Meeting Ministry of Justice and FIOM
At the office of SAV
3 June 2019

Nieuwsuur

Published on Jun 2, 2019

Een commissie onderzoekt illegale adopties van kinderen uit vijf landen. Maar naar adopties in Haïti wordt vooralsnog niet gekeken. Terwijl ook daar gesjoemeld werd met adopties. Sterker nog: ook vandaag de dag leidt het er tot kinderhandel. Kinderen worden soms onder valse voorwendselen bij hun ouders weggehaald en verdwijnen met valse geboorteaktes naar het buitenland.

Dit is een reportage van Ellen Brans en Machteld Veen.

.

Adoption children Haiti: DNA match is some hope for reunification

About thirty older men and women sit close together on wooden benches in the dilapidated community building of the Haitian village of La Vallee de Jacmel. One by one they get a cotton swab in the mouth for a DNA test. They hope that it will end a major loss.

They all gave a child to nuns. The nuns sketched a bright future for the children, but the parents were not told that they would be given up for adoption and set off for a faraway country. The promise that the children would return at the age of 18 was not fulfilled.

Now, often decades later, a DNA test offered by the Plan Kiskeya organization is their only hope of reuniting with their missing children. Some parents know that their child was placed in an orphanage that also sent adopted children to the Netherlands.

Biological parents

Malappuram: Over the past two weeks, Childline in Malappuram rescued a 40-day-old infant and a three-year-old boy, who were illegally adopted by couples in Pulikkal and Veliyancode, respectively. The children, who were produced before the child welfare committee were then shifted to shelter homes. After a preliminary investigation, CWC will hand over the cases to police for detailed investigation. These children were rescued after Childline received anonymous calls with a tip that the adoption process was illegal and hence it suspects that there could be more such cases, controlled by rackets. The infant’s case came up before authorities on Wednesday, the Childline coordinator Anwar Karakkadan said that the statement given by the couple from Pulikkal indicated that the infant (daughter of a Malayali couple) was adopted illegally with the help of a mediator.

Meanwhile, the couple from Veliyancode said that they had adopted the boy illegally from his parents in Tamil Nadu by paying Rs 2.5 lakh three years ago. So, Childline has some ground to suspect that groups or rackets in Tamil Nadu may be involved in the crime. “We need to meet the biological parents of the children to know why they sold their kids. As we cannot rule out the possibility of abduction, people should not encourage illegal adoptions,” he said. Chairman Shajesh Bhaskar said CWC has sought a detailed social investigation report (SIR) from district child protection unit (DCPU) in both cases and further action will be taken after receiving the same.

It is being argued that childless couples were convinced to choose the illegal adoption route as the legal route involves stringent, time-consuming

procedures. Last year, central adoption resource authority (CARA), a statutory body of the Union ministry of women and child development, had issued new guideless for adoption, making existing laws more stringent. Parents must register for adoption through legal adoption centres and it will conduct a ‘home study’ to analyse the social status and family background of applicants. The allotment of children is a centralized process and adoption is done on priority basis after perusing applicants.

Soon a bilateral agreement with Italy. Ai.Bi. among the seven bodies authorized to operate

On the African front, there is new good news on the subject of international adoptions. Last Thursday, in fact, the vice president of the CAI - International Adoptions Commission , Dr. Laura Laera , met a delegation composed of senior ministerial officials from the Democratic Republic of the Congo . This is reported by the CAI website. The meeting would take place to resume "the collaboration interrupted in recent years due to the blockade of adoptions imposed by the African State".

The meeting was also attended by commissioners Guerrieri (representative of family associations) and Bardini (representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs) in addition to representatives of the bodies authorized to operate in the Congo. As explained by the head of the delegation, Andre Kalenga Ka Ngoy , director of the Cabinet of the Congolese Minister of Justice , international adoptions in the country are suspended pending the implementation of the application of the new Family Code issued in 2016 , in which the setting up of a public body that oversees the sector exclusively.

The new state body will be inspired by the principles of the Hague Convention, making the adoption process more transparent. The times of realization of this new structure should, according to what expressed by the Congolese delegation, be brief. The Democratic Republic of the Congo will soon receive a first draft of the bilateral agreement that Italy would like to sign to launch a renewed collaboration between the two countries.

At the end of the meeting with the CAI, the delegation then went to the offices of the authorized bodies to meet some families. Among the seven bodies authorized to operate in the Democratic Republic of the Congo there is also Ai.Bi. - Amici dei Bambini, which has its own Kinshasa headquartersand met the delegation on Saturday 8 June.

MOSCOW, May 31 (RAPSI) - The system of orphan homes in Russia needs to be reformed, children’s rights commissioner Anna Kuznetsova has said during her meeting with President Vladimir Putin.

Kuznetsova has asked the President to instruct the government to reform orphanage in Russia. There are over 100 orphan homes with 13,000 children living there, the rights commissioner added.

The ombudsman’s office is currently inspecting children’s residential facilities. Lots of violations have been already detected, Kuznetsova has noted. 

According to Kuznetsova, the revealed violations include infringement of property rights, rights to medical care and many others.

As per the data from the State Adoption Resource Agency (SARA) under the Department of Women Empowerment and Child Welfare (DWECW) only 50 children, the majority belonging to the age group of 0-5 years, were adopted in the State from the year 2016 till now. Officials state that girls and children with special needs are less likely to be adopted.

