Children's Home Society and Lutheran Social Service say the organization has received many calls from folks inquiring about taking in Ukrainian children.

ST PAUL, Minn. — Reactions to what's happening in Ukraine from an adoption agency's point of view are not unique.

"During times of disaster and war and famine, there's a lot of people who have, like you said, good natured hearts, willingness to help out and are calling us to see if there's a need for adoption in terms of the children who are in the Ukraine," said Heidi Wiste, the president of Children's Home Society and the vice president of adoption for Lutheran Social Service.

Wiste said ever since war broke out in Ukraine, they've received calls.

"We see families really wanting to do well, wanting to reach out and wanting to help, and what we're asking right now is that families understand that there's a lot of steps that have to happen," Wiste explained. "We know children have been displaced from family members, possibly separated to seek safety and we want to make sure time allows for Ukraine to determine where the children are at, families, supporting reunification with family that exists over there."

On Feb. 24, Russia launched an unprovoked attack against Ukraine. Overnight, millions of Ukrainian families were forced to flee, many of them children. Adding to the complexity of a large-scale forced migration, many were separated from husbands and fathers who were required to stay to fight off Russian forces.

It immediately became apparent to the Ukrainian government and child protection experts that this scenario presented unprecedented risks for child abduction, exploitation and trafficking.

Adoption in a Time of Crisis: We Should Be Concerned

Maureen Flatley and Susan Jacobs.

As soon as Russia attacked, Ukrainian officials sought to protect children and families at risk of separation and abuse. Though they permitted the completion of a few pending intercountry adoptions, the government issued strong statements barring any new adoptions until the conflict was over. Respected child protection organizations including the National Council for Adoption, UNICEF, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Save the Children, and International Social Service issued statements agreeing that intercountry adoptions should not proceed now, except in unique cases.

China’s one-child policy formally ended in 2016, yet the impact it has on international adoptees is timeless. A program that lasted nearly 40 years took away something many people hold invaluable: their basic identity.

The Chinese adoptees that I have come to know, including myself, do not know their natural parents or true birthday. Information that the majority can recall in a split second doesn’t hold true for adoptees. The one-child policy stripped us of our initial identity, and what came next was determined by an endless amount of possibilities.

There were children fortunate enough to have been taken straight to an orphanage. Others were abandoned in disturbing places, such as the gutter or a landfill.

Some never made it at all.

I feel compelled to share my story and others’ because we are miracles that should not be forgotten.

Outcomes of Open Adoption From Care Book Cover

A new research study conducted by both The Department of Education, University of Oxford, and Barnardos Australia has revealed that children who were adopted had significantly better life outcomes when compared with children that remained in foster care, particularly when it comes to education and employment.

Professor Leon Feinstein, Director of the Rees Centre, Department of Education, at University of Oxford said,

“we are delighted to announce our partnership with Barnardos Australia on the book launch of a major research study on adoption, entitled ‘Outcomes of Open Adoption from Care’. The project, funded by Barnardos (Australia), with research undertaken by Emeritus Professor Harriet Ward and Helen Trivedi at the Rees Centre (Oxford), presents new and vivid findings concerning the extreme vulnerability of children placed for adoption from care, the impact and durability of face-to-face post adoption contact and adult outcomes of adoptees.”

Launched 6th April by Barnardos, this is the first longitudinal study of open adoption undertaken in Australia, examining the long-term outcomes of 210 children adopted through Barnardos between 1987 and 2013. The children in the study were permanently removed from their birth parents and placed in foster care due to severe abuse and neglect. By maintaining “openness” through contact with their birth family, these adopted children formed a healthy sense of identity and experienced greater stability and belonging, for life, compared to those in the unstable foster care system until the age of 18.

Participating in The Colour of Difference: Long Term Outcomes

This piece was written for the Benevolent Society: Post Adoption Resource Centre newsletter. Their centre provides post adoption support to adoptees in New South Wales (NSW), Australia.

