KARACHI: A judicial magistrate allowed a federal agency to search the office of Sarim Burney Welfare Trust International in a case pertaining to “child trafficking by way of illegal adoption”.

Social worker Mr Burney appeared before the court via video link from the central prison.

During the hearing on Thursday, the investigating officer (IO) of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Bilal Ahmed, requested additional time to complete the probe in the ‘child trafficking case’.

He submitted two applications before Judicial Magistrate (East) Yusra Ashfaq, seeking the issuance of a search warrant and permission to record statements from trustees and a prosecution witness.

In his applications, the IO stated that the trust had not provided the remaining records.

CHENNAI: Mary was one-year-old when she was adopted from India and taken to Gothenburg, Sweden, in 1973. The memories of her initial days in Sweden are hazy, but she remembers her parents telling her that she was a difficult child. Her white mother’s blonde hair and blue eyes never appealed to young Mary, and her immediate response to seeing her near her was fear, which grew as aversion. Mary says, “I was longing for my mother. I was screaming all the time, I was terrified. I would dream about my biological parents, especially my mother.” Tormented by estrangement at a very nascent phase of childhood and growing up in an unpleasant environment, aloof from her native, she had a very lonely life.

This adoptee in Sweden grew up hearing that her mother had died during child birth, her grandmother was unfit to take care of her, and thus she was adopted. A compelling truth as it sounds, and it became her reality. But as she grew older, her reality was upended when people started saying that she did not look like her white parents. She says, “People would ask me where I am from and say that I did not look like them.” Her adoptive mother’s thoughtless comments about her brown skin bespoke her ignorance and little knowledge on various skin colours, but were excruciating memories for her. They were reminders ingrained in the mind of the little girl that she did not belong in Sweden. They grew like monsters in her head.

Left hanging between two countries: with biological roots in India and her cultural baggage entrenched in Sweden, the now 52-year-old Mary Rhedin scrambled to lead a peaceful life in an adopted country, amid discreet racism.

Coping mechanism

Well, narratives of inequality, discrimination, and oppression have been an integral part of our discussions, in personal spaces, academia, and extensively in public spaces. Stories are ways of immortalising people, their experiences, and their memories. They are important, they need to be passed on and spread across, and they need to hold more space, after all, they are as powerful as mass protests, slogans, and revolutions. Traumatised and crushed by the weight of her life with the whites, she also sought respite in writing as she did not think there was a space she could have for an honest discussion. She set her sights on a journey: a search for her roots.

This whole-of-government, multisectoral “Thrive” Strategy, which is mandated by the Global Child Thrive Act, aims to build strong beginnings for children, help families thrive, and prevent violence against children.

The U.S. Congress directs USAID to elevate child development, care, and protection needs within its foreign assistance. A whole-of-government, multisectoral strategy is mandated by both The Assistance for Orphans and Other Vulnerable Children In Developing Countries Act (PL 109-95) and the more recent Global Child Thrive Act.

Background

Strengthening the capacities of children, adolescents, and the families who care for them are some of the best investments a country can make to eliminate extreme poverty, boost economic growth, and promote a peaceful society. The U.S. Government Strategy for Children to Thrive 2024-2029 (Thrive Strategy) is a whole-of-government, multi-sectoral effort that aims to build strong beginnings for children, help families to thrive, and prevent violence against children. On July 11, 2024, USAID will host an event to publicly launch the updated Thrive Strategy to guide the interagency effort.

The Thrive Strategy builds on the previous strategy, Advancing Protection and Care for Children in Adversity: A U.S. Government Strategy for International Assistance (APCCA Strategy), which ran from 2019–2023. While maintaining core elements of the previous action plan and strategy, the revised Thrive Strategy incorporates updated evidence related to children in adversity and their needs and considers the ongoing impact of global events, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, spotlighting the complex issues that children in adversity and their families are experiencing. 

Activists and disabled parents have called for clarity and guidelines on adoption by persons with disabilities. “Every disabled couple has faced a problem at some stage of the adoption process,” said Bhagyam A., a polio-affected disabled mother who has undergone the process twice.

The call for guidelines and clarity has come in the wake of a couple in Thoothukudi having initially been denied a baby on July 5, and subsequently deemed eligible for adoption following a fitness test. S. Velmayil, 34, has a locomotor disability that affects both lower limbs (90% disability), and his wife Baby, 36, has a locomotor disability affecting her right hand and right leg (80% disability). Mr. Velmayil works at a fuel station, and Ms. Baby is an organiser at a noon meal centre.

The couple had registered for adoption in 2020, and renewed it in 2024. A baby was reserved for them in June. “Nobody said during the registration that we would be ineligible to adopt [an infant],” Ms. Baby said, adding that they had to run from pillar to post to get a medical certificate for adoption.

However, an adoption committee in Dindigul reportedly denied them the baby, as it felt that the couple would be unable to take care of the child, especially in the first two years, owing to their disability. After the incident was reported, a fitness test was conducted for the couple at the Thoothukudi Government Hospital. The result, released on Tuesday, deemed the couple eligible to adopt a baby. “There would have been no need for the test had the committee done its work with due diligence in the first place,” said Ms. Baby. The couple is now going through the entire adoption process again, and would next be meeting with the District Child Protection Officer as part of the process.

