The Karnataka High Court recently quashed a criminal case against a woman booked for human trafficking, who allegedly sold her minor daughter for Rs 15,000 to a couple in Maharashtra as she was unable to maintain herself and her child.
In doing so the court noted that the woman had a "bonafide intention" to get the child adopted, even though the procedure was not followed adding that ingredients of the offence of trafficking were not made out.
Justice K Natarajan allowed the petition filed by one Mandara and quashed the proceedings registered under Section 370 (Trafficking of a Person) read with Section 34 (common intention) IPC and Section 81 (Sale and procurement of children for any purpose) of Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015.
The FIR registered by the police on March 13, 2019 was based a complaint filed by the one Punith Kumar E., District Child Protection Officer alleging that the petitioner woman had sold her child to accused Nos.2 and 3.
It was alleged that the petitioner is said to have married to one Girish and out of the wedlock, they begot a male child and the petitioner's husband deserted her and the child. Thereafter, it was alleged that she became intimate with another person named Venkatesh and out of that relationship, she delivered a female child on February 24, 2019.
Kathryn and Joshua Silvers allege gross negligence, medical malpractice led to their son's death at Discovery Ranch
The family of a boy who died at a teen residential treatment center in Mapleton is filing a notice of intent and notice of claim against the facility and others as a prelude to a possible malpractice claim.
Kathryn and Joshua Silvers are alleging in the notice that gross negligence, medical malpractice and systemic failures at Discovery Ranch Academy led to the death of their son, Biruk Silvers, on Nov. 5, according to a release from their attorney.
Kathryn Silvers addressed the allegations in a statement from the family during a virtual meeting Monday morning.
“In our efforts to get (Biruk) the help he needed, we placed him at Discovery Ranch Academy, believing their promises to us and at great expense to our family. We were assured we would be partners in his care and kept informed at every step of the way, but they broke that promise,” she said. “They kept us in the dark about the very things we needed to know to protect our son. On Nov. 5, 2024, a parent’s worst nightmare came true. Our son Biruk died (of) asphyxiation while in the care of Discovery Ranch Academy. And now, almost two weeks later, we know this is not an inevitable tragedy, it was a preventable one.”
Vidya Liselotte Sundberg’s albums will find tangible expression at a unique concert in Pune and Mumbai from next month on.
When they say the best songs come from a deep sense of pain and loss they could well be talking of Vidya Liselotte Sundberg. Born in Pune and adopted at three months by Swedish parents, she grew up in Gavle, Sweden. Her journey to becoming a jazz singer was one phase of her life. The next began when she set out to find her biological mother, equipped with something she was given at the age of 10 to 15 – a letter left for her by her biological mother before she relinquished her at an orphanage here.
Her adoptive parents had divorced, enhancing her vulnerability, but with the support of her Swedish partner and her son Vidya began her quest. It took many visits to India, herculean efforts, time and patience but at the age of 39 she finally traced her biological mother, filling all the blanks she had grappled with in her life. It also perhaps fortified her for the losses that lay ahead—of losing two mothers, both her biological and adoptive one, in the space of four years. This was when she turned completely to her music for answers—and they came rushing in taking the form of lyrics and songs that only a broken heart can feel and create. Today these songs have been strung together to form the basis of both her second and third albums—Papillon and Adi Shakti and will find tangible expression at a unique concert that Vidya has planned in Pune and Mumbai next month on, where she will weave in her life story within each number on stage.
Vidya went to London and started working on her album AdiShakti, inspired by the Adi Shakti mantra.
“Life has taken me on a rollercoaster. After some very fulfilling years with my biological mother I lost her. I returned to Gavle, where I had grown up. Covid struck and I started to spend more time with my music. I then learnt that my Swedish mother had cancer and my focus shifted to her. She died in 2022, one week after my second album—Papillon—was released. The very next day after her death this poem came up inside me, that I think I had been carrying for many years. It was Rumi’s—‘Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I’ll meet you there…’,” recalls Vidya, who then went to London and started working on her album AdiShakti, inspired by the Adi Shakti mantra. The album was released in May this year.
