Immediately after her birth in Sri Lanka, Sharinda Nathaliya Wolffers (33) was adopted by Dutch parents. This year she saw her biological mother for the first time. "People who can't have children and therefore adopt, give me a bad taste."

“You are not able to take care of your baby, sisters in the Sri Lankan hospital, where I was born, told my mother. You better give your daughter up for adoption.

My mother was not married to my father during the pregnancy. That is really not possible for a poor woman in Sri Lanka, who has little money to live on.

My mother was not married to my father during the pregnancy. That is really not possible for a poor woman in Sri Lanka, who has little money to live on.

As a ten-day-old baby, I was introduced to my Dutch adoptive parents. They could not have children, but with all their good intentions they adopted and raised me in the Netherlands. Still, my adoptive mother realized that her happiness meant my birth mother's grief.

Senator Klobuchar recently brought up international adoption in a Judiciary Committee hearing with DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. Below is a brief transcript of the exchange.

Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Oversight of the Department of Homeland Security

November 16, 2021

KLOBUCHAR: Thank you. Last question here; along with Senator Blunt, I co-chair the congressional Coalition on Adoption Caucus. Many of the members on this committee are members; it’s very bipartisan. Over in the house, it is Adam Smith and Representative Aderholt that chair the commission. And that’s why we’ve introduced the Adoptee Citizenship Act to make citizenship automatic for all international adoptees who were legally adopted by U.S. citizens as kids, regardless of when their adoption was finalized. Since 2004, international adoptions have fallen nearly 93 percent. And I have always viewed this, and part of it, of course, is a pandemic; part of it is things that Russia did, things that China did. But there’s a whole lot of kids in other countries as well that need a loving family, and there’s a whole lot of Americans that would like to adopt kids. We are proud that the domestic numbers have actually gone up during the last few administrations; with foster kids getting adopted, that’s all good. But international adoption has actually been a part of the way that our country is connected to the rest of the world. Not to mention the humanitarian issues. Will you work with me to identify barriers and find ways to ease the citizenship process for foreign-born adoptees and also in general, as we’re talking to the State Department, Senator Blunt and I about this issue to work to get back to the situation where we were welcoming adopted kids into our country?

MAYORKAS: Senator, I would be privileged to do so. I was privileged to work with then-Senator Mary Landrieu on international adoptions as well as with Ranking Member Grassley on that valiant effort.

Herontwerp stelsel
interlandelijke adoptie
Verkenning publiekrechtelijk stelsel

Last week, the Kerala Child Welfare Committee, a quasi-judicial body, ordered authorities to produce the baby in five days and conduct a DNA test to decide biological parents

A baby who was allegedly given away for adoption without the mother’s consent was handed over to a joint team of Kerala Child Welfare Council and Kerala Police on Saturday by the foster parents, a couple from Andhra Pradesh who were given its custody in August this year.

The baby will be brought to Thiruvananthapuram by Sunday evening and a DNA test will be held on Monday to identify its biological parents, a senior official of the social welfare ministry said.

Last week, the Kerala Child Welfare Committee, a quasi-judicial body, ordered authorities to produce the baby in five days and conduct a DNA test to decide biological parents, following a petition filed by 23-year-old Anupama S Chandran, a former leader of the Students Federation of India (SFI), who has alleged that her boy born in October 2020 was secretively given away for adoption by her parents.

The team comprising three senior officials of the child welfare council and three police officers, including a woman officer, is expected to return in the state capital on late on Sunday. The Kerala Child Welfare Committee had ordered a senior police officer to give protection to the child till a final decision is taken. According to reports in local media, the Andhra couple returned the baby and reportedly told the team that they would be happy if the child finds his real parents.

Thiruvananthapuram: Minister for Health Veena George asserted that the state government

had already requested the court to conduct DNA test of the child in connection with the

adoption controversy.

If Anupama is the mother of the child, she should get her child back at the earliest. The

government had made all possible interventions as adoption procedures also were

OVER 30 CLINICIANS working in the area of childhood trauma have written to Children’s Minister Roderic O’Gorman asking for the parameters of the Mother and Baby Homes redress scheme to be changed to take into consideration “the impact of early trauma”.

Many survivors and clinicians have in recent days criticised the fact that people who were born in an institution but spent less than six months there have been excluded from claiming redress.

People have pointed out that the length of time they spent in an institution was irrelevant – whether it was one day or one year, they were still separated from their mother, often against her will. Children were generally adopted, sometimes illegally; boarded out; or sent to an industrial school.

