Around 2.2% of the population of England and Wales is now mixed race and 3.3% are from black ethnic groups. During World War II, over 70 years ago, these figures were far lower. And so, unsurprisingly, life was difficult for the 2,000 or so mixed race babies who were born in World War II to black American GIs and white British women.

They grew up in predominately white localities and experienced significant racism. I have interviewed 45 of these children (now in their seventies), hailing from all over England. Their story of institutional racism rivals the horrors of the appalling story of the Windrush generation.

Of the 3 million US servicemen that passed through Britain in the period 1942-45, approximately 8% were African American. The GIs were part of a segregated army and they bought their segregation policies with them, designating towns near to American bases “black” or “white” and segregating pubs and dances along color lines, with dances held for black GIs one evening and whites the next.

Related: US adoption system discriminates against darker-skinned children

Inevitably, relationships formed between the black GIs and local women and some resulted in what the African American press referred to as “brown babies.” All these children were born illegitimate because the American white commanding officers refused black GIs permission to marry, the rationale being that back in the US, 30 of the then 48 states had anti-miscegenation laws.

When she was growing up in Downingtown, Leslie Bernand (name changed)wondered whether she might someday locate a blood relative in India, from where she was adopted as a baby.

BENGALURU: When she was growing up in Downingtown, Leslie Bernand (name changed) wondered whether she might someday locate a blood relative in India, from where she was adopted as a baby.

But she never expected that her journey towards finding would confront her to hundreds of ‘DNA search angels’ on social media who would work like ‘detectives’ to reunite her with her family which is supposedly in India.

“These are volunteers on Facebook who are helping people from many countries including the USA, The Netherlands, China, France etc to find their roots in India through genetic genealogy. Though I am yet to trace my family in India I have found many ‘angels’ who are helping me towards this,” Leslie explained.

Speaking to TNIE, the administrator of one such group ‘DNA India Adoptees’ Mirjam Bina said, “In our site on Facebook we are for and by Indian adoptees who are forever connected with India because of their DNA. Here we share our stories and then it is taken forward by the ‘angels’ who are part of this group and many such groups and work towards finding clues to hunt for

"Legal adoptions can also be illegal"

Minister Dekker (Legal Protection) has been investigating illegal adoptions for two weeks. It will be an incomplete study, Elvira Loibl notes today in her dissertation. According to her, "legal" adoptions are not investigated, while many abuses take place there.

"In the Netherlands, adoptions are considered illegal if prospective adoptive parents circumvent the official adoption procedure and include a foreign child in their family without the involvement of a Dutch adoption agency. To cover up their unlawful behavior, they report the birth of the child as if it were their own child, after which they smuggle it to the Netherlands.

Bypassing the official adoption procedure is forbidden as it is particularly susceptible to abuse: often those prospective adoptive parents engage an intermediary - a lawyer or an agent - who exerts financial or emotional pressure on biological parents to get their consent for adoption to gain.

Since 1 May, the Committee for Research on International Adoption has been investigating illegal adoptions of foreign children by Dutch people in the period 1967-1998 and the possible involvement of the government in this.

On International Day of Families, SOS Children’s Villages of India, a voluntary child care organisation, launched a campaign to bring to light the hardships faced by children without adequate parental care in India and evoke responses to ensure support for such children.

The NGO estimates that there are currently 2 crore children that do not receive adequate care because they have lost both or either of their parents or their families are unable to take care of them. “If not taken seriously with measures like strengthening the families, or providing abandoned children with a family-like environment in an alternate care home, this figure is estimated to rise to 2.4 crore by the year 2021,” the NGO said while launching the campaign.

“The need is urgent and requires responsible partnership from individuals and corporate besides continuous support from the government,” said Anuja Bansal, secretary general, SOS Children’s Villages of India.

Elaborating on the need to support such children, the NGO said that the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, in its preamble, recognises the family as the best environment for a child.

Ms. Bansal added that currently SOS India has 440 families under its umbrella that takes care of 26,000 children and it aims to build families for children so that they grow up with love, respect, dignity and security.

Mother and Adopted Daughter: It is unethical to deceive poor parents of their children

The current system of transnational adoption means that we deal with children and remove them from their original families and country of birth. It must be regarded as an assault, write the adoption researcher and her adopted daughter in this debate

We write this chronicle together: the adopted and the adoptive, mother and daughter.

