A couple have been arrested on suspicion of murdering a one-year-old boy they were set to adopt.

Police said a 37-year-old woman and 34-year-old man, from Barrow-in-Furness, had been arrested on suspicion of murder, causing or allowing the death of a child and two counts of assault.

They have been released on bail, Cumbria Police said.

Cumbria County Council said the child was under its care but was living with the couple before the adoption.

The council said it had recommended an independent safeguarding review was carried out.

In the 1970s, Hans Walenkamp and his wife Ina adopted three children from Colombia, Korea and Suriname. The harsh report on the role of the government in adoption abuses hurts him. "We couldn't have acted better at that time."

It did not come out of the blue. As early as the 1980s, he heard the first discord about adoption, and the image he and his wife had when they embraced their first child in 1971 turned out to be incorrect. Still, the report saddens Hans Walenkamp. “As an adoptive parent, I feel pushed into a corner by the conclusions of the Joustra committee. The advice makes it appear as if I am part of a criminal circuit. ”

Walenkamp (78) also finds the thought that he may have indirectly contributed to abuses. This week it became clear again that foreign adoptions have been forged papers, information has been erased and adopted children often cannot trace their roots. The rock-hard report on the role of the government in these kinds of problems led to a halt in international adoptions.

“My wife and I have talked about it a lot. But I have to say that we haven't felt guilty for a moment. We looked around the adoptions of our three children very carefully and enlisted the help of a bona fide government-approved broker. We have made decisions with a lot of good will, ethical awareness and care. We could not have acted better at that time. ”

'Even if you only save one'

The Swedish Agency for Family Law and Parental Support (MFoF) and the Adoption Center - mediators of international adoptions - request an independent investigation into how foreign adoptions to Sweden took place during the 20th century. Stock Photography. Photo: Jessica Gow / TT

The Netherlands froze adoptions from abroad this week after a government commission discovered that children had been stolen from their biological parents.

A similar inquiry should also be appointed in Sweden, according to both the Swedish Agency for Family Law and Parental Support (MFoF) and the Adoption Center.

The report of the Joustra Committee on abuses in intercountry adoption in the past is a valuable document and does justice to victims of the abuses. I would like to add nuance to the report from my scientific expertise.

First of all, I would like to say that I am very happy with the work of the Joustra Committee on abuses in adoptions in the past. It is a good thing that our government is now taking responsibility by apologizing to victims and is committed to rectifying abuses as well as possible.

As a scientist specialized in adoption and foster care, including 10 years as coordinator of the Leiden University-based ADOC - Knowledge Center for Adoption and Foster Care, I also have critical comments.

Children's rights

First of all, the scientific literature on which the Committee relies appears to be very one-sided and important articles that provide a broader picture of the phenomenon of adoption have not been included. It almost seems that those who focus on abuses surrounding adoption at some point become trapped in one side of a reality and lose sight of other perspectives such as child protection.

NEW DELHI: About 80 per cent of children adopted within the country since 2015 were aged 0-2 years, while just two per cent were in the age group of 10-18, the Women and Child Development Ministry said on Thursday.

In a written response to a question in Rajya Sabha, Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani presented data of in-country adoptions from 2015-16 to 2020-2021 (as on February 3, 2021).

According to the data, of the 16,856 children adopted within the country in the last five years, 13,495 were in the age group of 0-2 years, 1,340 were in the age group of 2-4 years, 889 were aged 4-6 years, 401 were aged 6-8 years, 350 were aged 8-10 years, 192 were in age group of 10-12 years, 100 in the age group of 12-14 and 59 were in age group of 14-18 years.

Irani said the number of infants below the age of three months adopted during 2016-2017 to 2020-2021 (as on February 3, 2021) is 725.

Responding to a question on the time taken to declare a child legally free for adoption, Irani said as per section 38 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, orphaned and abandoned children are required to be declared legally free for adoption within two months in case of a child up to the age of two years and within four months in case of a child above the age of two years, after following the due procedure.