Inset: Diane Natasha Mack (Highlands County Sheriff’s Office). Background: The home and garage where Diane Natasha Mack allegedly abused her adoptive daughter (Highlands County Sheriff’s Office/YouTube).
Deputies in Sebring, Florida, were called to a “horrific” crime scene on Friday that “no amount of law enforcement experience” could have ever prepared them for, according to police officials.
Diane Natasha Mack — a 34-year-old former Florida Department of Children and Families employee who worked as a guardian ad litem (GAL) — had phoned police to report the death of her 13-year-old adopted daughter after finding her “lying unresponsive” on a floor at their home in the Sun ‘n Lake of Sebring golf and recreation community early Friday at 12:19 a.m., per the Highland County Sheriff’s Office.
What authorities discovered there, according to Highlands County Sheriff Paul Blackman, they will not soon forget.
As soon as they heard from the nursing home that their surrogate had delivered a healthy baby, the adoptive parents (name withheld) informed the adoption agency of their decision to return the 8and 10-year-old siblings they had adopted a few months earlier. The children, who are now back in the adoption home, will be counselled for foster care or placement in a govt home where they may grow up as orphans.
Since 2020, about 12 parents in Tamil Nadu have returned children – less than 10 years old – who they legally adopted through various govt-certified agencies for different reasons. Four parents quoted “adjustment issues” as a reason for returning children. While one parent thought the toddler did not make enough eye contact during conversation another felt the child had anger issues. Some parents quoted marital or financial problems within the family, and others cited the child’s poor health. In one case it was the death of a parent. Officials confirmed that while three of them have been re-adopted, one is in foster care and the remaining still in govt homes.
The social welfare department has recorded three dissolutions of adoption in 2020, four in 2021 and five in 2023. Protocols, however, are now being implemented to ensure they don’t happen again. “We counsel parents at least twice to see if we can help them retain the child. In some cases, we know parents may not have a choice. The adoption process is then dissolved to declare the adoption void,” says social welfare secretary Jayashree Muralidharan.
An authorised agency applies for dissolution to the district magistrate through the district child protection unit. Once the process is completed, the child is back on the list of those “legally free” for adoption. “Considering the long wait list, most children get another chance quickly,” says Muralidharan. “In general, most adoptions are successful. Dissolutions, however, have become unavoidable due to various reasons in some cases.”
Psychiatrists say parents who surrender adopted children cannot be villainised as they are seeing a rise in “adaptive challenges” for different reasons. First, as adopted children identified with early stressful childhood, many parents seek consultations for “behaviour issues” after complaints from siblings, neighbours and schools. “It’s tough on the child as well as the parent. Until some years ago, most adoptions happened within the family. A couple who do not have children will adopt their nephews or nieces, or from families known to them. The joint family system monitored the upbringing of the adopted child,” says child psychiatrist Dr V Jayanthini.
Today, information about biological parents is unknown in most cases, she says. “Mothers may not have had a happy pregnancy period. They may have neglected their diet and medical care, resulting in little bonding between the mother and the child after birth. All this can be stressful for the child. When they come to new homes the process of adapting themselves may add to this stress. While in many cases they tend to settle in with love and care, some children and parents just don’t get along.”
How did we move from the first international recognition of children's needs in the 1920s to the signing of the Convention on the Rights of the Child? How did the imperative of protecting the youngest gradually become linked to that of their emancipation, and therefore the consideration of their opinions and capacities for action? Historical insight.
This year, 2024, we commemorate the centenary of the first statement of the rights of the child, through the Geneva Declaration, and the 35th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989).
From the regulation of labor to the progress of schooling, from the development of pediatrics to the "invention" of early childhood, including state intervention within the family unit when necessary, there were certainly many advances in the 19th century to improve the fate of children in Europe. But it was in the 20th century , in the aftermath of the Great War, that the transnational movement for the adoption of a declaration of the rights of the child achieved a tangible result.
Looking back at this story helps shed light on contemporary issues surrounding young people's voices, on an international scale.