We were adopted together in Burkina Faso in 1995 at the request of Babette's biological grandmother and national authorities. Merete became part of the Burkinian extended family. We have since lived in Burkina Faso for periods, and it was great to be stopped in the street by random passers-by who, addressed to Merete, said, "Thank you for taking her back - there is no one else doing that."

In the original legal significance of adoption, this is only accomplished when both parties have adopted each other - this is a mutual process. This is not the case in the dominant, transnational adoption system.

The Namakkal adoption racket that is being investigated in Tamil Nadu has once again brought illegal adoptions to the spotlight. Investigating agencies believe at least 30 children had been sold by the gang behind the racket. The gang is alleged to have used gaps in health and registration services to target vulnerable families—poor, with several children, or several girl children—and persuade them to sell their babies to childless couples. They are alleged to have used contacts in government hospitals to locate such families. The families that gave up their children reportedly only received a small portion of what the childless couples paid for the child, the brokers pocketing most of it. It is reported that the families gave up their children only to ensure the kids got a better life.

That the circumstances of families in Tamil Nadu, one of the better-off states in India, remain such that they are willing to sell their babies to strangers should cause the state government to introspect and remedy gaps in its services, especially with regards to birth control and family planning. Adoption processes have been streamlined in recent years, but they do require prospective parents to be patient. The processes are not free of corruption although they are designed to protect the best interests of the child, to ensure that the kid ends up in a good and stable home. However, that illegal adoption remains rampant indicates that the legal process may need to be further streamlined without compromising the interests of the child. The government should also undertake more efforts to create awareness on the adoption process and make it accessible to all.

Meanwhile, childless couples should realise that even though legal adoption may take time, it is aimed at protecting the best interests of the child. By resorting to illegal adoption, they end up creating a demand that puts so many children at such horrific risk.

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Officers of the Nigeria Police Force, Warri Area Command have arrested three suspects over alleged child-trafficking of a two-and-half-year-old baby girl.

Those arrested included, the matron of Divine Orphanage Home, Rosemary Johnson and another Madam Rose IIogbo in Ughelli.

The third person was a lady, who allegedly bought the child at the sum of N850,000 from the aforementioned ladies.

The arrest followed a petition by the President of Nigerian Child Welfare Fund, Comrade Joshua Omorere.

Beste mijnheer/mevrouw,

Graag nodigen wij u, mede namens het ministerie van Justitie en Veiligheid, uit om in gesprek te gaan over de mogelijkheden om samen het ondersteuningsaanbod te versterken aan interlandelijk geadopteerden die zoeken naar hun roots.

Het Ministerie heeft Fiom gevraagd op te treden als coördinator van een gezamenlijk plan en daarom (vervolg)afspraken te plannen met de belangenorganisaties voor interlandelijk geadopteerden. We plannen landgerichte bijeenkomsten. Dit betekent dat we, per bijeenkomst, alle vertegenwoordigers van organisaties die in dat betreffende land of voor geadopteerden uit dat land actief zijn samen plannen.

Bij de bijeenkomst zullen medewerkers van het Ministerie en medewerkers van Fiom aanwezig zijn. Er zal een neutrale voorzitter worden ingezet om het gesprek te leiden.

Verzoek aan u is, mede gezien de beschikbare ruimte, om met maximaal 2 vertegenwoordigers naar het gesprek te komen.

"Adoption system encourages malpractice to look away"

Criminologist Elvira Loibl leaves no doubt about it. Adoption involves a market. "Children can easily become goods that you can remove from families or pick from the street. They are then often "laundered" by means of documents. Demographic, economic and judicial disparities exist between the country of demand and the country of supply that crime always lurks. "

In her dissertation "The transnational illegal adoption market", on which she obtained her PhD on Wednesday at Maastricht University, Loibl exposes the weaknesses in the Dutch and German adoption systems. Moreover, it comes with recommendations for improvements.

The scientist who grew up in Austria also pays considerable attention to the long-standing story about adoption in the West. "The great belief in huge numbers of children that must be saved," Loibl calls it. "While that orphan crisis in the countries of origin is not nearly as great as we assume. Many children do have parents, but they put them - sometimes temporarily - in institutions for various reasons. Many street children have parents who also live on the street. And supply and demand do not always match: young, healthy babies are the most wanted, but most orphans are older and sometimes have a disability. "

How is it that this story is so deeply rooted in thinking?