Adoption Adoptees from China and Taiwan suffer from the idea that they are part of an exemplary minority. “No one has looked into us.”

'No, no cheese cubes,' winks 26-year-old Nikwi Hoogland as she sets down a snack platter with prawn crackers and chocolate. The snacks brought by her guests are displayed on the picnic rug in the living room of her brand new single-family home in Veenendaal. The buffet is a mishmash of food, from sushi to sausage rolls, brownies, wraps and skewers with mozzarella and tomato.

Most praised is the onigiri – rice ball with filling – from Liam Austin. “Look”, demonstrates the 23-year-old from Hoofddorp, “and then you fold it in the seaweed sheet. And then you do like this, and like that, and then put some shimichi powder on it.”

"Oh my God!"

"Wow!"

Julie Foulon claims to have been torn from her family in Ethiopia to find herself at the age of 6 with adoptive parents in La Manche. The child had to keep it a secret that his mother was alive. Shocking testimony of a false orphan who took legal action.

The story of Julie Foulon, 24, is beyond comprehension. Born in Ethiopia, she arrived in France at the age of 6, to be adopted there through the association Les Enfants de Reine de Miséricorde. She and her 4-year-old sister were declared orphans. But she says today that the death of their biological mother was invented!

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It's a real earthquake in the world of adoption. Two young women born in Ethiopia and adopted in France, as well as an adoptive parent, have just lodged a complaint for "breach of trust and fraud" against the association "Les Enfants de la Reine de Miséricorde", based in Coutances (Manche) . They are convinced that members of this association have managed to make certain children adoptable, sometimes by falsifying documents to change their age, sometimes by forging false letters. But above all much more serious: by not mentioning that one, or even both of these children's biological parents, was still alive! In any case, this is the conviction of Julie Foulon, herself adopted at the age of 6, and author of the autobiographical book "Sara and Tsega", which has, it seems,

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Medical watchdogs have admitted no records exist to trace women given a cancer-causing drug that places future generations at risk.

A synthetic hormone, ­developed to mimic oestrogen, was given to young mothers to dry up their breast milk after their babies were taken for adoption.

But Diethylstilbestrol – known as DES and Stilbestrol, Stilboestrol and Desplex in the UK – has been linked to a number of breast and vaginal cancers, gynaecological abnormalities and infertility in the children and grandchildren of women given the pills.

And the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists recommends those exposed to the drug have annual colposcopic examinations in specialist centres.

But now medical ­authorities admit there is no way of tracking down women given the drug, or their children.

“Little is known about the course of a long-term foster placement,” says project leader Mieke Spek. Time to investigate long-term foster care as an alternative to adoption. That is why the research project 'Distance in Connection' has been started.

What if you are unintentionally pregnant and cannot take care of the child? "There is still a taboo in the Netherlands about giving up a child," says Mieke, researcher at the HAN Research Group Active Factors in Youth and Parenting Aid. In recent years, more attention has been paid to so-called distance mothers, mothers who had to give their child up for adoption. Their experiences and suffering went unacknowledged for many years. But adoption isn't the only option for unintentionally pregnant women. A long-term foster placement is also a possibility. There is not much knowledge about long-term foster care in that situation and the experience of (foster) parents and children with this. Mieke: "We also want to let these women and children have their say. Give them a voice. We have little insight into how this form of foster care works, so it's time to investigate this with the research project 'Distance in Connection'."

THE REASON: RECOMMENDATION

Every year, about 60 unintentionally pregnant women consider giving up their child. Of these, a small proportion are considering long-term foster care. This was also apparent from an earlier study ' Mother in one fell swoop, and again not ' by Radboud University in collaboration with Fiom about distance for adoption between 1998 and 2007. Among the 200 distance files there were already dozens of files of women who had been placed in foster care. passed over. This research resulted in the recommendation to map out the opportunities and bottlenecks when choosing a foster family. “In practice, we notice that there is only limited knowledge about the option of foster care after an unintended pregnancy,” says Sophie Bolt, researcher at Fiom. Fiom is one of the agencies that guides women with an intention to give up for adoption. Mieke adds: “With more knowledge and insights, even better information can be provided to unintentionally pregnant women.”

MANY QUESTIONS ABOUT FOSTER CARE

Intercountry Adoption and Suicide in Australia provides a comprehensive review of the available literature on intercountry adoption and suicide, with specific reference to the Australian context.

The report examines the literature to better understand how suicide and suicide ideation impacts Australian intercountry adoptees. Key findings of the report include:

Suicidal behaviours in intercountry adoptees are a complex interplay of vulnerability and resilience, internal, historical and systemic factors.

The body of literature on intercountry adoptees and suicide is small, with the majority of studies conducted internationally.

Raising community and professional awareness is indicated as a key activity that would improve suicide risk detection and response.

In recent times, amendments to the laws have resulted in dilution of the juvenile justice system and child protection legislations.

Amendments to the juvenile justice legislation have once again been passed in Parliament, without comprehensive debate, leaving child rights practitioners confused regarding the rationale for such amendment.

Concerns regarding non-implementation of child-rights legislation and provisions that are not child-friendly have been constantly raised by child rights practitioners. Certain problems that hound the general legal system, such as, delays in administration of justice, also impact children, and require to be addressed. In recent times, amendments to the laws have resulted in dilution of the juvenile justice system and child protection legislations, whereby well-entrenched philosophies are being overturned and child protection services are substituted or placed under the control of the general administration, who has no expertise or inclination towards child-related issues.

Similar is the situation regarding the amendments to the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, that were passed by the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha on March 24 and July 28 respectively, despite opposition by academics, professionals and civil society organisations, as these were injurious to children’s interests.

DMs given powers to deal with adoption process

A WOMAN WHO received personal documents from the Department of Children says her signature was forged on a letter sent to nuns from a Mother and Baby Home in 1980 thanking them for their help.

Mary* maintains she never wrote the letter and was not aware it existed until last month. She believes her late mother wrote the letter, pretending to be her.

A number of religious orders have previously used such letters to show that some women who spent time in mother and baby homes and similar institutions were grateful for the help they received, as noted by the Commission of Investigation’s final report in January.

Now aged in her 60s, Mary was sent to Ard Mhuire Mother and Baby Home in Dunboyne, which was run by the Good Shepherd Sisters, in the late 1970s when she became pregnant outside marriage in her early 20s.

Mary wanted to raise her daughter but felt compelled to give her up for adoption in 1980, despite repeated attempts to keep her.

A male baby that was adopted illegally has been rescued from the adopter.

Police said Vasanthakumar, 32, of Aralvaimozhi in the district was arrested last year under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act on charges of sexually abusing a 17-year-old girl from the same area.

When he was enlarged on bail, Vasanthakumar came to know that the girl had given birth to a boy, which was later given in adoption to Paulraj of Paalapallam near Karungal in the district through a nurse.

Baby sold?

After Vasaanthakumar informed the District Child Protection Unit about the “sale of baby for ?2 lakh”, a special police team was formed to rescue the baby from Mr. Paulraj.

International Alliance for Adoption Abolition (IAAA)

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