In five years, Michel Joseph, 32, has brought together about twenty Haitian families divided by adoption, a phenomenon that, in Haiti, owes its existence in most cases to the poverty that is at its height in the country. In this interview, he talks to us about the dismay of children and families, their cries of despair and the heavy emotions that run through him and the families, following his life-saving interventions.

There are legions of adopted or abandoned children who become adults, without ever knowing their real parents. They languish waiting for the day to meet them and often knock on every door to find help from people who can help them trace their origins, meet their biological parents. But often, without success. Some die without their eyes meeting.

Cries of despair, sadness, pain, regret: these are among other characteristics of the malaise of parents and children who are found in the context of adoption. Often approached by children who are light years away from their biological parents, the journalist and information director of Radio Télévision Caraïbes, Michel Joseph, answers our questions.

Loop Haiti: You have several distinctions to your credit, including the "Philippe Chaffanjon" prize, which you won in the 3rd edition with your report entitled "Adoption- Cry of Despair". Why did you choose this subject and not another?

Michel Joseph: It all started when one day a friend said to me: "Michel, there is a young man who lives in France and who would like to reconnect with his biological parents in Haiti. Do you think you could do something?" I said yes. I worked with the girl, in 24 hours she was able to reconnect with her origins in Haiti. I remember her name well: it was Katia Marie.

And there was the 3rd edition of the Philippe Chaffanjon multimedia reporting prize. I thought it was a good topic. Nobody was talking about it, but the problem was real.

Cry of despair why? Because there are so many children abroad who are looking for their biological parents in Haiti, so many parents also who are looking for traces of their children after 10 to 30 years of adoption. I proposed the subject to the competition, it caught the attention of the jury and I won the prize.

But what struck me most at the awards ceremony was the presence of an adopted girl living in France who had already found her biological parents in Haiti thanks to my reporting. I helped the girl, and when I won the award she was living proof of my work. That was in 2016. I had helped this girl and two other brothers find their biological parents.

US authorities have dismantled a vast network between Uganda and the United States, specializing in the adoption of fake Ugandan orphans.

“Young children were taken from their Ugandan families against the promise of special education programs and studies in the United States, before being offered for adoption to American families”. In a statement released Monday, August 17, the US Treasury said US authorities had uncovered a "corrupt" network offering fake Ugandan orphans for adoption by US parents.

Some children were removed from "vulnerable families in remote Ugandan villages" by intermediaries ensuring that they would be entrusted to missionaries in Kampala, the capital of Uganda, during their schooling. American families awaiting adoption, unaware of these methods, then had to bring the children back to their country.

The Treasury , responsible for promoting economic prosperity and ensuring the financial security of the United States, announced financial sanctions against two Ugandan judges as well as a Ugandan lawyer and her husband, at the head of the network. They are henceforth undesirable on American territory, their possible economic resources in the United States will be blocked and access to the American financial system will be denied to them.

For its part, the American justice announced the indictment of the Ugandan lawyer but also of an American resident in the State of Texas, both presented as the brains of the network, whose members have pocketed more than 900,000 dollars, according to investigators.

Madras High Court: P.T. Asha, J., addressed a matter in relation to adoption and modification in the birth certificate of a minor in terms of change in the name of the biological father of the child.

Legal status of a biological daughter

Petitioners are the adopted father and biological/natural mother of minor seeking direction from the Court that petitioner 1 be appointed as a father of the minor female child and consequently, the minor child be entitled to the legal status of a biological daughter with all the rights of succession and inheritance in respect of the adopted father and a modified birth certificate of the minor be issued.

Adoption Regulations and the JJ Act

Petitioners have contended that the conditions prescribed under Adoption Regulations and the Juvenile Justice Act have fully been complied with while filing the present petition.

HYDERABAD: The alleged rape of a minor girl at a city orphanage

recently, has brought to light the illegal mushrooming of child care

institutes (CCIs) across Telangana. According to officials of the women and

child welfare department (WCWD), there are over 200 such shelters up

and running in the state — most of them in Rangareddy and Medchal

Owner of Strongsville agency, employees charged with conspiracy in foreign adoption cases

Updated 8:58 PM; Today 6:48 PM

Facebook Share

Twitter Share

131

When most of us think about international adoption, we take a process with lifetime and generational implications and narrow it down to one brief moment in time — the moment an adoptive parent meets their child for the first time. We watch videos of an adoptive parent’s first embrace of their new child; see the child cry and pull away or perhaps fiercely hug the adoptive parent back, and we are overcome by this moment.

Few other moments in life are as transformational or poignant as when complete strangers come together as a family for the first time.

But those impacted by adoption know it cannot be distilled down to a single point in time. Adoption begins with a woman learning she is pregnant and feeling completely overwhelmed with how she will care for and raise a child. It begins with a family experiencing a series of setbacks that leads them to consider the unimaginable — is there someone else, anyone else, who can care for my children if I reach the breaking point?

Flash forward in time to an adoptee graduating college, getting married, having a baby. The adoptee wonders if his birth parents had the opportunity to graduate from high school or college as he himself walks across the stage to accept his diploma. An adoptee stands before the alter and wonders how her wedding might be different if her birth father and birth mother were sitting in the front row next to her adoptive parents, witnessing her exchange wedding vows. When an adoptee gives birth to her first child, she looks into the eyes of her newborn and sees her birth family’s genetic legacy looking back at her.

