FAYETTEVILLE -- The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday affirmed the sentencing of an adoption attorney who ran a human trafficking ring in which he paid pregnant women from the Marshall Islands to come to the United States and give up their babies.

Paul Petersen, of Mesa, Ariz., received a prison sentence of six years and two months from U.S. District Judge Timothy L. Brooks in December 2020. Brooks also levied a $100,000 fine on Petersen.

Petersen appealed both the sentence and the fine, arguing Brooks shouldn't have gone above the sentencing guideline ranges. A three-judge panel said both the sentence and fine were reasonable.

Brooks found the guidelines "failed to adequately account for Petersen's role as an attorney and public official, his role as a leader and organizer of the offense, and the duration of his crime," according to the opinion. "The district court did not commit a clear error of judgment."

Peterson was federally indicted in October 2019, accused of running the baby-selling operation in three states: Arkansas, Arizona and Utah.

Under-fire social services being probed over Star Hobson's murder pay out five-figure settlement over botched adoption that left boy with a 'family waiting for him' in long-term foster care

Caring parents Sonny and Sarita Simak spent three years fighting for the boy

They were told he could go back to them but then Bradford Council made U-turn

The Simaks took legal action and the council settled with them a five-figure sum

The council that missed numerous chances to stop tiny Star Hobson being murdered by her evil 'stepmother' have been ordered to make a 'very significant' payout to a couple they wrongly deprived of their child.

LGBTQ+ activists in the country called on the government to extend adoption equality to all same-sex couples

TAIPEI – Weeks after a historic ruling in Taiwan allowing a married gay man to adopt the non-biological child of his husband, LGBTQ+ activists in the country called on the government to extend adoption equality to all same-sex couples.

The family court’s historic Dec. 25 ruling, made public last week, found that it was in the best interest of Wang Chen-wei’s (???) adopted child, nicknamed “Joujou,” for his husband Chen Chun-ju (???) to become a legal guardian, as well.

It marked the first time in Taiwan that a same-sex couple has been allowed to adopt a child that didn’t have a biological relationship with either person.

The couple fought for Chen to be able to adopt Joujou for over two years.

The initiative involves the joint work of the Legal Medical Service, the Judiciary and Civil Society Organizations.

A Pilot Plan that will allow the creation of a methodology that will expedite and facilitate the meeting of families who are victims of irregular and illegal adoption processes in Chile , within the framework of the judicial processes that are underway, was announced on Monday by the Minister of Justice and Human Rights, Hernán Larraín; the Undersecretary of Human Rights, Lorena Recabarren; and the National Director of the Legal Medical Service, Gabriel Zamora; together with representatives of the NGO Nos Buscamos and the group “Hijos y Madres del Silencio”. The ceremony was attended by the deputy Ximena Ossandón.

With the objective of determining existing non-forensic procedures according to experience, technical and technological knowledge that can be used to search for possible relatives of people who are victims of irregular adoptions, whether or not reported to the courts (the Judiciary is investigating around 700 cases).

The initiative aims to contribute to two essential aspects: 1) reduce the difficulty that exists today in carrying out all kinds of procedures with a view to finding a family member who is living in another country, making it easier for those who live in remote places and with precarious means of contact to access a possible DNA sample collection; and 2) speed up and collaborate in both the computer and economic processes , since in addition to having zero cost, the Pilot Plan will provide support to victims in the process of searching for kinship.

This Pilot Plan will last for one year, during which time, through the experience of the NGO Nos Buscamos, compiling a database of more than 7 years of study, the traceability of victims' backgrounds, georeferencing information and constant contact with the global DNA bank, it will be an effective work to achieve family reunions.

Jaipur: Even as the international adoption increased steadily from 2019 to 2021, the overall adoption of children from government Shishu Grah in city went down marginally in the same period.

While in 2019, only one child was adopted by international citizens, in 2021, total eight children were adopted by foreigners. Officials claimed that international citizens were open to the idea of adopting special children while Indians were not. In 2019, a total of 27 children were adopted which came down to 24 in 2020. Out of which four were international adoptions, while in 2021, 20 children were adopted.

Panwar Kiran, superintendent, Gandhinagar Shishu Grah, elaborating on this trend, said, “The number of international adoptions did go up in the past two years as people from abroad are keen to adopt even special children. This might be because the medical facilities abroad are possibly better and more importantly the international governments bear their medical expenses so it makes it somewhat easier.”

The adoptions are processed through Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) which is a statutory body of Ministry of Women & Child Development, Government of India. It functions as the nodal body for adoption of Indian children and is mandated to monitor and regulate in-country and inter-country adoptions. CARA is designated as the Central authority to deal with inter-country adoptions in accordance with the provisions of the Hague Convention on Inter-country Adoption, 1993, ratified by Government of India in 2003. CARA primarily deals with adoption of orphan, abandoned and surrendered children through its associated /recognised adoption agencies.

Most of the adoptions were of girl children which included both domestic and international adoptions. In the latter, people from countries like Spain, Canada and others adopted children from India.

Last week, a crowdfunding campaign was launched in Ten Boer to reunite Muniz Dekker with his biological family.

