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From: Arun Dohle

Date: Thu, 11 Mar 2021 at 15:23

Subject: Re: Adoption Conference / Conférence sur l'adoption : Today's headlines in Romania - FYI

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From: Mia Dambach

Date: Thu, 11 Mar 2021 at 15:24

Subject: Réponse automatique : Adoption Conference / Conférence sur l'adoption : Today's headlines in Romania - FYI

To: Arun Dohle

At a press conference on January 18 this year, South Korean President Moon Jae-in made statements about adoption, which has shaken adoptees and adoptive families around the world.

According to online media coverage, the president said adoptive parents should have the option to cancel an adoption within a certain time period and possibly be able to swap the child for another.

With good reason, adoptees and adoptive families have been both shocked and outraged by such statements by the head of state in a country that has carried out thousands of adoptions for more than six decades and still carries out hundreds of adoptions - national and international. Korean opposition politicians and the Korean public have also promptly criticized President Moon, who is also a former human rights lawyer, for using these statements to reduce adoptees to a commodity that can only be returned or exchanged.

The president's spokesmen have tried to calm the anger by saying that the president has been misunderstood and misunderstood, and that he instead believed that foster families should be allowed to change their minds before a formal adoption. The many outraged adoptees and adoptive families do not believe this explanation is adequate, and a petition has been launched to demand a clear denial and an unequivocal apology.

Adoption & Samfund also believes that the statements - as they appear in the media coverage online - are criticisable, but also incomprehensible, and we have approached the Korean Embassy in Denmark to get an official indication of whether the said statements are actually comprehensive for the Korean government's view of adoption.

Linda Carol Trotter (born Eftychia Noula), is the president of The Eftychia Project, a nonprofit group that provides assistance and support — free of charge — to Greek adoptees who are searching for their roots.

Growing up as a typical American child in San Antonio, Texas, she had been born in the village of Stranoma in Nafpaktia, and had been given up for adoption because she had been born out of wedlock and her mother had been “a bit of an outcast” since giving birth to her.

Grecian Delight supports Greece

A lady in the village “who had a reputation for getting rid of unwanted babies” took her mother away to Athens after becoming Eftychia’s godmother, Trotter says.

Pretending to have her mother’s interests in mind, the woman told her to get a job to support herself, and give the child to the Athens Nursery while she got herself back on her feet. After doing so, she could then go back to the Nursery and reclaim her daughter.

A review into the prevalence of illegal adoptions in Ireland has found that up to 20,000 files could potentially relate to irregular birth registrations.

The review team examined 1,496 records from 25 adoption agencies and found that there were specific phrases called “markers”, or language that could indicate an improper registration or a “suspicious practice” on 267 records – nearly 18 percent of files.

Based on the prevalence of these “markers” within this sample, the review estimates that between around 5,500 and up to 20,000 files may have similar indicators within the wider State archives, consisting of about 100,000 records.

Both the Adoption Authority of Ireland (AAI) and Tusla warned they had found limited direct evidence of further illegal adoptions, with AAI saying its search for indicators of incorrect registrations “did not yield any meaningful information”.

Illegal adoptions: Government seeks advice on next steps

Iadopted my daughter when she was six years old. She had been in the care of a local authority pretty much since birth. Now 18, she and I both worry about the current predicament for many children in the UK who grow up with a local authority as their corporate parent, a situation exacerbated by the pandemic as lockdown puts families under pressure. “How can we change things?” my daughter asked me as we completed my book about adopting, The Wild Track, together. “Who will really listen?”

Government statistics show that, in England as of 31 March 2020, there were 80,080 children in care. In that same period only 3,440 children were adopted. But in 2015 the number of adoptions in England had risen to 5,360. Why this rise? And why the subsequent fall?

In 2005, a review of the adoption system introduced amendments, including support for adopters and – reflecting changing attitudes – broadening the field of prospective adopters to include single parents and the LGBTQ+ community. In 2011, a significant adoption reform programme followed on from a report by Martin Narey, a government adviser on children’s social care, initiated by Tim Loughton, then parliamentary undersecretary for children and families, and Edward Timpson, who took over that post in 2012 – and supported by Michael Gove, then education secretary. The latter two had a personal investment: Timpson, the son of John (of the shoe repair chain), grew up with children fostered by his parents; Gove and his sister were adopted as babies.

The plan was to make faster decisions on release for adoption, to speed up court procedure, to find more prospective adoptive parents, and to relax strictures on matching and the search for “perfect” homes. As Gove put it at the time: “We can’t afford to ration love.”

But then came some important legal rulings. In one case from 2013 the judges declared that adoption was only appropriate “where nothing else will do”. Also that year, a survey of case law concluded that “the severance of family ties inherent in an adoption without parental consent is an extremely draconian step and one that requires the highest level of evidence”. Social workers, while eager to place children at risk, felt constrained and cautious.

A woman adopted from Southport in 1953 was brought to tears when she found out her birth mother was still alive.

Margaret, who grew up in Warwickshire, was adopted from Southport when she was just six months old.

Born in 1953, the woman always believed her birth mother was one of the many Irish women who came over in the 1950's for the sake of adoption.

Margaret went on BBC2 's DNA Family Secrets in order to search for her birth mother.

Going into the show, the only thing Margaret knew about her biological mother is the name written on her birth certificate, although she wasn't convinced that it was a real name.

I’ve always known that I’m adopted, it’s a conversation that my parents and I have had since I was two and we all flew back on a plane from China. In many ways, I think that the candor on the distinctions between myself and the rest of my family, and indeed, the world around me, encouraged me to always have a strong voice. I felt like I needed to say things louder, in order to be equally recognised.

Things that should have been easy for me became more challenging as I came to terms with issues surrounding race and identity.

The Girl With Many Faces | Jinling Wu

Allie was adopted from China when she was two years old.

As I was growing into this world, there were so many foundations that I was missing, and I had to create those roots myself

I’ve always known that I’m adopted, it’s a conversation that my parents and I have had since I was two and we all flew back on a plane from China. In many ways, I think that the candor on the distinctions between myself and the rest of my family, and indeed, the world around me, encouraged me to always have a strong voice. I felt like I needed to say things louder, in order to be equally recognised.

Things that should have been easy for me became more challenging as I came to terms with issues surrounding race and identity.

The Girl With Many Faces | Jinling Wu

Allie was adopted from China when she was two years old.

As I was growing into this world, there were so many foundations that I was missing, and I had to create those roots myself

After a devastating report on abuses, the Netherlands immediately suspended international adoption. Nova-Lilly (33) also had to deal with this. She was adopted from Sri Lanka, but had a terrible childhood.

'All my childhood I was punished. Sometimes I had just 'looked wrong', sometimes my room was not properly tidy. Then my mother would empty my desk drawers on the floor. "Start over," she shouted. I was seven. If I was "not nice" she would take me to her sister. After a week, sometimes longer, I was allowed to return. My brother and sister were just at home. According to her, they were 'nice'. '

'I was adopted. My adoptive parents, Peter and Marja, were invited by the adoption agency to pick up 'their' child in Sri Lanka. They preferred a girl. Once arrived there were only boys. Marja and Peter suddenly only wanted a girl on the spot. I was six days old and literally moved somewhere when I lay in their arms. In the Netherlands I had a brother of one, their biological child. When I was four, another girl came from Sri Lanka. '

Also read:

Emily (36) about the cot death of her son: 'He just should have been here'