Bud Wichers, a photo and video journalist from the Netherlands, has traveled the world to capture major conflicts and wars, including in Syria, Gaza, Libya and Ukraine. “I became a photographer because I believe in social justice, connecting people to make the world a better place,” he said recently. “If I weren’t adopted, those feelings might not have been so strong.” Bud was among 3,040 Indonesian children who were adopted by Dutch nationals between 1973 and 1983. While he acknowledged that his adoptive Dutch parents had given him the opportunity of a better life, he still longs to know his birth parents. For years he has attempted to retrace his roots in Jakarta. His adoption documents identify him as Budiman, born in 1977 to a couple named Rusdi and Mustiah who lived in Gang V of Jl. Dukuh Pinggir in Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta. His Dutch parents adopted him from Kasih Bunda orphanage — now Loka Kasih — on Jakarta’s outskirts in 1978. Bud has visited both places but found no substantial information. Last year on Nov. 20, he once again visited his birth parents’ supposed home address on Jl. Dukuh Pinggir, a kampung located just behind luxurious shopping malls and office towers along the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle. An elderly woman named Esni said Bud’s mother, Mustiah, had lived there but had moved to Tangerang, Banten, with her daughter several years ago. This information gave him a surge of hope – but it did not last long. Read also: Indonesian woman in Netherlands writes to long-lost biological mother in viral open letter Weeks later, Bud connected with another Indonesian adoptee in the Netherlands who had the same address on her adoption document. “She had the same address on her paper around the same time period. Only different parents’ names on the paper,” Bud said. DNA tests showed that they were not related. “I believe […] my adoption papers were doctored; I’m not sure about anything in those papers anymore,” he said. “I have no idea where to go from here," he said. Bud Wichers as a baby at the Bunda Kasih orphanage, now Loka Kasih, in Tangerang, Banten, in around 1978, just before his adoption to a Dutch couple. (Courtesy/Bud Wichers) Long-overdue apology Falsified adoption documents have become a significant hurdle for many Indonesian adoptees trying to track their roots. Ana Maria van Valen, the cofounder of the Mijn Roots Foundation, said forged documents often indicated that the adoptions were illegal. Mijn Roots has reunited 38 Indonesian adoptees with their birth parents and is helping another 87 to date. “We have found 38 mothers. Sometimes we found out that the story is not what is stated in the papers. Some mothers never gave up their babies,” Ana said. “In my case, my mother never wanted to give me up. My mother asked a lady to take care of me so she could work in Jakarta. When she came back, I was gone. But in the papers, it is stated that my mother had given her permission [for the adoption].” At the age of 18, Ana Maria van Valen (left) reunites with her mother in Bogor, West Java. Ana and Christine Verhaagen – both Indonesian adoptees in the Netherlands – cofounded the Mijn Roots Foundation in 2014 in efforts to reunite adoptees with their birth families. (Courtesy/Ana Maria van Valen) In 1983, the Indonesian government uncovered a slew of illegal adoption cases, implicating orphanages, birth clinics and midwives, and subsequently banned overseas adoptions. But in the Netherlands, it took almost four decades for the Dutch government to admit the wrongdoings. For years, adoptees from Indonesia, Colombia, Brazil and several other countries repeatedly called on the Dutch government to investigate and apologize for its problematic adoption process. The long-overdue apology finally came on Feb. 8 following a government commission’s investigation into adoptions from Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh from 1967 to 1998. The commission found that some children had been stolen or bought from their birth parents under economic pressure or false pretenses. The investigation also detailed different types of structural abuses, including Dutch officials overlooking falsified documents, fraud and corruption. The findings prompted the Dutch government to suspend adoptions from abroad. “When it comes to mistakes made in the past, adoptees should be given recognition, and they should be able to rely on our help and assistance in the present,” Legal Protection Minister Sander Dekker said in a statement in February. The Dutch government said adoptees would receive support from a national expertise center during all stages of the search for their roots, as well as sociopsychological and legal assistance. Ana and Bud welcomed this move, with Bud saying: “I believe it’s a big step in the right direction from the Dutch government. I’m grateful for that.” The Dutch government has allocated 1.2 million euro (US$1.43 million) to support adoptees from different countries, including Indonesia. “They will now give funding to organizations that support adoptees, but not for individual searching cases. We have applied for that, and the [related] ministries are still discussing this,” Ana said. “An adoptee could spend thousands of euro for tickets, accommodation, searching, mental healthcare, DNA tests and other [requirements].” Not always a happy ending At Mijn Roots, Ana and her team try their best to provide emotional support to adoptees. Ana realizes that some Indonesian adoptees face questions about their identity, which often leads to depression and other mental health problems. Ana, who was adopted at the age of 2.5 years old, also faced similar problems. “Being separated from your biological mother and losing that special [bond] can be a traumatic experience. I know some adoptees who really find it hard to cope with that,” she said. “You come from a different culture, your family has different characters. You are Indonesian in the Netherlands. But in Indonesia, you feel more Dutch.” When an adoptee finds their parents, it does not always mean a happy ending. Adoptees may find it hard to adjust to the birth family’s culture — and sometimes their unrealistic expectations. “Sometimes the family thinks that the adoptee is very rich and they ask for [financial] support,” Ana said, noting that such expectations sometimes prompted adoptees to sever ties with their birth parents. Bud knows that finding his biological parents may not lead to a fairy-tale reunion. He also acknowledges that his search has become even more difficult with the discovery of what is likely false information on his adoption papers. Nevertheless, he will continue to look for his birth family in Indonesia. “I am thankful for the opportunities my adopted parents gave me, but I am also sad for my biological parents who never had a chance to raise me.”

