On 12 April, the EU Delegation organised a public online conference to mark the recent adoption of the new EU Strategy on the Rights of the Child, map out synergies with the upcoming Council of Europe respective Strategy in this field and grasp the importance of international standards for the protection of the rights of children across Europe.

The conference brought together key speakers from the EU and the Council of Europe, engaged in the definition of strategies, policies and recommendations on the rights of the child: Ms Valeria Setti, European Commission Coordinator for the Rights of the Child and Ms Regina Jensdottir, Head of the Children’s Rights Division and Coordinator for the Rights of the Child at the Council of Europe.

The conference provided a very good opportunity to highlight the coherence and convergence between the EU and the Council of Europe’s respective standards of protection for the rights of the child, as well as the great willingness of both organisations to strengthen their cooperation and synergies in this field. The speakers made clear that the newly adopted EU Strategy on the Rights of the Child and the upcoming respective Council of Europe Strategy are in very close alignment and will complement each other along the way, building on their respective strengths.

You can find a recording of our conference on the Commission’s streaming platform or on our Facebook channel(link is external)

Two European-level Strategies for the Rights of the Child: What Added Value for us?

Salem Town All-Women police on Tuesday arrested a couple and a businessman in a case of illegal “adoption” of a seven-year old girl.

According to the police, the parents Sumathi and Sathish were launderers and worked out of a corner shop at Annamalai Nagar in Salem. They had two daughters and a son. Worsening financial constraints allegedly forced the couple to illegally give their seven-year-old second daughter in adoption recently to Krishnan, a businessman from the same colony. Ms. Sumathi’s mother Chinnaponnu opposed this and asked her to bring the child back.

However, the couple refused to do so. Based on Ms. Chinnaponnu’s complaint, the police and Childline members rescued the girl from the businessman here, the police said. The police have registered a case under various sections of the Juvenile Justice Act and are investigating.

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The prosecution requested the death penalty for the mother-in-law of Wool, who was arrested for murder and convicted of killing Jeong In after 16 months of age abuse.

The 13th Criminal Division of the Seoul Southern District Court held a trial of resolution on Jang Yang, who was handed over to the trial on charges of murder today (14th).

The prosecution requested the death penalty from Jang, and asked the court to sentence them to a 10-year order to restrict employment in children's institutions, 30 years to attach electronic devices, and five years to order probation.

In addition, Ahn Mo, his adoptive father, who was prosecuted with Jang for violating the Child Welfare Act, was asked for 7 years and 6 months in prison and an order to restrict employment related to children for 10 years.

The prosecution explained the reason for the sentence, saying, "(Mr. Jang) has a responsibility to be responsible as a mother. .

NEW LEGISLATION THAT would allow for the exhumations of bodies at former mother and baby homes must include as many sites as possible, Catherine Corless has said.

Corless is among those attending a meeting of the Oireachtas Children’s Committee today to discuss the legislation.

The Commission of Investigation was set up following claims that up to 800 babies were interred in an unmarked mass grave at a former Bon Secours home in Tuam, Co Galway – following extensive research done by Corless.

Excavations carried out between November 2016 and February 2017 found a significant quantity of human remains, aged from 35 foetal weeks to two to three years, interred in a vault on the site.

The General Scheme of the Certain Institutional Burials Bill was published in December 2019 and new Heads of Bills were approved by the government on 12 January 2021 – the day the Commission’s final report was published.

Trafficking in Human Beings is not a faded, historical memory: it is a

social issue in today’s Albania, and it bears the seeds of a potential

threat to security. RS, a 20-year-old woman from Tirana, gave birth

in prison, following an arrest for theft. RS first reached authorities’

attention as a serial thief at 16. However, her story is not simply one of juvenile

He arrived at the orphanage when he was only one year old, later adopted by a family from Ungheni, and now, after

43 years old, looking for his biological family. It is the story of Larisa Iurii who tries to gather the few pieces of

puzzle he has about his life until adoption to find his mother and siblings. With the hope that

maybe someone will recognize her, the woman asks for people's help, so she can know the one who gave her

life.

