An inquiry found systemic abuses like child trafficking, lack of record-keeping and government complicity until 1998. Practices have since improved, the government said, but not enough.

The Netherlands has temporarily halted all adoptions from abroad after an investigation found that the government had failed to act on known abuses, including child theft and trafficking, between 1967 and 1998.

“Adoptees deserve recognition for mistakes that were made in the past,” Sander Dekker, the minister for legal protection, said on Monday, as the results of the investigative report were made public. “They have to be able to count on our help in the present. And for the future we have to critically ask ourselves if and how to continue adoption from abroad.”

The government formed an independent commission in 2018 to look into international abuses after a lawsuit showed that the Dutch government had been involved in an illegal adoption from Brazil in 1980, and pointed to the possibility of more such cases. Experts said they knew of no other Western country that had stopped international adoptions.

In its report, the commission said it had found systematic wrongdoing, including pressuring poor women to give up their babies, falsifying documents, engaging in fraud and corruption, and, in effect, buying and selling children. In some cases, the Dutch government was aware of misdeeds in adoptions from Bangladesh, Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia and Sri Lanka, but did nothing about them and allowed them to continue, the report said.

Major abuses in the system of intercountry adoption were recognized on 8 February, which also recognized all adoptees who have raised the alarm with the government and other stakeholders in recent years. The Joustra Committee concludes that the government's supervision of adoption procedures is insufficient and that no action has been taken in the event of abuses that came to light. Minister Dekker for Legal Protection concludes that the Dutch government has failed by looking away for years and offers adoptees an apology on behalf of the cabinet. Minister Dekker has decided to immediately suspend intercountry adoption procedures. Defense for Children Netherlands sees this as a wise decision. For years, Defense for Children Netherlands has taken the view that intercountry adoption must be extremely restrained, based on Article 21 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Not being able to check or guarantee that intercountry adoptions to the Netherlands are properly effected is an important reason to argue now for an end to intercountry adoptions.

Independent committee

At the end of 2018, Minister Dekker asked an independent committee to investigate past intercountry adoption from abroad . The reason for this was a case of illegal adoption from Brazil and involvement of government officials. In addition to Brazil, the research assignment also focuses on Bangladesh, Colombia, Indonesia and Sri Lanka. The Ministry of Justice and Security also received signals from adoptees about possible adoption abuses in these countries. In its investigation, the Joustra Committee came across various types of abuses that occurred structurally. This concerns matters such as forgery of documents, child trafficking, fraud and corruption. But it is also about unethical acts such as allowing parents to renounce children under false pretenses or under moral pressure, deliberately creating uncertainty or ambiguity about someone's origins, and taking advantage of poverty. In certain cases, the Dutch government was aware of abuses, but did not intervene effectively. With this the abuses were perpetuated,

Apologies Minister

Minister Dekker apologizes: “It is painful to conclude that the government has not done what could be expected of it. Because although many adoptions were experienced as positive, the government should have taken a more active role by intervening in cases where there was abuse. The positive sentiment surrounding adoption in the last century - with the guiding idea that we did good with adoption - offers an explanation, but no justification. Apologies are in order for this attitude of the government, ”said Dekker. "I am grateful to the committee for the mirror in which the government did not want to look for so long."

On Thursday 11 February, the House of Representatives will discuss this with the Joustra Committee

the abuses in intercountry adoption. The conclusions from the report of the

commission are firm. For many adopted children from the period before 1998 this is

report confirming the fact that there have been terrible wrongs

took place and the apologies that the government has made are very empty

The Netherlands decided yesterday, after a damning report, to suspend intercountry adoptions. Flanders does not want to do the same helplessly.

The Dutch government has immediately decided to suspend adoptions of children from abroad. Candidate families that are well advanced in the procedure can still continue with it. The decision follows a damning report by the Joustra Commission, which concludes that abuses from the past have still not been completely resolved and that the Dutch government has looked away for years.

The report had already been leaked on Friday, but was officially presented on Monday. Adoptees here also eagerly looked forward to this and the response from the Dutch government.

Happy surprise

"I didn't expect this decision so soon, but it's a happy surprise," says San-Ho Correwyn, 51, co-author of the recently released book Feeling Adopted . 'I have also cherished the hope for a long time that Belgium and my country of origin Korea will do the same, and hit mea culpa. Intercountry adoption doesn't exactly have a clean history. '

The adoption of children from abroad has been temporarily suspended, following harsh criticism from the Joustra Commission. Marijke Bleijenberg worked in a children's home in China and is not surprised, as is Antony Vinke, who discovered errors in his own adoption file.