Recalling her experience during her first adoption in 2021, Ms. Bhagyam said: “It wasn’t until 2019 that I found out about the stand of [Central Adoption Research Authority] CARA on adoption by disabled couple. The adoption agency was extremely supportive in my case. However, It was during the final hearing that I faced discrimination. The judge did not want to sign the papers as he wasn’t confident. But the agency stood their ground, and I was able to adopt a baby. A basic guideline on adoption is required...”

In the financial year 2021-22, 29,331 children were covered by non-institutional care. This number increased to 62,675 in 2022-23 and to 1,21,861 in 2023-24, it stated

The number of children in non-institutional care, including those in foster care, has increased fourfold between 2021-22 and 2023-24, according to government data.

In the financial year 2021-22, 29,331 children were covered by non-institutional care. This number increased to 62,675 in 2022-23 and to 1,21,861 in 2023-24, it stated.

In a recent letter to states and Union Territories (UTs), the women and child development (WCD) ministry said this rise may be because of the government's initiatives in strengthening family-based care to all children in difficult circumstances.

SANGAREDDY : The chutney prepared for students at Sultanpur JNTU College in Andole constituency on Monday night turned into a nightmare when a rat was discovered in it. Recently, students of JNTU College have protested the unsanitary and unhygienic conditions of the hostel food.

Upon noticing the live rat in the chutney, students recorded a video and shared it on social media, prompting District Health Minister Damodar Rajanarsimha to express his outrage. He warned against jeopardising students’ lives and instructed District Additional Collector Madhuri and Andole RDOs to conduct a thorough investigation and submit a report.

As directed, the officials visited the college on Tuesday. Additional Collector Madhuri met with the principal, staff and students, inspecting the dining room and kitchen. Minister Rajanarsimha instructed authorities to prevent such incidents in all hostels and ordered food safety officials to inspect boarding hostels, canteens, schools and colleges statewide.

Emphasising compliance with food safety norms, the minister mandated immediate cancellation of licences for non-compliant entities and urged constant inspections by Food Safety Officers across the state. Meanwhile, Additional District Collector Madhavi’s inquiry report revealed neglect in utensil cleaning at the college, which she reprimanded the staff for.

The minister directed the authority to keep vigilance on the manufacture of food items.

Precariousness pushes thousands of Haitians to entrust their children to reception centers, or to have them adopted. Most of these children leave the country, without their parents having any possibility of tracing them or having news of them.

Many parents do not know how international adoption works. "The 'madan sara' are sometimes victims," ​​says journalist Michel Joseph. "Having no one to look after their child, they [sometimes] entrust them to a nursery so they can go about their business activities. When they return after eight or fifteen days, they are told that the child has already been adopted and that he or she has travelled."

In other situations, biological parents are victims of false promises. "Sometimes [nurseries, orphanages or foreign missions] promise them a small house or money, under the pretext of sponsorship, in exchange for the child."

In recent years, the DNA project in Haiti was on hold because we couldn't travel. Since the spring of 2024, we have a pilot project and are working with Michel Joseph from Voie D’Espoir (VE) and Dirk Vermeyen in Haiti. 

Both gentlemen have helped us in the past with searches for families: Dirk as a solo specialist family finder, and Michel (journalist) who set up the Voie D’Espoir foundation due to the many requests he receives to trace the families of adoptees. 

We are combining our efforts for even more matches, which is the goal of Plan Kiskeya. VE is carrying out our DNA project in this pilot. In Port-au-Prince and Jeremi, an office has been opened where families can register. The project is being announced via radio spots, and families are being called to make an appointment for registration. 

In addition to the above two offices, there is also an office in Cap-Haitien, coordinated by Dirk Vermeyen. We have been working with Dirk for some time. From the Netherlands, we have direct insight into the incoming registrations. 

These new registrations are then processed on the Plan Kiskeya website. The pilot runs until the end of August. So far, the process is going well, registrations are coming in, and we are in close contact with Dirk and Michel. 

The Court warned that the Chief Secretaries of States/UTs will have to personally appear on the next date in case of non-compliance.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday (July 9) expressed serious concerns over the non-compliance of several states in appointing Specialised Adoption Agencies (SAAs) within every district by January 31 2024. The Court has directed the Chief Secretaries of the States and UTs to strictly comply with the earlier order by August 30, 2024 failing which contempt proceedings may be initiated against them....

The CJI DY Chandrachud led bench was hearing a petition for easing the adoption procedures under Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA).

The Supreme Court on Tuesday warned as many as 30 States and Union Territories (UTs) of initiating contempt of court proceeding for failure to comply with the top court's previous directions pertaining to the establishment of Specialised Adoption Agencies (SAAs) in each district by January 31, 2024. 

The CJI DY Chandrachud led bench was hearing a petition for easing the adoption procedures under Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA).

CARA is a statutory body of the Ministry of Women & Child Development and functions as the nodal body for adoption of Indian children and is mandated to monitor and regulate in-country and inter-country adoptions.