This article was published in thejakartapost.com with the title "Fake documents hamper Dutch-Indonesian adoptees' search for birth parentsDiscarded puppy Locky's luck turns in Moscow lockdown". Click to read: https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2021/03/17/fake-documents-hamper-dutch-indonesian-adoptees-search-for-birth-parents.html?fbclid=IwAR0ggLo8BXtCV0AM99nGe_2xFLIW31aetjzM9EFZxiuX7eY5n2BVlb9IBvk.

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Protocol for Responding to Allegations of Illicit or Illegal Practices in Intercountry Adoption

What to do if you think your, or your child’s, intercountry adoption was illegal or illicit

In Australia, intercountry adoptions are facilitated under the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption (the Hague Convention)(link is external). This helps preserve the safety, rights and interests of children. The rights and best interest of the child are central to any decisions made about a child’s adoption.

The Australian Central Authority (ACA) and State and Territory Central Authorities (STCAs) are aware of the risks involved in intercountry adoption and only partner with countries who adhere to the Hague Convention.

If concerns or allegations about illicit and illegal adoption practices are raised we have the Protocol for Responding to Allegations of Illicit or Illegal Practices in Intercountry Adoption (the Protocol). It has been developed by the ACA for intercountry adoption under the Hague Convention, in consultation with STCAs. The protocol is reviewed periodically to make sure it adheres to best practice in preventing and addressing illicit or illegal practices in intercountry adoption.

All 5 petitions were filed last year by BJP leader & lawyer Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay. In all of them, SC has issued notice, asking relevant govt authorities to respond.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court currently has five petitions pending before it that demand uniformity in civil laws in the country on five aspects — age of marriage, divorce, succession, maintenance and adoption.

All the petitions were filed last year by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and lawyer Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay. And in all of them, the apex court has issued notice, asking the relevant government authorities to respond.

The petition seeking uniform age of marriage demands that the marriageable age for both men and women should be increased to 21 years.

The remaining four PILs have the same demand — either the Supreme Court should direct the government to “remove anomalies” in different laws, or it should frame guidelines itself to declare such “discriminatory grounds” of succession, adoption, maintenance and divorce as unconstitutional.

Reconnecting Haitian families separated by adoption is the mission of Voie D'Espoir.   At the initiative of Michel Joseph, several hundred parents took part in a census day organized on Radio Télévision Caraibes on Saturday, March 7, 2021. 

After more than twenty reports that have helped reunite families, Michel Joseph wants to continue to produce hope by launching his organization called “Voie d'espoir”. 

Indeed, between emotion and testimony, the presenter of 19-20 takes pleasure in being an artist of these meetings which provide a lot of happiness. 

 More than 700 families are registered in the organization's database, with the hope of finding their offspring, who have been given up for adoption. 

Around fifty volunteers were available for this big first. 

Thousands of Sri Lankan babies were put up for adoption between the 1960s and 1980s - some of them sold by "baby farms" to prospective parents across Europe. The Netherlands, which accepted many of those infants, has recently suspended international adoptions following historical allegations of coercion and bribery. As that investigation unfolds, families who never stopped thinking about the children who vanished hope they will be reunited.

Indika Waduge remembers the red car driving off with his mother and sister, Nilanthi, inside. He and his other sister Damayanthi stayed at home and waited for their mother to return. When she came back the next day, she was alone.

"When we said goodbye to each other I never thought Nilanthi was about to go abroad or it was the last time we'd see each other," he says.

This was in either 1985 or 1986, when Indika's father had left his mother Panikkarge Somawathie to raise three children alone. As the family struggled to survive, he remembers a man his mother knew convincing her to give Nilanthi, who was four or five, up for adoption.

