakistan to adopt children have been left stranded after the Home Office told them to expect months of delays in processing visas because of the Ukraine refugee crisis.

The delays are part of wider failings in visa processing that have left families around the world stuck waiting to return to the UK.

Zainib* has been in Pakistan’s largest city, Karachi, since November. She told the Guardian that the delays had left her feeling abandoned.

“It’s 37 degrees here, there are shortages of gas and water, and the electricity goes off for several hours a day,” she said. “I’m afraid to go outside because of the kidnapping risk and political instability here.

“I’ve been here since November. Getting our baby took three weeks, then we applied for her visa on 18 January. Initially, the Home Office told us it would be 12 weeks – that was 21 weeks ago.

Abortion rights advocates and antiabortion advocates demonstrate outside the Supreme Court after a leak of a draft majority opinion overturning abortion rights on May 3. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

Cynthia Landesberg is a Korean adoptee and a lawyer in the D.C. area.

Everyone loves a good adoption story. You know: the rags-to-riches tale of a baby found on the street and placed in a loving home, who becomes a lawyer, or a teacher, and one day has a family of their own. I’m well-acquainted with this story because it’s the narrative people imagine when they hear about my life. But it’s far from the whole truth.

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I’m a Korean transracial adoptee and mother of two Korean adoptees. I’ve seen adoption fables used for entertainment, profit and politics, most recently by the Supreme Court as it debates the constitutional right to abortion — and as some of its members exalt adoption as a righteous and practical alternative.

New Zealanders with an interest in adoption are being encouraged to have their say on options for reforming Aotearoa’s 67-year-old adoption laws.

The Ministry of Justice - Te Tāhu o te Ture has today unveiled a range of options aimed at

putting the rights and best interests of children at the heart of a new adoption system.

The Ministry held its first round of public consultation last year. Deputy Secretary Policy Rajesh Chhana said the Government now wanted to hear again from the public about some options it is considering for a new adoption system.

"Last year, the Ministry of Justice heard from over 270 people and organisations, and met with over 25 individuals and groups," Mr Chhana said.

On 20 June 2022, the Government asked the public’s views on the options for reform. As part of this engagement, the Ministry of Justice meet with a range of individuals and communities both face-to-face and online.

The second round of engagement closed on 7 August. We’ll use your feedback to inform the development of final policy proposals for adoption law reform. This may include refining, changing or adding to the options set out in the discussion document.

On this page:

Options for reform

Discussion document

Justice Chagla was informed by advocates Gauraj Shah and Mahesh Chitnis that their client had approached the HC to probate the Will of her deceased adoptive father in February 2022

However, in the absence of an adoption deed or the consent of her biological father for the adoption, the application for probation of the Will in favour of the 70-year-old was not allowed

Mumbai Stating that if there are other documents which can sufficiently establish the claims of adoption, then an adoption deed or documents showing consent of biological parent is not needed, the Bombay high court (HC) accepted photographs and wedding invitation cards of a 70-year-old woman as proof of her adoption.

The single-judge bench of justice R I Chagla was hearing a testamentary petition of the senior citizen, who was adopted by the deceased testator in 1954 and had sought a declaration that she was the heir of the deceased. However, the Prothonotary and Senior Master had refused to probate the Will as the deed of adoption or consent of her biological father for the adoption was not available.

Justice Chagla was informed by advocates Gauraj Shah and Mahesh Chitnis that their client had approached the HC to probate the Will of her deceased adoptive father in February 2022. However, in the absence of an adoption deed or the consent of her biological father for the adoption, the application for probation of the Will in favour of the 70-year-old was not allowed.

On the basis of the mother’s statement and enquiry, her friend Sonia and their associates Meena, Vineet, Rekha and Moni were arrested from Delhi and UP.

A seven-month-old baby was rescued by the Delhi Police this month after his parents allegedly sold him to a Haryana-based couple for Rs 5 lakh. Police said it was the baby’s mother who informed the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) helpline about the case and asked for support to get the pending payment as she had allegedly only received Rs 20,000.

The DCW and Delhi Police found that the baby was sold 3 days after his birth at an IVF centre in Ghaziabad and arrested all eight persons, including the mother, in a case of child trafficking. The gang members have allegedly been operating from Delhi, UP and Haryana.

According to the police, the matter came to light on May 12 when the mother called the DCW helpline and confessed she had sold her baby in October 2021 and wanted help with the pending payment.

“We conducted an enquiry and found that the woman gave birth to a boy in October last year at a Malviya Nagar-based hospital. Her friend Sonia got her discharged two days after the delivery and took her to Sangam Vihar. A day later, she took the woman and her baby to an IVF centre in Ghaziabad where the baby was sold to another woman named Meena. The parents were promised Rs 5 lakh in exchange for the child,” DCP (South) Benita Marya Jaiker said.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: She was just a year old when a Belgian couple, Maurice and Liliane Pollet, adopted her from The Holy Angels Convent’s orphanage in the state capital. Forty-one years later, Catherine Pollett has set out in search of her biological mother Sarala and unknown father, who she believes are from Thiruvananthapuram. Sister Mary of the convent, who acted as a link during the adoption process, could have been Catherine’s go-to person to trace them, but she is no more.

Kathy, as she is called, has the letters Sr Mary and the Belgian couple had exchanged in the 1980s and a few photos of the ayah, who had looked after her when she was a baby. Catherine is keen to meet the ayah too. She told TNIE from Belgium that her adoptive mother never spoke about Kerala, its culture or her biological parents.

“I was told that my mother had left me in a basket in front of an orphanage. The reason I’m searching for my biological parents is because I have certain health issues. If for any reason my biological family doesn’t wish to see me, I would at least love to see the pictures of my dad and mom,” said Catherine, who had stayed with her Belgian parents until she turned 23.

Sr Angel, the incumbent mother superior at The Holy Angels Convent, told TNIE that nearly 25 infants from the orphanage were adopted by various Belgian couples in the early 80s. “Catherine might have been one of them,” she said.

“I was a young nun back then and was studying at All Saints College. The orphanage was as old as the Holy Angels Convent, the 150th anniversary of which was celebrated in 2019. But the orphanage is no longer functioning. I got in touch with a few senior nuns who were close to the late Sr Mary, but they too are clueless about Catherine’s parents. We don’t know anything about the adoption register either,” said Sr Angel.