As per the data from the year 2016, only 26 children were adopted from Rajkiya Sishu Sadan in Dehradun and 18 children were adopted from Rajkiya Sishu Sadan in Almora. Only six children were adopted from the registered NGOs in last three years and 12 children are under process for adoption.

Providing further information regarding this, an official from DWECW said, “The kids in the 0-5 years age group get adopted soon but children above this age group are less preferred for adoption. The second less preferred category of children are those with special needs and girls. Even though we are growing and educating there is very less awareness when it comes to implementation.

The foreigners, however, are more active in adopting our children especially those with special needs rather than people from our state.”

The State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (SCPCR) chairperson Usha Negi said, “It is important that people of our state rise above the mentality of moulding a child in the way they want.

I was stolen from my mother at birth

Did you know that we Swedish Chile children, who left the country of birth and adopted in Sweden, still exist in the Chilean population register?

We were completely left out to others' business activities and acceptances. Why is there no Swedish investigation of our adoptions? writes Maria Diemar.

DEBATE. Social Minister Lena Hallengren, adoption is a lifelong perspective for us adopted - but is it a completed business for the adoption agency and the Swedish state?

I was stolen from my mother at birth and my adopted brother was declared dead because we could leave Chile and be sent to Sweden. We were then adopted in the Stockholm District Court. Our cases are just two Swedish cases of just over 600, which so far are part of the Chilean crime investigation 1044–2018 in the Appeal Court in Santiago. Tens of thousands of cases have to be examined, where children have been illegally sent abroad for adoption. Lena Hallengren, why is there no Swedish investigation of our Swedish adoptions?

Presentation of 'The foundling of Crete'

OVERVEEN Antoinette de Boer signs her book 'De foundeling van Kreta' on Saturday 1 June from 11 am to 3 pm at Primera bookstore (Bloemendaalseweg 234). In this book De Boer (1961) gives an intimate look into her life as a foundling. In her book, the writer goes back to the period of her adoption from Greece, giving a picture of the family in which she ended up in 1963. She describes what she came across as an adopted child during her childhood, adolescence and as an adult: what occupied her, her feelings and the incomprehension she felt because of the loyalty to her two mothers in her life during her search for her roots. Because of her special story as a foundling and her drive in her search, which she started at the age of nineteen, she has received help several times to find her Greek mother. Through various channels she regularly came up with the story of her search in the news: newspapers, magazines and television programs. But in Greece too she has often received help and many years of media attention because of her search and the adventures she experienced.

In the Netherlands there is increasing attention for the foundling. In 2014 the first founding rooms were opened in our country. The rooms are an initiative of the De Protectende Wieg foundation, which wants to prevent women who are unwantedly pregnant from leaving their newborn child on the street, sometimes with fatal consequences. To expel children is prohibited in the Netherlands and therefore punishable. For the time being, the founding chambers in the municipalities are tolerated. Antoinette was abandoned as an 11-day-old baby in a baby flap, anonymous in Greece. She is one of the first of the group of children adopted abroad in the Netherlands. Antoinette recently made the national news in Greece and was there in various newspapers with her announcement that she has written a book with all her experiences as a searching findling.

Dutch:

OVERVEEN Antoinette de Boer signeert zaterdag 1 juni van 11.00 tot 15.00 uur haar boek 'De vondeling van Kreta' bij de Primera boekhandel (Bloemendaalseweg 234). In dit boek geeft De Boer (1961)een intieme kijk in haar leven als vondeling. De schrijfster gaat in haar boek terug naar de periode van haar adoptie uit Griekenland en geeft daarbij een tijdsbeeld van het gezin waarin zij in 1963 terecht kwam. Zij beschrijft wat zij als adoptiekind tijdens haar jeugd, pubertijd en als volwassene tegen kwam: wat haar bezig hield, haar gevoelens en het onbegrip die zij voelde door de loyaliteit naar haar twee moeders in haar leven tijdens haar zoektocht naar haar roots. Door haar speciale verhaal als vondeling en haar gedrevenheid in haar zoektocht, waarmee zij op haar negentiende mee begon, heeft zij diverse malen hulp gekregen om haar Griekse moeder te vinden. Via verschillende kanalen kwam zij regelmatig met het verhaal van haar zoektocht in het nieuws: kranten, bladen en televisieprogramma's. Maar ook in Griekenland heeft zij menigmaal hulp en jarenlang media-aandacht gehad vanwege haar zoektocht en de avonturen die zij daarin meemaakte.

Bud Wichers, Pewarta, a Dutch national who was amazed at Surabaya

Until Now Didn't Know Who The Original Parent Is

His name doesn't match his face. Bud Wichers, a very Caucasian name. However, once you meet the person, everyone will be shocked. Because, his face is very Indonesian. The 42-year-old man was indeed the adopted child of a Dutch family born in Jakarta.

Hanaa Septiana, Surabaya

BUDIMAN Wichers is an Indonesian name. He was born to a poor family. Because he had no money, his parents left him with an orphanage. Budi, his nickname, was later adopted by Dutch citizens. Until now, Budi never knew who his original parents were. He was difficult to find out because of the limited data at that time.