Call for review of processes around cross-border adoption

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In a globalising world where new family structures are emerging and evolving, a University of Sydney scholar is calling for a reassessment of the regulations around intercountry adoption.

Associate Professor Sonja Van Wichelen, sociologist and leader of the Biohumanity FutureFix research project in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences made the call in a paper published in the latest issue of Law and Society Review.

In the paper, Associate Professor Van Wichelen argues that the world of international adoption today is undergoing profound changes and that legal systems and processes have been unable to catch up.

Three cases registered; five people arrested; two babies handed over to orphanages

Investigations into the abduction of an infant outside Mahim railway station in June have uncovered a racket of selling babies, with two more cases being registered with the Mumbra and Khandeshwar police. While the agents remain the same, the seller and purchaser are different in every case.

On June 26, a two-month-old baby, who was sleeping with his twin brother and parents on the pavement outside Mahim station, was stolen after midnight. Around 2 a.m., when the mother found the baby missing, the family approached the Government Railway Police in Dadar.

Senior inspector Prasad Pandhre and team found the baby and arrested kidnapper Shahbaz Shaikh (26). Since the case came under the jurisdiction of the Mahim police, the case was transferred to them along with the accused.

An officer from Mahim police station said, “On interrogation, Mr. Shaikh revealed that he was promised ?25,000 for providing a baby boy to one Raju and Sujata in Panvel. He was to meet them near Panvel railway station, but they did not turn up. So we nabbed them at their residence and later, they were arrested.”

Between 2018 and April 2019 an alarming 3,041 young boys and girls were kidnapped.

HIGHLIGHTS

Between 2018 and April 2019 an alarming 3,041 young boys and girls were kidnapped

Out of these the count of young girls stood at 2,000 whereas the count of boys was at 1,041

Of the above 1,422 girls and 792 boys were found but a significant number remained untraceable

Niklaus Samuel Gugger, who was adopted by a Swiss couple, visited Thalassery – a place he calls his hometown.

In 1970, when Anasuya gave birth to a baby boy in India, she told the nurse and the lady doctor who attended her not to tell her son about her, and ask him never to come in search of her. Forty nine years later, Niklaus Samuel Gugger, now an MP in Switzerland visiting Thalassery in Kerala – a place he calls his hometown – is happy he honoured his unknown mother’s wish.

“The lady doctor has passed away and the other woman is 84 years old. I respect my mother’s wish. She trusted the missionary hospital (where I was born) to find the best place for me. And they did,” Nik says on a phone call from Kochi. He has just reached Kochi from Thalassery. Before that he was in Thiruvananthapuram, where he was hosted for lunch by Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. Nik had hosted the CM when he visited Switzerland earlier.

Nik is on a holiday with his family, and Kerala is very dear to him. After leaving India as a four-year-old to move to Switzerland, he has come back to the country at least 10 times, he reckons.

“It is because of my parents – the Swiss couple that adopted me, Fritz and Elizabeth. They said we should never lose our roots,” Nik says. Fritz also made sure Nik remembers all of his childhood. With a Super 8 camera, he made movies of little Nik running around in Thalassery and at the Hermann Gundert Foundation where he lived for four years.

Three cases registered; five people arrested; two babies handed over to orphanages

Investigations into the abduction of an infant outside Mahim railway station in June have uncovered a racket of selling babies, with two more cases being registered with the Mumbra and Khandeshwar police. While the agents remain the same, the seller and purchaser are different in every case.

On June 26, a two-month-old baby, who was sleeping with his twin brother and parents on the pavement outside Mahim station, was stolen after midnight. Around 2 a.m., when the mother found the baby missing, the family approached the Government Railway Police in Dadar.

Senior inspector Prasad Pandhre and team found the baby and arrested kidnapper Shahbaz Shaikh (26). Since the case came under the jurisdiction of the Mahim police, the case was transferred to them along with the accused.

An officer from Mahim police station said, “On interrogation, Mr. Shaikh revealed that he was promised ?25,000 for providing a baby boy to one Raju and Sujata in Panvel. He was to meet them near Panvel railway station, but they did not turn up. So we nabbed them at their residence and later, they were arrested.”

America Vera-Zavala: Adoptions can be fantastic, but we have to watch the shit

The Chronicle of Culture "It is very radical to say that all relatives should also be suspected so grossly that the children must be adopted away to strangers", says the chronicler America Vera-Zavala on the grounds that the so-called "IS children" should be placed in new homes.

This is a chronicle. Statements are the writer's own.

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America Vera-Zavala

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NEWSTrafficking: Delta Govt secretly places embargo on children adoption, CDHR reacts

Published on July 31, 2019 By Matthew Omonigho

The Delta State Government through the Ministry of Women Affairs has secretly placed embargo on children adoption in the state with a view to curbing child trafficking, DAILY POST can report.

When contacted for comments on the matter, the newly sworn-in Commissioner, Ministry of Women Affairs, Mrs. Flora Alatan was not on seat.

However, the Permanent Secretary of Ministry of Women Affairs, Mrs. Gladys Peugeren in a chat with our correspondent in Asaba said she was not in the position to speak, noting that, “It is an internal issue.”

The Delta State Government through the Ministry of Women Affairs has secretly placed embargo on children adoption in the state with a view to curbing child trafficking, DAILY POST can report.

When contacted for comments on the matter, the newly sworn-in Commissioner, Ministry of Women Affairs, Mrs. Flora Alatan was not on seat.

However, the Permanent Secretary of Ministry of Women Affairs, Mrs. Gladys Peugeren in a chat with our correspondent in Asaba said she was not in the position to speak, noting that, “It is an internal issue.”

Peugeren pointed out that it is only newly sworn-in Commissioner, Ministry of Women Affairs, Flora Alatan that can address the press wondering how Our Correspondent got the information.

Meanwhile, Delta State Chapter of the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights, CDHR has commended Governor Arthur Ifeanyi Okowa for placing the embargo on children adoption.

Born in Udupi, Gugger was abandoned by his biological parents at Basel mission hospital and was taken to Thalassery, where he lived till he was four years old.

THALASSERY, KERALA: It was a trip down memory lane for 49-year-old Niklaus Samuel Gugger, an Indian origin member of the Swiss Parliament, who was in the port town of Thalassery, where he spent his early years.

Gugger today also visited the campus of Nettur Technical Training Foundation (NTTF) at Illikunnu where his adopted father was a teacher.

Dressed in the traditional Kerala attire of "mundu" (dhoti), the young MP, who was accorded a civic reception on Tuesday, said he was happy to be back in his "home town" where he had grown up till he was four years old.

Gugger was adopted by a German couple, who later shifted to Switzerland.