CWC members took custody of the child after an inquiry and handed her to a children’s home.

CHENNAI: Holding that mere submission of an application seeking adoption would not confer rights to take custody of an abandoned baby, a division bench comprising justices SM Subramaniam and M Jothiraman of the Madras High Court recently refused to order handing over custody of a baby who was found on a train and taken in by a couple. The baby is currently at a home for children.

The matter pertains to a habeas corpus petition filed by 47-year-old K Savithiri of Erode seeking custody of the baby girl whom she and her husband Ravi (54), claimed to have recovered from a running train on the way to Erode from Tirunelveli on February 20, 2023.

As the couple was childless, they grabbed the opportunity and had been taking care of the baby until the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) knocked their doors on August 19 for an inquiry following a complaint received by the Chief Minister’s Cell about a child racket.

CWC members took custody of the child after an inquiry and handed her to a children’s home.

Actor, singer and theatre maker Joy Wielkens has a father wound: she grew up without her father and only met him years later. That turned out differently than she had hoped. 

“In 2011 I made a performance about my father:  Papa was a rollin'… nobody. It was my third solo after  Negra in 2009 about the search for my black identity. They were all autobiographical performances, but the last one went a step further. It was about my fatherless youth, but there was also a kind of hope in it: that my father might be in the audience one day and come to me afterwards.”

No regrets

“That never happened, but I did find him and meet him a year later, in 2012. The first time I saw him, under the supervision of a social worker, was a disappointment. I don’t regret meeting my father, but it didn’t go as I had hoped and it certainly wasn’t the perfect picture. I thought he was a horrible man. He only talked about himself and the highlights of his life.”

The Karnataka High Court has held that in cases where a child is born as a result of an alleged rape, the biological mother can give the child up for adoption without the consent of the rape-accused biological father. The consent of the biological father in such circumstances is "both inconsequential and immaterial," the Court said.

The Court was hearing a Writ Petition seeking the quashment of the decision of the Sub Registrar rejecting the application for registration of the adoption deed on the ground that the application is incomplete as the biological father of the child to be adopted was not mentioned as an executing party. The issue before the Court was whether the consent of the biological father of a child born out of rape who is also the accused in the rape case is required, in addition to the consent already provided by the minor victim mother and her guardian, for the purpose of giving the child up for adoption.

A Single-Judge Bench of Justice Hemant Chandangoudar held, "[T]he consent of the rape-accused biological father of the child is both inconsequential and immaterial. The adoption of the subject child herein as per the Irrevocable Adoption Deed dated 11.11.2024 is in full compliance with the provisions of the JJ Act, 2015, the Rules, 2016, and the Regulations, 2017."

The lead Petitioner in the case was a Muslim minor, who is a victim of rape and the biological mother of the child. She was before the Court with her mother and a Muslim married couple, the prospective adoptive parents. The biological father of the child, who is the rape accused, is currently in judicial custody awaiting trial and was not impleaded as a party in the present petition.

The minor and her mother submitted that that they were in dire financial distress and unable to provide basic necessities or ensure the overall development of the child. The married couple, who have no children, expressed their willingness to adopt the child and consequently executed an Irrevocable Adoption Deed.

MUMBAI: Bombay HC approved an Italian couple's adoption of a one-year-old girl with heart disease, directing quick passport issuance for her move to Italy.

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court approved the adoption of a one-year-old child with congenital heart disease by an Italian couple. The court instructed authorities to speed up the process to issue her a passport so that the couple can take the child to her new home in Italy soon.

The girl child, born in July 2023, was surrendered by her mother when she was one-month-old. She was declared “legally free for adoption” by the Child Welfare Committee, Mumbai, under section 38 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Amendment Act, 2021. The girl’s suffered from a congenital heart defect, and an Italian couple wanted to adopt her. After psychological evaluation and financial assessments of the Italian couple, they were found to be suitable for adoption by the “Mehala Families for Children”, Italy on May this year.

A petition was filed by the Maharashtra State Women’s Council Adoption Group (Asha Sadan Balgruh) under the provisions of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, and the Hague Convention on Inter-country Adoption, 1993. 

William and Zachary Zulock have each been sentenced to 100 years in prison without parole.

A gay couple from Georgia will spend the rest of their lives in jail after they were convicted of sexually abusing their two adopted sons. The two accused, William and Zachary Zulock, have been sentenced to 100 years in prison each without the chance of parole, The New York Post reported, quoting the Walton County District Attorney's office.

William is 34 years old, while Zachary is 36. They earlier adopted the two brothers, who have now turned 12 and 10, from a Christian special-needs agency. The children were raised by the gay couple under the guise of a happy family in the affluent Atlanta suburb.

District Attorney Randy McGinley noted that William and Zachary "truly created a house of horrors and put their extremely dark desires above everything and everyone else".