Indika Waduge

About Me

Annick Boosten

I was adopted from India at the age of four. My parents already had a son David, who is four years older than me. There was another son but unfortunately he had a metabolic disease that killed him when he was eight months old. Due to the disease being hereditary (David appeared to have it too, only to a lesser extent) my parents decided to adopt a child. My parents are hardworking people who are always busy, the type who always say, “Don’t whine, just get on with it.” That’s how they raised me.

My mother worked furiously to teach me the Dutch language so that I could go to school as soon as possible because I came to them in December then by January, I had to go to school. When I used to object and say, “I’m sure they do that very differently in India,’ my mother replied, “You’re not in India, you’re in Belgium and that’s how we do it here.” I am very happy with my parents but sometimes I would have liked them to have known me a bit better, to have been a little more empathetic. As a child, I was overloaded with expensive clothes and all kinds of electronic toys as compensation because my parents worked so hard. During the holidays, I was sent to all kinds of camps so that my parents wouldn’t have to take off from work. I would have much preferred if we had been closely involved as a family and my parents made time for us to do fun things together. I’d have preferred a day at the beach than an X-box or Playstation.

Now that I have a son of my own, I give him a kiss every day and tell him how very happy I am with him. I do this even in those moments when I might be a bit angry because he doesn’t want to sleep. I missed that sort of interaction with my parents.

Thousands of Sri Lankan babies were put up for adoption between the 1960s and 1980s - some of them sold by "baby farms" to prospective parents across Europe. The Netherlands, which accepted many of those infants, has recently suspended international adoptions following historical allegations of coercion and bribery. As that investigation unfolds, families who never stopped thinking about the children who vanished hope they will be reunited.

Indika Waduge remembers the red car driving off with his mother and sister, Nilanthi, inside. He and his other sister Damayanthi stayed at home and waited for their mother to return. When she came back the next day, she was alone.

"When we said goodbye to each other I never thought Nilanthi was about to go abroad or it was the last time we'd see each other," he says.

This was in either 1985 or 1986, when Indika's father had left his mother Panikkarge Somawathie to raise three children alone. As the family struggled to survive, he remembers a man his mother knew convincing her to give Nilanthi, who was four or five, up for adoption.

Indika says this man was a broker for a "baby farm" in a suburb of the capital, Colombo, called Kotahena. He claims that while a female clerical officer at a court and her husband ran it, it was the broker who arranged the adoption for foreign parents - mainly Dutch couples.

Often adopted children go missing without a trace

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 tracking them down or hearing from 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 crèche so that they can go about their business activities. When they return after eight or fifteen days, it is announced that the child has already been adopted and that he has traveled ”.

In other situations, birth parents fall victim to false promises. "Sometimes [nurseries, orphanages or foreign missions] promise them a house or money, under the pretext of sponsorship, in exchange for the child."

Michel Joseph's reports on Radio Caraibes have made it possible to link some twenty Haitian parents with their children scattered around the world. To systematize this work, the journalist has just launched on March 6, Voie d'Espoir. Several hundred parents made the trip, documents yellowed by time in hand, to launch research on children who have sometimes disappeared for decades.

Iresha, 32, was born in India and adopted as a baby by Dutch adoptive parents. Iresha is 12 years old when she dares to confide in someone and talks about how things really go at home. She is removed from home at the age of 15. She spends her teenage years in various youth care institutions.

Years later she has her life on her own. She lives in Antwerp where she is educated at the art academy and works on her artworks with great passion. This is her story.

Where I come from

I grew up in a family with Dutch parents. After my arrival in the Netherlands, my parents adopted my sister from Colombia. My mother got pregnant twice more. She interrupted one pregnancy and when I was 7 years old, they had another son. I've always felt different. I looked different from the people around me.

When I was 5 years old I traveled to India with my adoptive parents to meet my biological mother. This was a traumatic experience. I was too young to be confronted with my background; the different culture in India and the poverty that I saw. When I got off the plane and was confronted by the people living on the street, I threw up.

For the opening of investigations into illegal adoptions and illicit practices in intercountry adoptions since 1950 in Europe

In recent years, more and more of us in Europe have called for an investigation into the illicit practices observed in intercountry adoption for several decades.

Indeed, today, it is clear that :

In view of the difficulties encountered by adoptees in obtaining information on their origins, despite the right to access information which is supposedly a fundamental right ;

In view of the growing number of adoptees living in European Union countries who discover that their international adoption has been the subject of illegal practices (falsified documents, erroneous accounts, child trafficking, kidnappings, false contentment’s, etc.) and some of whom find, against all odds, their biological family ;