Ibu Ellya is 78 years old and lives in Desa Susukan in central Java. She was 25 years old when she became pregnant with a son and married to Iwansa. She was a Javanese herself and her husband was from Sumatra. At the time, not everyone was happy that she chose someone from another island. They found a Javanese with a Javanese a better match. But she was happy with Iwansa, a dentist.

She had completed junior high school and after that she was able to find work in Jakarta and later Surabaya. She was a sporty woman, loved volleyball and swimming. Singing was also a hobby of hers. When the time came for her to give birth, her eldest son was ill and to make matters worse she was told the very sad news that her husband had died ...

Adoption

Photo credits: Bud Wichers

Giving birth without a child

--------- Forwarded message ---------

From: ACT

Date: Thu, 11 Feb 2021 at 13:28

Subject: Joustra Committee / Intercountry Adoptions

To:

Colombian María Orfi Cifuentes has fallen victim to the Dutch adoption scandal. She did not want to give up her child at all, documents were forged and she was told that her son had died. She didn't see him again until 40 years later. In the Netherlands.

“I only got a glimpse of his foot,” María tells NOS. “Then they wrapped my newborn son in a blue hospital blanket and took him away. In the hospital they said he was dead, but it turned out that he had been adopted. ”

“A nun came over to my bed and said the baby was doing very badly,” she says of the day her child was born. “She had two blank sheets of paper with her and told me to sign them. That would allow me to have my son baptized before it was too late. She also asked me to give him a name. A little later a nurse came to me and told me that my son had died. ”

Psychologically heavy

It happened in 1977, but the loss carried them with it for years. “It was very difficult psychologically. I considered suicide, but I passed on for my other children. ”

"In our case, adoption is not shady. There was no question of child trafficking and misery." Chantal and Dirk-Jan de Boer have to defend themselves for the adoption of their son after Joustra's hard report about abuses in adoption in the past.

Chantal and Dirk-Jan from Eagum in Friesland have just received permission for the adoption of a second child from the United States. Outgoing minister Sander Dekker announced a provisional ban on adoption on Monday. A new cabinet must look at it again. Four hundred parents who were already very far in the procedure are still allowed to continue, including Chantal and Dirk-Jan.

'Terrible Time'

The days before the report came out, they heard that the minister was going to intervene. They feared their adoption would not go through either. “It was terrible leading up to the report. We knew it was going to come and cause dust. We never expected any adoption to be called 'child trafficking'. Until yesterday it was terrible, we are there all weekend sick of it. "

The adoption may therefore continue with Chantal and Dirk-Jan, but mixed feelings still dominate due to the hard conclusions of Tjibbe Joustra. "We feel that we have to justify ourselves. We are very sorry that it is pretended to be all adoptions. People think that we are keeping it going, the child trafficking."

At the moment, having children is often a difficult process for gay and lesbian couples. Adoptions are becoming increasingly difficult, there is no legislation on surrogacy in our country and multi-parenting seems taboo. 'This leads to a lot of grief and frustration for LGBTI + wish-parents,' writes Bruno De Lille. "It is urgent time for a clear framework."

Our son turned eighteen. Because of the corona crisis, there was not really a party, but he seems to like the idea that he is an adult. His joy, however, is nothing compared to ours, his parents. Because that we have been able to help a son grow up can be called a small miracle. Had I been born twenty years earlier or in another country, I would never have been a dad.

Even now many people are still surprised when my husband and I turn up somewhere with our son. A male-male couple with a child, it remains special. Because it is not because Belgium has now allowed adoption by couples of the same sex for almost fifteen years that it is not easy to have a child (entrusted) as two men.

High time for more rights for rainbow families

It used to be simple: if you were openly gay, you wouldn't have children. Point. In the 1990s and 2000s that started to change. LGBTI + couples receive legal recognition, are allowed to marry and later adopt. Since then, adoption seems obvious for gay couples who want to become dads. Although it remains difficult.