More than EUR 750 has now been raised of the intended EUR 5,000. The money must be used to pay for the travel and accommodation that will reunite the 29-year-old Muniz with his biological family, and to continue the search for his still missing brother. The search for his biological family started in the spring of 2021. 27 Years ago Muniz was given up for adoption from Brazil, and ended up in Eenrum. He now knows who his biological mother is, and how old he really is. He also discovered that he has two sisters who were also given up for adoption and who live in the Netherlands.

Muniz is happy that he managed to get so close in his quest. Unfortunately due to setbacks it is impossible to finance the trip independently. More information about the crowdfunding campaign can be found on this page .

Hello my name is Muniz Dekker, 29 years old. Last year I started the search for my biological family. 27 years ago I was given up for adoption from Brazil and I ended up in Eenrum in Groningen. I now know which woman gave birth to me and how old I really am.

My search starts with vlogs on Youtube. As a result, I soon got in touch with people who knew how to make a difference in my search. My search took place from my office converted into a detective room. From here I started networking. (You can follow my story step by step on my Youtube channel. 'Muniz Searching for the truth',)

GURUGRAM: Umesh Lohia's passengers were in for a surprise when the cabbie they had hired to go to Alwar stepped on the accelerator and screeched to a halt at the DLF-3 police station.

Without wasting even a second, he rushed inside the police station and came out with a group of cops.

The alacrity of the cab driver from the city led to the arrest of three persons - two women and a man - and lifted the veil off a gang that stole newborns from hospitals around Delhi-NCR and sold them to childless couples across the country since 2014.

On Saturday, the three persons had stopped Lohia's cab near Dhaula Kuan and asked him for a lift to IFFCO Chowk. Lohia, who was anyway returning home to Nathupur in the city, agreed as the two women had a newborn each in their arms and it was drizzling.

Just a few minutes into the ride, the two women - who were seated in the back - asked Lohia if he could drop them to Alwar in Rajasthan. The cabbie agreed, saying it could cost them Rs 3,000. A little later, one of the women asked him to drop them back to Delhi from Alwar and take Rs 4,000 for the round trip. As they headed towards Alwar, the women asked him to stop at a chemist shop to buy feeding bottles and at a sweet outlet to purchase milk.

The High Court not only stayed the shifting of 44 orphan kids from Saint Francis Orphanage in Sagar but also sought a report from the district Child Welfare Committee on why it was being done in this cold weather amid spiking Covid cases

The Jabalpur bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court has stayed an order of the state-run Child Welfare Committee (CWC) for shifting orphan children from an orphanage run by a Christian missionary in the Sagar district.

The Sagar CWC’s move came after the licence of the Saint Francis Orphanage was not renewed by the district administration over allegations that beef was being served to the kids in the orphanage run by the Sagar Diocese of the Catholic community.

Some members of the right-wing Hindu groups had also alleged conversion of tribal kids in the charitable orphanage and demanded an FIR against the institution.

The High Court not only stayed the shifting of 44 orphan children but also sought a report from the Sagar CWC on why they were being shifted in this cold weather amid spiking Covid-19 cases.

The Stormont Executive must take urgent action to move towards a public inquiry into the mother and baby homes scandal.

Sinead McLaughlin, chair of the Assembly committee which monitors the Executive Office, said a decision must be made on appointing a lead civil servant as well as the structure and framework for the way forward.

Executive officials are due to appear before the scrutiny committee in the next few weeks after ministers were told they must “come down hard” on those who ran the homes.

SDLP Foyle MLA Ms McLaughlin said: “It is over to us and the Executive Office to make sure that we do you justice and that your truth is told.”

Her promise came as Eunan Duffy, of the campaign group Truth Recovery NI, said it was difficult to gauge how many victims of the institutions there are but there were estimates that 10,500 women went through the mother and baby homes.

Around the world, over 80 percent of children in orphanages have at least one living parent. So how do these children end up in orphanages rather than with their families? Unfortunately, there are countless families across the globe who face circumstances like the death of a parent, the loss of a job, or conflict that that threaten to separate them.

People like Gladys know that firsthand. When Gladys suddenly lost both her husband and brother in a short period of time, she found herself caring for seven children; alone, with no income.

Many parents who find themselves without support from family or friends are faced with a series of impossible choices. Out of desperation, some families believe they have no alternative but to place their children in the care of an orphanage where they will have food and shelter. But institutions like orphanages are not equipped to provide the individual love, care, and sense of belonging that only a family can offer. The parents and children experience significant loss from family separation in addition to the grief and trauma they have already experienced.

At a time when her children and her brother’s children were already suffering the loss of their fathers, Gladys did not want them to suffer again or risk losing them forever by placing them in the care of an orphanage. A local district government referred her to the family preservation and empowerment program run by Bethany Christian Services in Ghana, aimed at helping families stay together and keeping children out of institutions.

Through the program, social workers walked alongside Gladys and the children, offering connections to direct services as well as mental health support while they continued to cope with the death of their loved ones. Gladys initially received financial support and access to services to meet the family’s immediate, critical needs including food, medical care, and payment of school fees. Next, the program helped her become financially self-sufficient through business training opportunities that she could access while caring for the children.