McGinley added, "However, the depth of the Defendants' depravity, which is as deep as it gets, is not greater than the resolve of those that fought for justice and the strength of the victims in this case." 

The District Attorney noted the resolve he has seen from the two young boys during the last two years is "truly inspiring”.

While Zachary works in the banking sector, William is serving as a government employee. Despite being well settled in their lives, the two would force the young brothers to have sex with them on a regular basis, besides filming the abuse for making pedophilic pornography.

Not just that, they even used to brag about the alleged abuse to some of their friends in the community. Evidence found by police has confirmed this claim.

William and Zachary were arrested in 2022.

One of the couple's friends told police that Zachary once shared images of one of the boys being abused on Snapchat and wrote, "I'm going to f*** my son tonight. Stand by”.

The two accused even used social media platforms to pimp the two brothers to at least two men in the local paedophile sex ring, The New York Post report said.

They were arrested after police caught an alleged member of the ring downloading child porn.

The person later informed the investigators how William and Zachary used to make porn videos with their two young adopted sons living in their house.

In the court, the two accused pleaded guilty to charges of aggravated child molestation as well as sexual exploitation of children.

Police found a lifeless newborn baby at an address in Sandved on Friday evening. The mother has been charged and arrested by the police.

A young mother in South Zealand has been arrested and charged by the police for killing her newborn child. 

This is stated by the police in a press release.

The woman was produced in a constitutional hearing at 10:30 a.m. at the court in Næstved. Here she is charged with having killed the child immediately after birth.

- It is a tragic case when a dead infant is found and the mother is charged with murder, says Susanne Bluhm, special prosecutor.

TULSA, Okla. — A federal grand jury indicted an Ottawa County couple on allegations they physically abused their 15-year-old mentally challenged adopted son with a stun gun.

Jennifer Enyart, 44, and her husband Keith, 52, are charged with child neglect and child abuse in Indian Country, and Jennifer faces an additional charge of assault with a dangerous weapon with intent to do bodily harm for allegedly using a stun gun on their son’s genitals.

Medical reports show several of the child’s injuries were consistent with the use of a “taser or stun gun,” court records show. The medical report concluded the teen’s injuries were “likely the result of child abuse.”

The Wyandotte couple is accused of failing to provide appropriate medical care and supervision to protect a child under their care.

Keith Enyart is a member of the Wyandotte Nation. Both are free on a signature bond, as online court records show.  The couple was also ordered not to be around the victim and his three siblings and can only have supervised visitation with their other three children.

SRINAGAR: India has seen a steady outflow of children being adopted internationally, with a total of 4,963 children adopted by foreign families over the past decade. These adoptions span across 41 countries, with the United States leading the list with 2,031 adoptions, followed by Italy with 1,029 and the United Kingdom with 73. Other countries with notable adoption numbers include Malta (215), France (144), and Belgium (42).

The latest data, released by the Ministry of Women and Child Development, highlights the increasing global interest in Indian children for adoption. Countries like Australia, Canada, and Spain have also seen a significant number of adoptions, with 7, 193, and 517 respectively. Smaller numbers of children have been adopted by families from countries such as Bahrain, Brazil, and Nigeria, among others.

The government has ensured that child welfare remains a priority by strengthening child protection laws, including the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, and the Adoption Regulations, 2022. These regulations mandate that Specialised Adoption Agencies (SAAs) be inspected annually by state governments to maintain high standards of child protection.

As per government reports, no complaints of improper upbringing or exploitation of adopted children have been received, further assuring that the adoption process remains secure and in line with international child protection standards.

Kolkata: Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday accused the Narendra Modi government at the Centre of cancelling December 25 (Christmas Day) as a holiday. 

She claimed that earlier it was announced as a holiday but the present government at the Centre cancelled it. 

Banerjee raised the same issue while speaking at the inauguration of the ‘Kolkata Christmas Festival’ at Allen Park and later at St Xavier’s College where she attended pre-Christmas celebrations. 

“December 25 was earlier announced as a national holiday. The current government at the Centre has cancelled it. Our state observes a holiday on December 25,” she said.

The Chief Minister also expressed shock at Union Home minister Amit Shah’s recent remarks about BR Ambedkar. 

“I am shocked at the comments made about Babasaheb Ambedkar,” she said. 

A senior employee at the Danish embassy informed an adoption agency, among other things, about bribery, experts estimate.

The Danish embassy in Lebanon and the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs were involved in controversial adoptions in the 1980s, where Lebanese children came to Denmark.

This is the assessment of several experts after reading correspondence between a Danish adoption agency and several high-ranking employees at the embassy.

DR was able to reveal yesterday that the adoption agency AC Børnehjælp has in some cases used bribes to get adoptions from Lebanon through - including through donations. In other cases, according to experts, the children were directly trafficked.