New laws streamlining the adoption process will have a "significant and really positive" affect on families going through the process, the health minister has said.

Regulations relating to the Adoption Act 2021 will go before Tynwald this month and if approved come into effect in July.

The regulations aim to speed up the decision-making and process of adoption, which is currently governed by legislation from 1984, and provide ongoing support once the child is settled into their adoptive family.

Health and Social Care Minister Lawrie Hooper said the new laws would make the process more "focused", but would "ultimately put the needs of that child absolutely at the heart of everything".

While the updated legislation received Royal Assent in October 2021, the Department for Health and Social Care has since been developing underlying regulations, with nine orders set to go before Tynwald - six of which require approval.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that the following article contains images of people who have died.

"If there's anything I've learnt in making this film, it's that I think the best thing anyone can do in their life is tell their story. Good, bad or indifferent," says Adrian Russell Wills.

Wills and his co-director and co-writer, Gillian Moody, have two powerful stories, but share one unique experience.

Moody, a Wodi Wodi woman, and Wills, a Wonnarua man, both grew up in white families.

As adopted Aboriginal children raised in affluent areas of Sydney's northern beaches in the late 1970s, they were both disconnected from Country and culture throughout their childhood.

Les victimes roumaines de traites humaines subissent encore une fois une forte complaisance de l’Office de Lutte Anti-Fraude (OLAF).

par Racines & Dignité | 6 Juin 2024 | Nos actions, Actualités

Réponse OLAF le 4 juin 2024

D’un revers de main, le 4 juin, après des relances et une plainte auprès de la Médiatrice Européenne Mme O’Reilly pour mauvaise gestion administrative, l’OLAF nous adresse une réponse surréaliste avec le titre « SENSIBLE : OLAF Enquêtes » que les informations complémentaires fournies ne justifiaient pas une réévaluation de la décision.

How the 'Lost Children of Greece' are fighting for citizenship and access to their records

Thousands of children were adopted to countries such as the US after the Greek Civil War, Mary Cardaras tells The Journal.

9.01pm, 1 Jun 2024

14.6k

Sale and adoption: AP child rights commission issues instructions

 

Action has been initiated by the police and 16 children have been identified out of 60 children rescued from illegal adoption and selling, and they have been sent to Shishuvihar, Hyderabad.

 

Vijayawada: The AP child rights commission has ordered immediate steps against illegal sale and adoption of children in the state. Its chairperson Kesali Appa Rao issued the guidelines to the director of women development and Child Welfare Department, Guntur, and also sought an inquiry in the matter. Action has been initiated by the police and 16 children have been identified out of 60 children rescued from illegal adoption and selling, and they have been sent to Shishuvihar, Hyderabad. Appa Rao said it was important to ensure the safety of the children through strict vigilance against their possible sale and purchase transactions across the state.
 

On 21 May, the Government of the Netherlands officially announced that it will no longer allow its nationals to initiate new international adoption procedures. This decision takes effect immediately, while providing for a transitional period for ongoing cases. This radical choice certainly represents a break in the evolution of international adoption, breaking a social and political taboo, and perhaps even more so from the country that hosts the headquarters of the Hague Conference.

The Netherlands has followed a very logical path: in February 2021, the expert report commissioned by the Government painted an uncompromising picture of past adoption practices, highlighting the failures of the system and their serious consequences on the development of abuses in the procedures. A few days later, the authorities decided to suspend international adoption procedures . At the end of 2022, the Netherlands decided to resume the procedures, but only with 6 countries of origin considered safe. However, this measure did not put an end to the debates: some members of Parliament considered, for example, that "There is too much room for abuse, and it is not a sustainable way of protecting children" . NGOs also took a position , asking the Government to put a definitive end to the practice of international adoption in order to prevent any violation of Article 21 of the CRC. The decision to stop international adoption therefore concludes a fairly long debate. What lessons can we learn from this?

First of all, we must welcome the fact that a host country has managed to put the issue of the practice of international adoption in the public arena, and then to clearly position itself on the meaning it intended to give it. The Netherlands are naturally not the only ones to be confronted with the backlash of the adoptive practice: France, Belgium, Sweden, Norway and Switzerland have also undertaken reflections in this direction. But other historical host countries are still completely silent, while they are certainly just as concerned. The Dutch approach is thus part of a broader movement of "freeing speech" that is very salutary and exemplary in form.

On the substance, the question of whether the practice of international adoption is inherently positive or, on the contrary, negative deserves to be debated today. 

