With Covid claiming many lives, people are trying to get foster parents for children who have lost parents to the pandemic. Experts warn child trafficking rackets can take advantage of such a situation

KOCHI: Have you received a WhatsApp forward like this: “If anyone wants to adopt a baby girl, please contact 0971******* (Priyanka). Three-day-old and six-month-old girls available. They lost their parents recently to Covid. Please help these kids get a new life, spread the word.” Many similar broadcast messages are making rounds, where ‘good Samaritans seem to be seeking help to arrange adoption of children, especially girls, orphaned during the pandemic. Experts claim that even though some of these efforts are genuine, they may trigger child trafficking.

Dhananjay Tingal, executive director of Bachpan Bachao Andolan, said the messages spreading on social media calling for prospective foster parents could be an attempt to traffic children and misuse the intention of those genuinely trying to help children. “Ideally, anyone willing to help should be calling government helplines to report on orphaned children,” he said.

“When a child is orphaned, he/she becomes vulnerable. Many kids are suffering because they lost their parents to the pandemic and their caregivers are hospitalised. There is no one to take care of them. Their neighbours or extended families keep away out of fear of contracting the virus,” he said. Dhananjay added that there are no relaxations in the adoption procedure due to the pandemic.

“People can’t just go and buy/take these children because their parents are dead. We have been receiving so many calls regarding adoptions related to Covid deaths of parents/caretakers. Prospective foster parents still need to register with the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) to become eligible for adoption. Though no cases of Covid death-related trafficking have been reported so far, we fear these types of forwarded messages are an indication, and even educated people are not aware of adoption laws,” he said.

"The guy diverts resources meant for vulnerable children to his family."

Limbe First Grade Magistrates Court will on May next week Wednesday make its ruling on whether or not to discharge a case against former Finance Director at Timotheos Foundation, Wim Akster, a Dutch national, who was arrested over indecent assault charges.

According to a police statement in our possession, Akster was arrested in September 2020 on two counts - trafficking in persons and unlawfully and indecently assaulted Alice Mataya from Namikasi in Blantyre.

The statement, signed by sub-inspector FTK Dzimbiri, indicate that the offences were committed in 2019, but the victim only reported the matter in 2020.

Some insiders believe that the stories was fabricated to bring Akster down considering what has been between the suspect and officials from Timetheos Foundation, who are believed to have schemed the allegations.

Adopted people will be able to access their birth certificates irrespective of the wishes of their birth mothers under a law to be introduced by the Government.

Access to birth certificates is to be facilitated by way of a mechanism where surviving mothers can register their consent or their opposition to being contacted, but cannot veto the process, Minister for Children Roderic O’Gorman said.

In cases where the mother has registered her opposition to being contacted, the person seeking their birth certificate will attend a meeting where the wishes of the parent will be outlined, and the need to respect the mother’s privacy rights will be emphasised, prior to the information being released.

There will be no sanctions for anyone who contacts their birth mother against her stated wishes, the Minister added.

Mr O’Gorman was speaking at the publication of the General Scheme of the Birth Information and Tracing Bill, which will encompass a right of access to birth, early life, care, and medical information.

Justin D’Silva

Daijiworld Media Network – Udupi (EP)

Udupi, May 21: A case is registered at Kota police station against a couple that illegally gave away a child for adoption and the doctor couple who adopted the child. The case is registered on the basis of a complaint lodged by the legal observer of the district child protection cell, Prabhakar Achar. Brahmavar child welfare project officer, Kumar, Anganwadi supervisor Laxmi, Kota police station sub-inspector Santhosh BP and assistant sub-inspector Muktha were behind the operation.

The female child that was born a year ago at a private hospital in Karkala. She was illegally handed over for adoption by the child’s parents Suresh and Sukanya to Hangarkatte resident Fayaz Shahista through Udupi resident Hussain. The birth certificate of the child was made to look like from it was from government taluk hospital, Koppa. It was obtained from Dr Balakrishna, the medical officer at the hospital. A case under the Child Justice Act is registered against six people. The year and two-month-old child was rescued and rehabilitated at Krishnanugraha adoption centre, Santhekatte.

“Do not be cheated over advertisements in the media offering children for adoption. Those who want to adopt children can contact district children protection unit Rajatadri, Manipal or children’s welfare committee Udupi or contact www.cara.nic.in,” requested legal observer Prabhakar Achary with people.

An adoptive mother has recounted to TVMnews that in addition to her biological children she had always also wished to have adopted children.

Interviewed by TVMnews she said she treats her own children in the same manner while expressing her satisfaction at increasing her family through adoption.

Currently there are about 500 parents waiting to adopt children from other countries.

197 children from other countries have begun a new life in Malta after being adopted last year.

TVMnews obtained from official sources that last year the most children adopted came from Ethiopia, Cambodia and Russia. There are other countries from which adoption is favoured, including India.

Geachte heer Samsom,

Ik heb informatie gekregen over de afhandeling van mijn klokkenluidersbrief, via de wet AVG.

Hierbij verzoek ik transparantie en toegang tot alle data mbt documenten/correspondentie van de heer Timmermans en zijn Cabinet (inclusief social media and sms/Whatsapp) over mij. 

Periode: 2015 - heden. 

Bij voorbaat dank! Tot nadere toelichting gaarne bereid.

Roelie Post

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It's believed half a million British women were persuaded to give their babies up for adoption in the 1950s, 60s and 70s.

Campaigners from the Movement for an Adoption Apology want the government to acknowledge that many women may have been coerced into giving up their babies against their will, and apologise.

Those women have lived with the heartache ever since, and many never saw their children again.

These are their stories.

Jean's story

HYDERABAD: As the number of Covid cases are increasing by the day, the city is also witnessing many cases of children losing their parents to Covid-19 and illegal adoptions.

Keeping the situation in mind, Telangana State Commission for Protection of Child Rights has urged people to take up adoption only by following legal procedure. It has asked officials to stay alert to curb illegal adoptions.

The Commission has asked all District Collectors to consider it as a high priority task and instruct the authorities concerned to circulate the information on ‘legal adoption’ in all departments, among NGOs and the general public.

Stating that illegal adoptions can result in child trafficking, TSCPCR officials cautioned people not to engage in such practices, and added that there was a systematic process for the same.

Abuses regarding adoption still occur today, the Joustra Committee recently noted. The substantiation of that claim is brief, responds the AdoptieVereniging Gereformeerde Gezindte (AVGG).

"Almost unchanged" is the "fraud-sensitive system" of adoption from abroad, even after the stricter regulations in 1998. That is what the investigation committee states in a letter that Minister Dekker sent to the House of Representatives last week. The list of sources that the researchers included as evidence for their claim has raised eyebrows among adoption organizations.

According to the AVGG, that list shows once again that there is "insufficient basis for the firm decision" to suspend adoption from abroad for the time being, says chairman Martin van Dam. As an example, he cites the “signs of abuse” from South Africa, where his own adopted children come from. The evidence that Joustra provides for this is a series of parliamentary questions that were asked because children from that country were not allowed to be adopted by non-Christian or gay couples. “Improper management,” say the researchers. Van Dam, however, refers to it as a 'normative framework' that has since become obsolete.

Fraud-prone

With the claim that the adoption system is "fraud sensitive", the committee is giving an "incorrect representation" in Van Dam's eyes. He calls the suggestion that adoption creates a market of supply and demand is unjustified. “Abroad people look for a solution for the child, not so much for the parents. For example, one first finds out whether there is a place in the immediate family circle or living environment where the child can go.”