The reality of adoption is that the impact begins well before a child is placed for adoption and extends far beyond the moment of placement, into eternity.

The state government is launching a foster care scheme under which citizens can parent children from state-run child care institutions for a limited period of one to three years. The scheme is being implemented as a pilot project in five districts including Mumbai suburban. The government has invited applications from interested parents.

Maharashtra has about 450 government-run institutes that house thousands of children who are either orphaned or whose parents are unable to raise them. Children living in these child-care institutions and between the ages of 7 to 18 may be placed with families under the foster care scheme.

“The basic principle of the Juvenile Justice Act is non-institutional parenting of children. Besides the adoption scheme, this is an opportunity for the children to live with the unrelated families albeit for a limited period. Their stay in the families will help them their qualitative growth,” said Manisha Birasis, program manager of the integrated child protection scheme and assistant commissioner, department of women and child development.

Birasis said district-level committees comprising district women and child welfare officers, child protection officers, members of the child welfare committee and protection officers of non-institutional care will look into the background of the family who apply to foster children. “There will be strict monitoring every 15-30 days by us with the help of interaction with the principals of the schools, neighbours of the family and with the child itself. Children in conflict with the law, those living in observation homes and those in the age group of zero to six years are excluded from the scheme. The first category is excluded for security reasons, while children younger than six years have prospects of permanent adoption, which is our top priority. Children from child care institutes and in the age group of six-18 years are being placed in this scheme, among which our first preference will be the children between six-10 years,” she said.

Explaining the difference between adoption and foster care, Birasis said adoption gives parents the rights of biological parents while foster care is temporary and the parents have no legal rights over the child.

Chandigarh police collected the DNA samples of two rescued babies and their actual parents to establish their relationship. The samples were collected at GMSH-16 and then sent for DNA profiling to CFSL in Sector 36. Two policemen had procured the child from an alleged child trafficking gang after paying money.

Five members of the gang, including three women and two men, are in police custody. While the parents of the rescued children have recorded their statements before a local court. Sources said, the parents have claimed that the gang members, including two ASHA workers, had misguided them about their children immediately after the birth. One of the parents, sources said, claimed in her statement that ASHA worker, Sarabjeet Kaur, misguided them that she gave the birth to twins and one of them was born dead. The statement further recorded that Sarabjeet Kaur had taken away the other child claiming that the condition of the child was not good and she would take the child for further medical checkup.

The five members of the gang in police custody include two ASHA workers, one Sector 45-based woman, Bhawna, and two men including a Punjab police constable. They were arrested with a kidnapped child near Airport light point on August 3. They came to Chandigarh to sell the male child for Rs four lakh. Police had negotiated a deal with the gang through a decoy customer.

A police officer said, “We traced the parents of the male child at Malerkotla in Sangrur. Later, a girl was also rescued, following the disclosure of the gang members. The girl had been sold to a couple for Rs one lakh. We also traced the parents of the girl child. Parents of both the children recorded their statements before the magistrate. The DNA samples of the children and parents were collected. Indeed, poverty is also one of the reasons behind this racket. Police department is considering legal action against the couple who had paid money to the accused for procuring the girl child, a fortnight back. The result of the DNA samples will come after at least one month. The accused searched for childless couples, approached them, negotiated and sold the children.”

The two ASHA workers have been identified as Sarabjeet Kaur of Sangrur and Kuldeep Kaur of Patiala district. The other accused Bhawna is from Punjab and lives at a rented accommodation in Sector 45, Chandigarh. Police said the Punjab police constable held in the case, Amarjeet Singh, is a resident of Kharar in Mohali. Another accused, Mandeep Singh of Ludhiana, is the brother of accused Sarabjeet Kaur.

Four children; 13-year-old Karanbir Singh, 11-year-old Gurpreet Singh, nine-year-old Arshpreet Singh, and seven-year-old Sandeep Singh lost their

parents recently. Now actor Sonu Sood has decided to adopt them and take care of their education.

HIGHLIGHTS

Tarn Taran: Actor Sonu Sood who won accolades by helping the needy and the poor during the lockdown has pledged his support to four orphans of Punjab.

These children lost their father in the Punjab hooch tragedy. The mother passed away soon after.

A total of 11 children have been surrendered to special adoption agencies in Madurai district during the COVID-19 lockdown since March 2020.

Representatives from the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) and the adoption agencies say that the numbers were higher compared to previous year.

Chairman of CWC, Madurai district, K. Vijayasaravanan, says that a major reason cited by parents when they surrender children was loss of livelihood due to COVID-19 pandemic.

Giving an instance, he said that one of the children admitted to a adoption agency was a four-day-old girl child who was surrendered by her parents at the primary health centre in T. Ramanathapuram which is part of Elumalai block on Thursday. The parents said they already had girl children to look after.

According to a data accessed by The Hindu, the children surrendered to the two special adoption agencies in the district- Grace Kennett Hospital and Claretian Mercy Home- include seven girls and four boys.