Nobody’s baby – Are ‘baby farms’ a result of adoption law loopholes?

By SAJITHA PREMATUNGE - Sep 30, 2017 222 0

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It’s easy to romanticize about a dark skinned man with a European accent who comes to Sri Lanka looking for his long lost mother who gave him up for adoption as an infant. We’d all love to see his mother’s tear streaked cheeks upon finally being reunited with her son. But the hard truth is that he was probably, very likely, sold.

The decades old issue of ‘baby farms’ resurfaced recently when Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne admitted to the Dutch current affairs programme Zembla, the previous existence of ‘baby farms’ where up to 11,000 children were sold for adoption to foreigners in the 1980s.

Vlaams bureau genoemd in zaak adoptiefraude

27-09-17, 06.40u - Jan Stevens

1 De man in blauw hemd is Erik Kuiken van de Stichting FLASH (voorzitter van 2004 tot 2009). ©rv

Adoptiefraude vanuit Sri Lanka naar Nederland: het Nederlandse onderzoeksprogramma Zembla bracht er vorige week een ophefmakende reportage over, waarin het in 2010 ter ziele gegane adoptiebureau Stichting FLASH centraal staat.

De Sri Lankaanse minister van Volksgezondheid bevestigde daarin het bestaan van babyfarms, kweekboerderijen voor adoptiekinderen.

The National Administrative Board asks Sri Lanka for information about adoptions

The National Ankestyrelse is now writing to the authorities in Sri Lanka for information on adoptions in the 1980s.

09/26/2017

We do this after reviewing the media of irregularities in adoptions from Sri Lanka. We have become aware that there may have been a problem based on a review of a documentary film shown on the Dutch television.

According to the review of Denmark, Denmark, together with, among others, Holland and Sweden, has received incorrect children from Sri Lanka in the 1980s.

Diplomacy and Law Enforcement Unite to Dismantle Major International Adoption Fraud Scheme

September 22, 2017

By Angela French, DSS Public Affairs

Date: 09/22/2017 Description: Closeup of mock-up adoption agreement document. © Shutterstock“[Addressing] adoption fraud was a top priority for the Consular section in Addis Ababa,” recalled Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) Special Agent Jamel Love.

That’s what led Love to investigate International Adoption Guides, Inc. (IAG), a South Carolina company that arranged for the adoptions of Ethiopian children by U.S. citizens, for suspicion of adoption fraud. DSS’ pursuit of the case led to the take down of a major international adoption company and four employees sentenced for their part in the adoption fraud scheme.

Jeannette Kagame Shares Rwanda’s Journey to Orphanage-free Society

September 22, 2017 at 12:28 pm By Kalinda Brenda

(c) The First Lady Jeannette Kagame joined some of the invitees for the Global First Ladies Alliance, which was held on the margins of UNGA

The First Lady Jeannette Kagame has told her counterparts from across the world that reintegration of thousands orphans into foster or adoptive families was a success thanks to country’s tradition to recognize a child as a product of the whole society.

The integration happened in the wake of 1994 Genocide against Tutsi where over a million Tutsi were killed in three months. Parents left behind 75,000 devastated orphans that needed urgent support of society.

Babyfarmen auf Sri Lanka verkauften Kinder nach Europa

am 22.09.2017 um 19:15 Uhr

In Sri Lanka wurden Tausende von Kindern ihren Müttern gestohlen – um sie nach Europa zu verkaufen (Symbolbild). In Sri Lanka wurden Tausende von Kindern ihren Müttern gestohlen – um sie nach Europa zu verkaufen (Symbolbild).Foto: imago stock&people / imago/ZUMA Press

Über 11.000 Kleinkinder aus Sri Lanka wurden in den 1980er-Jahren nach Europa verkauft

Das erklärt Rajitha Senaratne, der Gesundheitsminister Sri Lankas

Ra Chapman is a client of our Post Adoption Support Service (PASS) and an inter-country adoptee from Korea. Ra decided to produce a web series about the experiences of Australian inter-country adoptees after discovering a lack of content about the topic. Read on for Ra’s story.

Can you tell us a little about yourself?

I’m a Melbourne-based actor, writer and producer. I was adopted from South Korea at 4 years old from a town outside of Busan, and I grew up in Mt Gambier SA.

I am a committee member of Korean Adoptees in Australia Network (KAIAN) and work closely with Permanent Care and Adoptive Families (PCAF) on various initiatives.

Can you tell us about your experience as a PASS client with Relationships Australia SA?

Rwanda: Govt Lifts Ban on Foreign Adoption of Rwandan Kids

Children at Muhura orphanage in Gatsibo District. Foreign nationals can resume adoption of Rwandan children.

By Diane Mushimiyimana

Foreigners or persons outside Rwandan can now adopt children in the country, seven years after the Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion suspended the so-called inter-country adoption of Rwandan children.

The suspension was lifted this month after government put in place mechanisms in line with The Hague Adoption Convention on the protection of children.

Sri Lanka acknowledges the existence of 'baby alarms' in the 1980s and started investigation

TODAY, 20 September 2017

(Google Translation)

Sri Lanka acknowledges that there were baby farms in the country in the 1980s, or places where women were conceiving to meet the need for adoptable children. That's what the Sri Lankan health minister said in the [Dutch] Zembla television show .

It is for the first time that the Sri Lankan government admits that the baby farms existed. The stories about baby farms were always dismissed as rumors. Minister Senaratne now says that its existence was the reason to stop international adoption in 1987.

ZEMBLA onthult: Sri Lanka erkent bestaan 'babyfarms' voor adoptie

20 SEPTEMBER 2017

LEESTIJD: 4 MINUTEN

Het bestaan van zogeheten ‘babyfarms’ was voor de regering van Sri Lanka in 1987 de belangrijkste reden om tijdelijk te stoppen met interlandelijke adoptie. Op babyfarms werden vrouwen zwanger gemaakt om aan de vraag naar adoptiekinderen te kunnen voldoen. Dat erkent de Sri Lankaanse minister van Volksgezondheid, dr. Rajitha Senaratne, naar aanleiding van onderzoek van ZEMBLA. “Er waren toen veel babyfarms,” aldus de minister. “Ze verzamelden daar de baby’s en verkochten ze aan buitenlanders voor adoptie.” Het is voor het eerst dat de Sri Lankaanse regering het bestaan van ‘babyfarms’ toegeeft. De verhalen over ‘babyfarms’ werden eerder afgedaan als geruchten.

Naar aanleiding van de bevindingen van ZEMBLA start Sri Lanka een onderzoek naar de fraude rond de adopties van duizenden kinderen die in de jaren ‘80 vanuit Sri Lanka naar Nederland zijn gehaald. Ook neemt minister Senaratne het initiatief tot het oprichten van een DNA-bank waar zowel kinderen als ouders op zoek kunnen naar hun bloedverwanten. (ZEMBLA: ‘Adoptiebedrog – Deel 2’, woensdag 20 september om 21.15 uur bij BNNVARA op NPO2)