Recipients of Amnesty's Media Prize. From left: Lisbeth Dilling, Søren Klovborg, Karoline Engelund and Nikolaj Venge (far right). Number two from the right is David Kildendal, who features in the documentary. Mikkel Inumineq Jørgensen
Amnesty's Media Prize 2024 goes to Søren Klovborg, Karoline Engelund, Lisbeth Dilling and Nikolaj Venge from DR for the documentary series 'Det store adoptiontyveri', which uncovers one of the biggest adoption scandals in Denmark. It investigates and exposes the trafficking of children to Denmark.
It has just been announced in Øksnehallen in Copenhagen, where DJ's Fagfestival 2024 will be held.
A former Arkansas pastor has pleaded guilty to three counts of rape involving his minor children and been sentenced to 50 years in prison, according to a statement released yesterday by Arkansas authorities.
As part of a negotiated plea agreement, James “Jamie” Cowan, 46, pleaded guilty to raping minors on Nov. 12, according to a statement released by Jana Bradford, Arkansas prosecutor for the 9th West District. In addition to his 50-year sentence, Cowan also received 30 years of a suspended sentence upon release.
Cowan must serve at least 70% of his sentence or 35 years, Bradford said. This would make Cowan 81-years old at the time of release, “effectively making this sentence a life term,” Bradford added.
The decision to offer a plea deal was made after consideration of the victims’ wishes, “ensuring they would not have to endure the further trauma of testifying in a court trial,” Bradford said.
In a motion for a bond reduction, Cowan says he is a pastor. The Arkansas Justice Project’s Post reported Cowan is the former pastor of the Little River Community Church and a TikTok video said the church was in Winthrop, Arkansas.
Mysuru: The state govt's adoption initiative helped 33 children from the Chamarajanagar adoption centre find loving homes between 2018 and Oct 2024. Among the adopted, 15 children were adopted by families within the state, 13 by couples from other states and five were taken in by families abroad, including five physically challenged. The govt-introduced adoption scheme appeared as a boon not only for childless couples, but also for orphaned, abandoned, surrendered and destitute children to find families. Of the 33 children adopted, 21 were girls and 12 were boys. According to the Chamarajanagar District Child Protection Committee, 28 children were surrendered by their parents unable to take care of them due to poverty, health and other reasons. All the children adopted by parents are below two years old. Most of these adopted children were rescued by the District Child Protection Committee, when newborn girls and boys were abandoned by their mothers in dustbins, bus stands, temple premises, markets and other crowded places fearing social stigma, poverty, and other reasons. Officials in the women and children welfare department attributed child marriage as one of the main reasons for abandoning children in hospitals and other places after giving birth, fearing legal problems, social stigma and other issues. The department also rescued several children found orphaned after the death of their parents. Speaking to TOI, Chamarajanagar District Child Protection officer Cheluvaraju said that once these children were rescued, the state govt not only took care of their health but also looked after their upbringing and education with the help of non-govt organisations like Jeevan Jyothi Trust of Kollegal, which runs an orphanage exclusively for such children and takes care of rescued abandoned children. It also facilitates childless couples to adopt children under the adoption scheme. As per the Adoption Scheme 2022 Act, childless couples who want to adopt children rescued by the child welfare department must register their names through an online portal launched by the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA). The couple must be economically, mentally, and physically sound. They must play a crucial role in the well-being of the adopted child and must take care of the future of the child. Once they apply online, a team from the department inspects the house of the applicant to verify their economic and social status, study their background and will submit the report to the respective deputy commissioner, who is also chairman of the district adoption resource authority, for approval. The department will keep the names of the couple secret after adopting children under the scheme. The department will also keep a tab on adopted children's parents for two years to verify they are taking care of the child. Once the department officials rescued abandoned babies, and parents who surrendered their children to the District Child Welfare Committee, there was a provision for the mothers and family members to take back their children. Six months will be given for such parents to take back their children. If they do not turn up, then details of all orphaned, rescued, and abandoned children will be uploaded to the CARA website portal to facilitate adoption under the scheme, he said.
Vidya went to London and started working on her album AdiShakti, inspired by the Adi Shakti mantra.
