International Social Service and Network

Joint Submission to UN Committee on the Rights of the

Child DGD 2014: Digital Media and Children’s Rights

Jean-Noël Raoult is originally from Mali and was adopted in Nord-Finistère. He discovers, as an adult, that his story is riddled with lies, causing harm to his adoptive family as well as his biological family.

Mirjam and Doriet Begemann were adopted as biological sisters, but that turned out to be wrong. They are happy with the government's apologies for abuses in adoption practice, but believe that not enough is still happening. "We're banging on the door of a government that won't answer."

The birth certificates of Mirjam and Doriet Begemann contain the same names: mother Rasami and father Slamet. When Mirjam (43) and Doriet (41) were adopted together from Indonesia in 1979, no one had any doubts that they were sisters. Yet the names were forged in at least one of the two statements.

As a young girl, Doriet already sensed that the story was wrong. 'When I was seven years old, my adoptive mother said that it was so nice for me to be adopted together with Mirjam. That way I would always have a biological sister. "She's not my sister," I said at the time. I was just sure of that. '

Official confirmation came only 34 years later, after the sisters had taken a DNA test. 'It took me a long time to get emotion ...

For the greater part of the 20th century Ireland was marked by a culture of shame that separated thousands of women from their children, many of whom were forcibly given up for adoption. The trauma inflicted by these separations was compounded by legal barriers that prevented adopted people from accessing information about themselves.

However, on Tuesday May 12, the Irish government published a draft bill that would give those adopted the right to access their birth information. This comes in the wake of decades of activism by adopted people and their supporters, and has the potential to significantly reform an adoption system historically marked by secrecy, shame and the trauma arising from institutionalisation.

In modern Ireland, institutions such as mother and baby homes and the Magdalene Laundries were tasked by the state to deal with “fallen” women who had transgressed ideals of Irish femininity, especially by becoming pregnant out of wedlock. Their children were either boarded out to foster parents, institutionalised, or adopted by families of the same faith, some as far away as America, and – as survivors, advocates and researchers have long maintained – often under questionable circumstances.

Many searches by birth parents and children have been thwarted (as poignantly captured in the Oscar-nominated film Philomena), and adopted people in Ireland have been denied information about themselves – if it still exists – that is readily available in other jurisdictions. Although there have been media investigations and the government commissioned a 2019 review into a small sample of illegal adoptions, and published its mother and baby homes investigation in March, there has never been a fully fledged investigation into adoption practices in Ireland.

The information we do have, including testimony from adopted people and their birth parents, calls into question the legality and morality of such practices. A recent RTÉ Prime Time investigation showed how familial relationships were deliberately and systematically severed, with children taken and given away – all to enforce a particular moral code.

Principal Correspondent :

A hundred years ago, on May 8, 1921, a social organisation was started by women for providing obstetrics facilities in Nagpur city, the heart of India. The Matru Sewa Sangh, a voluntary organisation founded by ‘Padma Shri’ Kamalatai Hospet, bringing laurels to Maharashtra not only in India but all over the world. Dr Lata Deshmukh, Secretary of Matru Sewa Sangh, told ‘The Hitavada’, “Two child widows became a beacon for the society at a time when it was socially acceptable for widows and abandoned women to live a life full of grief, hardship and humiliation. At the age of 22 years after becoming a widow, she received nursing training from Dufferin Hospital (today’s Daga Hospital). It was a pre-independence period.

The chief superintendent of Daga Hospital was an English woman. Delivery/maternity facilities were common to all but special facilities were only for British women and specific women enslaving the Britishers. Once upon a time, a very poor, uneducated, weak, sick baby had no strength to go to the washroom. Kamalatai Hospet, who was training as a nurse, served and supported her.” A patriot at heart Kamalatai decided to live independently and decided to leave the Britisher's job. She expressed her determination to her friend. She went to the wealthy and well-educated women of that time for help. Mathurabai Dravid, Laxmibai Gadgil, Gangabai Gokhale, Laxmibai Kelkar, Dr Indirabai Niyogi, Dr Kamlakar Sitabai Gadgil, Parvatibai Karanjgaonkar and Dr Nanasaheb Krishna Mohani, Haribhau Krishna Mohani, Appasaheb Chitale, Dr N B Khare, Dr L V Paranjape, Dr Gayaprasad, Dr Hardas, Baburao Paturkar, Tapodhan Krishnarao Jajuji all these people stood behind her to help, guide and to work in the real field. And Matru Sewa Sangh Sitabuldi Maternity Home started.