In some cases, they were physically, sexually or emotionally abused. Many of those children also went on to experience separation anxiety, PTSD or other mental health issues later in life as a result of the circumstances of their birth.

A report compiled by Oak Consulting on behalf of the Government following focus groups with relevant stakeholders earlier this year found that the most frequently identified criteria that survivors stated should be used to assess payments were forced family separation, disappearance of individuals and psychological trauma – not length of time in institutions.

Hours after the child in the missing baby case was brought to Kerala from Andhra Pradesh, Anupama, who is believed to be the child’s mother, told TNM that she and her husband want the DNA test to happen in their presence. “We had requested for the child’s medical examination to be conducted in our presence. We also wanted them to take the child’s samples in our presence,” he said. She asked how she can believe that the samples are taken from the child without proof of the same.

“What if they do manipulations in the samples? How will I believe them? I had also requested to see the child once, but that was also denied. They need to do this at least in our presence, I don't believe these people who have already committed several crimes,” Anupama told TNM.

However, the samples of the child have already been taken and it was not in the presence of Anupama and Ajith. Health Minister Veena George said that the sample collection of the child was recorded on video, and the samples of Ajith and Anupama will be collected at 2.20 pm.

The Child Welfare Committee (CWC) on November 18 had issued an order directing the Kerala State Council for Child Welfare (KSCCW) to bring the child to Kerala. The one-year old boy was in the foster care of a couple in Andhra Pradesh. The child is suspected to be the child of Anupama, who has raised allegations against her parents for kidnapping her baby soon after his birth and giving him in adoption through the KSCCW without her consent a year ago.

A team, led by KSCCW officials and comprising an escort of a Special Juvenile Police unit, received the child from the adoptive parents in Andhra Pradesh on Saturday and brought him to Kerala. The team reached the Thiruvananthapuram airport on Sunday night.

Thiruvananthapuram: Dramatic scenes unfolded when the official team

from Kerala reached the house of the teacher couple in Vijayawada in

Andhra Pradesh to take back the baby, who was given to them for foster

care by the Kerala State Council for Child Welfare (KSCCW) without the

consent of the mother.

With the arrest of 10 people in the alleged child trafficking racket operated from an adoption centre in Kolkata, police have invoked the rape charge, among others, in the case.

The case has kicked up a political row with the BJP alleging the involvement of a TMC leader and demanding a fair probe.

Police on Saturday arrested the accused — including the daughter-in-law of a former top civic official, and a senior government official — in the case.

The former civic official has been questioned.

Police said the government official is the main accused, while the woman had been running the adoption centre for the past five to six years.

Abig child trafficking racket was busted in Salkia, Howrah. The owner of the private child centre is the daughter-in-law of the former deputy mayor of Howrah municipality. Police have arrested 9 people including homeowner Gitashree Adhikari in this incident. At least 20 children have been rescued from the Salkia home centre. Howrah Police have also interrogated Minati Adhikari, former deputy mayor of Howrah.

According to police sources, a family adopted a 9-year-old girl from that adoption centre in Babudanga area of ??Salkia two and a half years ago. But a few days ago, the girl complained to her adoptive parents that she had been sexually abused inside the home centre. The couple then lodged a complaint with the Howrah Women’s Police Station. Police then started an investigation. Based on the allegations, a joint team of police, detectives and the Child Welfare Department raided the Child adoption Centre in the Mali Panchghara police station area on Friday night.

Allegedly, the number of children inside did not match with the documents in the home during the search. Allegedly, more children are being kept there at home, according to official records. After that, the police and government officials started interrogating Gitashree, the owner of the centre. That’s when she started talking incoherently. Investigators confirmed that children were being trafficked from home then the police arrested Gitashree, the owner of the Child Centre. After that, the police arrested eight more people one by one.

The locals also complained that people from abroad used to come there. Gitashree and her husband introduced themselves as their friends. The locals also claimed that there were parties also organized inside the centre. A local resident said no one was ever allowed inside the centre from outside. At least 20 children were rescued from the Centre and sent to a safe home.

Investigators estimate that many children were brought in and sold for millions. Not only that, but Gitashree also easily take out the birth certificates of the children required for adoption from Howrah Municipality. Because Gitashree’s mother-in-law was the deputy mayor of Howrah municipality. Police confirmed that the home staff was also aware of the child trafficking. There have even been allegations of sexual abuse of regular children inside the home centre. West Bengal Women and Child Welfare Minister Shashi Panja said that strict action would be taken against those accused.