'Even before this research report brought it to light, I was already aware that adopted adoption procedures are not always correct. My own adoption papers also contain errors and forgeries, 'says Antony Vinke (34). His parents adopted him as a baby from Sri Lanka. He doesn't blame them, he emphasizes. 'They have acted in good conscience and conscience. I am now happy with my family in the Netherlands. But if no mistakes had been made in Sri Lanka, I probably wouldn't have ended up here. '

'A mess', is how Vinke summarizes the papers that his parents received upon his transfer. "For example, the medical document said I was a girl." In 2016, when he was 29 years old, he decided to look for his biological parents in his native country.

He received the assistance of a Sri Lankan who is an expert in such quests. 'I ended up on an emotional rollercoaster. You start with the basic information you have, but in the hospital where I was born I saw my name, but the name of my biological mother was missing. ' Then they tracked down a couple whose husband had the same surname as stated on Vinke's papers. 'It turned out that he had a son from 1986, but he lived in Sri Lanka. So that trail also ended. '

Vinke had a photo of the woman who gave it up. Its publication in the national newspaper in Sri Lanka resulted in a reaction from a woman, but her story did not match what Vinke knew about the transfer at the court at the time.

Muniz Dekker was adopted from the city 26 years ago. From Brazil he came to live in Eenrum when he was two. Now Dekker is looking for his biological parents. He takes us on his quest through vlogs.

Dekker accurately keeps track of all his steps in the search for his biological parents. He makes extensive vlogs about this . Despite being adopted 26 years ago, he started his search and his vlogs last December. And that is not without reason.

'I thought it was too confrontational'

'Eleven months ago I became a father to a daughter and since then my interest has been rekindled. I have worked on it a few times in the past, but that came to nothing and then I stopped looking. I also found it too confronting, not knowing what I would encounter. '

Quest for little daughter

Adoption numbers have fallen over the past year, mainly because of new challenges created by

the pandemic.

“It is not a drastic drop, but it is signicant enough,” says a member of the Integrated Child Protection

Scheme (ICPS), set up by the central government to provide protection for children in difcult

circumstances.

On Monday, February 8, 2021 it is report 'Committee on the investigation of intercountry adoption'published and handed over to Minister of Legal Protection, Sander Dekker. This report is the result of an independent investigation by the 'Committee on the Investigation of Intercountry Adoption in the Past' into the actual course of events surrounding old international adoptions and the role of the Dutch government in this.

What is now known?

Minister Dekker indicates that the Dutch government has failed to act for years by looking away from abuses in international adoptions and not intervening in this. This applies at least for the period 1967-1998.

In the past, the Dutch government has acted too passively in intercountry adoptions, had insufficient supervision of adoption procedures and did not intervene in cases of abuses that came to light. Mediating bodies operating in the Netherlands were also aware of abuses, but did not intervene.

All international adoption procedures will be suspended immediately. This has been decided because the current adoption system still contains vulnerabilities and cannot be controlled sufficiently.

The cabinet will receive the research report on adoption from abroad on Monday. After reporting from the AD on Friday, insiders said that the Commission for the Investigation of Intercountry Adoption, led by Tjibbe Joustra, advises to stop adopting children from abroad altogether. Too many abuses would have come to light to be able to proceed responsibly.

It is not yet certain whether the cabinet will fully adopt the recommendations from the investigation report. According to insiders, this is still being discussed, partly because of the question of whether current proceedings may still be completed.

Dutch officials may have been involved in illegal adoptions from Brazil in the 1970s and 1980s, it was previously known. This was followed by the order from Minister Sander Dekker (Legal Protection) to investigate the case further. Adoptions from Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Colombia were also scrutinized.

Dekker did not want to respond on Friday, after the recommendations from the report were leaked. "It is really important that the committee is given the opportunity to present the report with all due care, to show exactly what it contains." The minister found it inappropriate to respond to "such a sensitive topic" on Friday. Prime Minister Mark Rutte also said on Friday that he did not think it wise to respond to the issue.

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The adoption of children from abroad will be suspended immediately. Minister Sander Dekker (Legal Protection) announced this on Monday, in response to a damning report on international adoption in the Netherlands. This also raises the question of whether foreign adoption should be continued in the future.

New applications for adoption from abroad will not be processed for the time being. Parents who have already received permission to bring a child to the Netherlands are allowed to complete the procedure after an additional test.

According to Dekker, the Dutch government has failed to act for years by looking away from abuses during adoptions and not intervening. "It is painful to find that the government has not done what could be expected of it," he said.

According to the minister, for a long time the idea prevailed that parents with adoption were doing 'good'. He called this a well-intentioned but also a somewhat naive sentiment. 'It does offer an explanation for the actions of the government, but no justification.' Dekker apologized on behalf of the government.

Serious wrongs