“During 1920-21, deliveries were done in the home only. Many mothers were dying during the deliveries if some complications arise. Starting with the confidence that our organisation will work hard for safe delivery when poverty, superstition and ignorance were noticed. During these 10 days stay at the maternity home Kamalatai and Venutai were personally serving the women delivering babies were providing with food for bathing for days. They were staying in the Maternity Home only. The dedicated service by Kamalatai and Venutai was motivation for the doctors involved in delivery and they were again working more enthusiastically,” elaborated Dr Deshmukh. During 1821 to 1959, Matru Sewa Sangh started 20 branches of maternity homes in Maharashtra and outside Maharashtra. Wardha, Bhandara, Arvi, Jabalpur, Hinganghat, Armori, Brahmapuri, Bilaspur, Warora, Narsinghpur, Sagar, Chandur Railway, Kurha, Amravati, Devrukh (Ratnagiri), Akola, Kareli, Sonavadhona, Sitabuldi, Nagpur and Mahal, Nagpur, Since 1921 to the present, many children born in Matru Sewa Sangh Maternity Homes are in every corner of India and abroad too. Matru Sewa Sangh is of the period when maternal care, medical profession was considered as only a service. Kamalatai, Venutai were dedicated nurses and Dr Kamlakar, Dr Indirabai Niyogi were dedicated doctors.

Matru Sewa Sangh is an example of supernatural sacrifice and service to the nation since hundred years and shall be serving for the next hundred years. The nurses gave their entire lives to the Matru Sewa Sangh. These include Indutai Paranjape, Krishnatai Bhave, Malinibai Mahabal, Shantabai Dubey, Gopikabai Patwardhan, Kamalatai Vidwans, Godutai Kothiwale, Shantabai Lonakar, Nirubai Bhujade, Shantabai Sahasrabuddhe, Savitribai Nagdavai, Savitribai Nagdavane, Dr Dwarkabai Kamlakar, Dr Indirabai Niyogi, Dr Padmavati Thergaonkar, Dr Kamal Tare, Dr Kumud Deshpande, Dr Sumati Khare, Dr Malati Kurve, Dr Kamalabai Naralkar, Dr Vanita Chorghade, Dr Vatsala Karjagaonkar, Dr Kusumatai Wankar, Dr Durgabai Vazhalwar, Dr Kamal Joshi, Dr Prameel Asolkar, Dr Padmaja Risbud, Dr Chhaya Chaurasia, Dr Ratna Shekhawat had the only religion of Sewadharma, pointed out Dr Deshmukh. To run maternity homes, to educate nurses and midwives, to examine patients and provide pediatric related services, to run children education centres, to perform all kinds of health and educational work for the mentally and physically disabled, elderly, patients, men and women, to run libraries, to run educational institutes for the women, to help people in disaster, to work for the development and rehabilitation through education and health services are the broader objectives of the Matru Sewa Sangh, informed Dr Deshmukh. To fulfill these objectives, 20 maternity homes and the other 15 projects are in operation today.

In the wake of experts warning that the possible third wave of pandemic will affect children, the Karnataka State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (KSCPCR) has recommended that the State government form task forces involving paediatricians at the district level.

In a letter addressed to the Chief Secretary, the commission has asked that infrastructure be put in place to treat children before the next wave strikes. This includes reservation of beds for children in both government and private hospitals.

The committee has also asked the State government to form supervisory committees to protect the rights of children who have lost both their parents owing to COVID-19.

“There are many cases of children losing both their parents in the State. Because of the lockdown it is becoming difficult to protect the rights of those children. There are chances of them becoming victims of human trafficking, illegal adoption, and others,” stated the commission in the letter, adding that hospitals should be established along the lines of those launched by the Maharashtra government to treat orphaned children.

It also underscored the need to form a supervisory committee at both the district and the State levels. Members of the supervisory committee should include officers from the Women and Child Development, the Education, the Social Welfare, the Health and Family Welfare Departments, the police, and others.

A sessions court on Tuesday rejected the bail application of a woman booked for child trafficking. As per the case, she had sold one child at VN Desai hospital, Santacruz to an accomplice who had sold the child to a Pune resident.

The woman identified as Nisha Ahire had claimed that at the most it is a case where proper adoption procedure was not followed and that there is no money transaction between the parties.

Additional Public Prosecutor Sumesh Panjwani had opposed her bail and stated that the offence is serious, that of trafficking a newborn. The court in its order said that the nature of offence, human trafficking, that too of a newborn child is serious.

It also noted that a year ago, she had indulged in the business of selling a child. It said this is not a simple case of adoption, but that taking assistance from hospital staff, the medical officer has sold the child with the help of co-accused. If released on bail, it said, that the possibility cannot be ruled out that she will sell children again.