12

Apr.

Interview with adoption permit holders

Conversation | Sander Dekker

Please note: this activity has already taken place

Danish children for adoption overtake foreign in number. Most couples stay on the international waiting list.

For the first time in many years, there are more Danish than foreign children for adoption.

Figures from the National Board of Appeal show that 40 children born in Denmark were adopted in 2020.

In comparison, 23 adopted children came here from abroad, which is a record few.

This has led the National Board of Appeal to offer couples and singles who are on a waiting list for a foreign child to move to the list of Danish children.

An adoption from abroad can cost up to 300,000 kroner, while a Danish one is free. At the same time, it goes faster. Nevertheless, so far relatively few want to switch from the international to the Danish waiting list.

For the first time in many years, there are more Danish than foreign children for adoption.

Figures from the National Board of Appeal show that 40 children born in Denmark were adopted in 2020.

In comparison, 23 adopted children came here from abroad, which is a record few.

This has led the National Board of Appeal to offer couples and singles who are on a waiting list for a foreign child to move to the list of Danish children.

Goa Chronicle brings you the story of Priyangika Samanthie who is originally a Sri Lankan but was adopted by a Norwegian couple and was taken to Oslo. She helps individuals get reunited with their biological parents who were made victims of a sinister ‘adoption lobby’ running in Sri Lanka. And her own story of reuniting with her biological mother is worth giving a read.

Priyangika was three when she stumbled upon the fact of her being an adopted child. When asked about how she got to know the reality, she revealed, “Before I answer this, I would like to tell you that some of the articles that are online are misleading; some of the information is not correct. I tried to make them change it but it is poor journalism. So, when I was three, I got to know about my adoption because I started having questions when my family and I went to the stores or anywhere else. I could tell that everyone has a relationship with their biological parents because they looked alike. And I could sense that something was odd about our situation. And it got me thinking after which my adoptive parents started speaking to me about I having a second mom; which they did from an early age”.

She continued, “They always used to talk about me having three parents because they knew only about my biological mother and not my father. I specifically remember one instance when we went to the store, and I was lost because I went away from my adoptive mother. Then the cashier came over to me and asked me whether I needed some help. I had then asked her to help me find my mother. But after she took me back to my adoptive mother, I had started asking for my real mother. And I had stated that I felt like I had been kidnapped. I used to shout on the streets saying that my adoptive parents stole me and this was something I used to say all through the years I grew up in. And I felt I wasn’t supposed to be in Norway and that I wanted to go back home.”

Priyangika continued to narrate her tale, “We found mom in 2013, and then I had gone to Sri Lanka on Independence Day in 2014. But I had been searching for her since I was 7. So, I searched for over 12 years before I could meet her. The adoption law in Europe is that the adoptive parents are not allowed to assist the adoptees to reunite with their biological parents. And hence the adoptees have to find their families on their own. They can only give the adoptees the documents from the time they were adopted. But they may not reveal any kind of information about the whereabouts of the biological families or any tip-off which could help the adoptees to reunite with their actual parents. I am trying to get this changed now. By the age of 5, my adoptive parents used to tell me about my adoption in detail because I always had a lot of questions on my mind regarding the documents and my situation. We used to sit and talk about my family in Sri Lanka and the legal process required to be followed.”

“Listening to my follow-up questions, my parents fathomed I was keener to know about my adoption as compared to my adoptive brother. Both of us are not biologically related; we were adopted from Sri Lanka. Then my adoptive parents showed me the documents like birth certificates and films from the time they spent in Sri Lanka. But it wasn’t enough information about my biological mother. So, at 7, I went to my adoptive father’s office, and I asked him to help me write to the government to get access to my documents. My father could only help me write a letter to the reunification program authorities but my application was declined, and I was told that one has to be at least 16 to begin looking out for biological parents. And the government told me that I could not look into their files until I was 18. This was a huge problem,” mentioned Priyangika.