In the late 1990s, I was in my mid 20s and searching for support as an adoptee born overseas, outside of Australia. At that time, I didn’t even have the language to understand how adoption had affected me, I only knew that I had struggled and was reaching out to try and find support somewhere. I came across the Post Adoption Resource Centre (PARC) in my search but I had initially tried the AA type programs, thinking there must be an “Adoptees Anonymous” somewhere to join into. There wasn’t, so when I found PARC led by Sarah Armstrong, I went and joined in with one of their adoptee days where you meet face to face and talk. PARC took us through guided sessions. I found it really useful but the biggest thing I noticed was there was nothing discussing looking different to one’s family/community, nothing on searching and returning to an overseas country, and certainly nothing on racism or the issues I lived as a person of colour adopted into a white society. So I spoke to the PARC team afterwards and asked if there was anything available more specific to my experience. I didn’t even know the term “intercountry adoption” then. All I knew was that I enjoyed meeting the adoptees but they were all born in Australia except me. So I still felt different and quite alone. I enquired about whether there were other adoptees like me reaching out to PARC. They told me yes, occasionally. I said, “Well if you ever run something for us, I’d love to know about it and if you have those adoptees wanting to connect to someone like them, pleas share them my name and contacts.”

And so some time later, PARC did followup and contact me. They asked me if I wanted to be involved in their new book project where we as transracial adoptees could share our stories to help people better understand our lived experience. I said of course and I jumped at the opportunity. I remember trying to figure out what I’d write about, but once I started, it all flowed.

It was quite a lengthy process to get our book project published, finished, and launched. I think it was around 3 years from start to end? But during that process I ended up being honoured to meet the fellow adoptees who also shared in our book, The Colour of Difference. Participating in the book changed my life and PARC had been sharing my name/contacts to adoptees just like me, so over time, once the project finished, I made up my mind that I would volunteer and continue on from the connections we had made, to form a network to support each other.

On Monday, the Supreme Court, inter alia, directed the State Government/ Union

Territories to complete the process of preparation of Social Investigation Reports in

respect of the children who have been identified to have lost both or either parents post

March, 2020 and produce them before the Child Welfare Committee. With respect to the

financial liabilities of the...

Victorians who were adopted will have the choice to include both their birth and adoptive parents on their birth certificates.

Legislation introduced on Tuesday will create integrated birth certificates, allowing the names of an adopted person’s birth parents, adoptive parents and the date of their adoption to be included on their certificate.

Under current law, only adoptive parents are listed on certificates.

The change will enable adopted people aged 18 and older who wish to update their records to access a certificate that better represents their origins and history.

It follows through on a recommendation made by the Parliamentary Inquiry into Historical Forced Adoption in Victoria.

Under the revisions, single people can adopt if they are 25 or older and meet requirements to sufficiently guarantee the welfare of the children.

The South Korean Cabinet on Tuesday approved bills to allow single people to adopt children, as the number of one-person households is sharply increasing.

The Justice Ministry revised the Civil Act and the Family Litigation Act, which currently stipulate only married couples can legally adopt, reports Yonhap News Agency.

Under the revisions, single people can adopt if they are 25 or older and meet requirements to sufficiently guarantee the welfare of the children.

PROJECT COMPLETION ANNOUNCEMENT

" REAL CHANCES FOR A BETTER LIFE"

POCU/436/4/4/126814

"INIMA PENTRU INIMA " FOUNDATION implemented, in Valcea county, starting on 01.08.2019, the " REAL CHANCES FOR A BETTER LIFE " project. The project is co-financed by the European Social Fund, through the Human Capital Operational Program, Priority Axis 4: Social inclusion and combating poverty, Investment Priority 9.ii Socio-economic integration of marginalized communities, such as the Roma.

Implementation duration:

This article is the 32nd in a series about Koreans adopted abroad. Some of the articles of this series will dedicate space to parts of the Amicus Brief submitted to the Korean court by Dr. Lee Kyung-eun. The Amicus Brief was written as a Q&A to assist the judges in understanding the historic meaning of this case. Special mention and appreciation must go to Raymond Ha (M.A. '21, Stanford Univ.), Hyejin Jang (B.A. '21 Princeton Univ.), Do Yon Lena Kwon (J.D. Candidate '22, Penn Law), Hailey M. Lee (J.D. Candidate '24, Penn Law), and Lydia Lim (J.D. '21, Penn Law) for fully translating this 70-page long brief into English as an act of solidarity for the rights of adoptees. ? ED.

By Lee Kyung-eun

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Question: Korea and U.S.' inter-country adoption, which began immediately after the Korean War in the 1950s, increased to the extent that Korea was sending 500 children overseas per month, and 8,000 children per year by the 1980s. Please explain the characteristics of Korea and U.S.' inter-country adoption that led to such a result.

Answer: "Orphan adoption," which originated in Europe post World War II for the emergency rescue of displaced war orphans, became highly systematized in Korea.