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A few months ago, at the request of the government, the Joustra Committee presented its report on adoption from abroad. In a hard-hitting judgment on the Dutch adoption culture and the role of the government in it, there is talk of 'serious abuses'. The conclusion: the adoption of children from abroad must stop for the time being. Minister Dekker (Legal Protection) then announced that the adoption of foreign children had to be suspended immediately. As a result, 450 current adoption files will not be completed.

WAGENINGEN- A group of adoptive parents opposes the adoption freeze. This decision also provokes a lot of resistance from many adoptees. Here is the reaction of Nangi (38) from Wageningen. She explains: “As a very small girl from Sri Lanka, I was adopted in 1986 by a Wageningen couple, who raised me very lovingly. I am so very happy with that! That feeling is completely mutual! My adoption process went very well. I know who my biological parents are. I met them and I heard why I was adopted. My biological father, an abusive alcoholic, forced my mother to relinquish me because I have physical and mental limitations. My father saw me as a failure. That was very difficult for me to hear, but it also gave me peace and security. Today's knowledge of adoption is very different from what it was thirty or forty years ago. When I heard that Minister Sander Dekker apologized for denying the mistakes, I was happy. I sincerely hope that there will be a DNA bank as a possibility that adopted children and biological parents can find each other. The world of little children is small. It consists of family, relatives and friends. Nice and clear. But once they hit puberty, the shutters open. The children discover that there is more, they want to get to know the world, their world. They want to know what their own history is and where they come from. But for the adopted children, the shutters do not open, adoptive parents cannot open the doors. They feel trapped. The government can open the door by setting up a DNA bank.” Nangi continues: “I think stopping adoption is going too far. What happened in the past should never be the reason to hinder a child's future.” Nangi points to Ranjith Postma, a good friend of hers: “Ranjith is a good author, he has also been adopted. He immerses himself in stories of adopted people and adoptive parents. He interviews and writes about it. Ranjith gives them a stage to share their story. Because his stories are so well liked, he has decided to write a book. It's about five adopted women, all of whom have the same grief, but have found a way to live with it. In this way he also helped and supported me, gave me the strength to dare to speak about it. Ranjith told me a story about a couple, who adopted a child last year. They explained to him that they had adopted a child through an open procedure.” An open procedure is the connection of the triangle: child, biological parents and adoptive parents.

“When I heard that, I was amazed. That's another way to do it. I had thought of that, but didn't know it existed. I heard and read a while ago that there was a petition to keep adoption going. I'm glad to read that I'm not the only one who thinks this way. I regret that adoptees, who have good experiences, and their adoptive parents are not heard, are even ignored. Just because we think differently about adoption doesn't mean we don't want to see that mistakes have been made. We are very well aware of that. I understand that because of the many bad experiences there is not much confidence anymore. But I still ask to be open to the stories and emotions that we have. Trust that we do this with good intentions. Let's not sit with our arms folded, but get up and work on the future. Don't dwell on the past. A lot will have to change. Admitting mistakes is the beginning. By comparing errors and improvements, it is possible to see what can be improved. Make it public so we can track it. In this way we gain more trust in each other, because that is what we lack at the moment”.

“Adoption requires optimal transparency”

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Claire and Ed adopted their sons 13 years ago. When the brothers found their biological family on social media aged 15 and 16, it took just three months for them to cut off all contact with their adoptive parents.

Claire and Ed say their children were sent "intrusive" messages from their birth family and withdrew from their parents. Both children no longer attend school and there have been reports the older boy is involved in drug dealing.

"For us, it's just been devastating to have our family broken," Ed tells BBC Radio 4's Today programme. "But the big tragedy and the big, human cost is theirs. Because they've just been manipulated."

Adoption UK says such complete breakdowns of relationships are rare - but unsupervised contact is becoming more common.

The charity's research suggests nearly a quarter of adopted children make direct contact with their birth family - often via social media - before they gain the right to access information about their origins at the age of 18.

The UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED) has called on Switzerland to conduct an impartial investigation into past illegal adoptions from Sri Lanka and pay reparations to victims.

In its review of Switzerland’s record on enforced disappearances on Tuesday, the CED raised the issue of illegal adoptions of Sri Lankan children that happened a few decades ago.

While acknowledging that the Alpine nation had accepted its failure to prevent the illegal adoptions, the committee said that a rich country like Switzerland “should do more” for these children who are now adults. Specifically, the Swiss authorities were asked to follow up on the cases to determine the gravity of the injustices committed during that period.

“The Committee urged the State party [Switzerland] to conduct thorough and impartial investigations to determine whether children adopted from Sri Lanka during the 1980s and 1990s may have been victims of enforced disappearance and wrongful removal, and whether other offences, such as falsification, concealment or destruction of identity documents were committed in these cases,” the CED stated.

The committee also recommended that Switzerland should “guarantee the right to reparation to any person who has suffered from such acts”.