This measure has always had its promoters (saving children) and its detractors (commercialization of procedures, exploitation of the South by the North), the very nature of adoption (removing and then creating a filiation) being able to legitimately challenge each citizen. It is unfortunately not possible to objectively determine which way the balance tips: is the number of children who have experienced their adoption in a positive way greater or less than those who have suffered from it? How can we assess the overall impact of this measure on unreachable biological families? What have been, yesterday and today, the contributions of adoptees to the evolution of the societies that have welcomed them?

HYDERABAD: A tedious procedure and lengthy wait for adoption were blamed for the child trafficking racket that came to light recently. Many childless couples found themselves drawn into the racket operated by three women who targeted fertility centres and Child Welfare Committee (CWC) offices.

The accused women frequented the CWC office and fertility centres to lure the couples who were frustrated by the wait associated with legal adoption through the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA). The adoption process can take anywhere from two to eight years, driving some couples to seek faster alternatives, said a CWC member. Exploiting this frustration, the trio trapped and sold children to childless couples.

Legal adoption, while often lengthy and complex, is designed to ensure the safety and best interests of the children, said a police officer. Authorities urged couples to adhere to legal adoption methods despite the challenges.

The modus operandi of the three accused was to identify prospective parents at fertility centres and CWC offices and promise a quicker process in exchange for a ‘fee’. This illegal route not only bypassed legal safeguards but also posed risks to the children involved. Though the accused followed a foolproof method, the phone of one of the women, Shoba Rani, gave most of the details, said a police officer. She saved the parents’ phone numbers including the price they paid: ‘Rathnam@3L’.

According to the CWC, while many children are abandoned for various reasons, only 20% are registered with the CWC for adoption. The remaining 80% often endure abuse and trauma at home, exacerbated by factors such as low income and alcohol addiction. Raja Reddy, Medchal CWC chairperson, said that delays and complex procedures are inevitable as a thorough checking goes into the credentials of the adoptive couple to ensure a stable environment for the children.

Vijayawada: The AP child rights commission has ordered immediate steps against illegal sale and adoption of children in the state.

Its chairperson Kesali Appa Rao issued the guidelines to the director of women development and child welfare department, Guntur, and also sought an inquiry in the matter.

Action has been initiated by the police and 16 children have been identified out of 60 children rescued from illegal adoption and selling, and they have been sent to Shishuvihar, Hyderabad.

Appa Rao said it was important to ensure the safety of the children through strict vigilance against their possible sale and purchase transactions across the state.

The election campaigns are in full swing again. Posters, flyers, advertisements – we are inundated with them. But one topic is often missing: children's rights. Unbelievable, right? Political decisions in Brussels affect children directly. Climate policy determines their future. Migration affects children fleeing war. And security of existence? Children in poverty start their lives at a disadvantage.

The biggest social problems also affect children. Why then are their rights ignored in debates? European policy has a major influence on our youngest inhabitants. That is why we must protect their rights and well-being. And politicians must pay attention to this. That is missing. The Children's Rights Collective therefore took matters into its own hands and organized the only debate on children's rights in the European election campaign in De Balie in Amsterdam.

Marc Dullaert, chairman of the Children's Rights Collective, opened the evening with a plea to put the interests of the child first. This does not happen enough and it has major consequences: despite prosperity, millions of children in Europe grow up in poverty, two images of child abuse are posted online every second, and the EU Migration Pact allows children to be locked up. “Unacceptable,” said Marc Dullaert.

Six candidate European Parliamentarians debated poverty, online security and migration: Gerrie Elfrink (SP), Ufuk Kâhya (GL-PvdA), Judith Koop (CU), Laura de Vries (D66), Sacha Muller (Volt) and Gerben Horst (CDA). ). The Children's Rights Collective would not be the Children's Rights Collective if the voice of the child itself was not central to the debate. That is why each theme was introduced by an expert who immediately asked the candidate parliamentarians a question.

Poverty

The Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022, which establishes a regulatory framework for the establishment of a regulatory agency to oversee AHR in the state was passed without a vote in the Dáil yesterday. 

It includes measures which limits surrogacy within the state to couples in which the child will have a “genetic link to at least one intending parent,” and that there is no commercial transaction involved.  

However, the Bill also gives legal recognition to children who were born to surrogate mothers outside of the state and provides a framework for the licensing of commercial agencies engaged in international surrogacy. That recognition and the facilitating of such arrangements, all of which are commercial, in the future is in fact the main burden of the legislation.  The proportion of non-commercial arrangements within Ireland is likely to be a much smaller proportion.

It is notable that very few of the media reports on the passing of the legislation referred to the commercial aspects of international surrogacy, nor to any of the considerable criticisms of the practise. 

That avoidance of the monetary aspects is made easier by the fact that the only reference to the commercial nexus is covered by “reasonable expenses.”