BHIWANDI: When Christopher Huth, a 27-year-old special education teacher and soccer coach in the US, embarked on a journey to India two months ago, it was on a crucial mission: to find his roots, his family in Bhiwandi. For, two decades ago, he lived here with his family, before he was sent off by his mother to an Andhra orphanage, from where he was adopted by a US couple.
 

All that he remembers is that he spent his childhood in Bhiwandi where his two elder brothers, Deepak Mistry and Sagar, worked in textile units. He also recalls that his sister would call him Sai.

Explaining his search for his family, Huth, who lives outside Washington DC, said that since his family was poor, his mother sent him and his sister, Asha, to an ashram in Sandur town of Andhra Pradesh, when he was five and his sister seven. While his sister fled the place within six months, he was adopted by a US couple in 1997, when he was seven. During adoption, his name was given as Praveen Kumar. Later, his name was changed to Christopher.

He said that for the past two months, he along with his three friends from US and one from Delhi has been in India searching for his family. They first went to the Andhra town, where they learnt the orphanage was shut 17 years ago. He met to one of caretakers, but could not get any details about his family.
 

Christopher, who came to Mumbai on Friday, met the local tehsildar and some locals and sought their help in finding his family by showing them photographs from his childhood.

16 MONTHS LATER, 3-YR-OLD GIRL REUNITED WITH FAMILY

By Vicky Pathare, Pune Mirror | Aug 4, 2017, 02.30 AM IST

16 months later, 3-yr-old girl reunited with family

Tanishka with her parents Priyanka and Sachin Kamble

Tanishka went missing from Pune Junction; Sofosh and GRP find her home in Kolhapur

Abducted, found, adopted, reunited with parents: Circle of life

According to Sharmila Sayed, administration in-charge of SOFOSH, Pune, Tanishka was baffled when she was admitted to SOFOSH.

PUNE Updated: Aug 04, 2017 17:45 IST

Yogesh Joshi

Yogesh Joshi

Life took 360 degree turn for a girl who was stolen from Pune railway station a year ago and was up for adoption when she was admitted in SOFOSH, child care agency. On Wednesday when a couple reserved her for adoption, he real parents landed up in SOFOSH.

Life took 360 degree turn for a girl who was stolen from Pune railway station a year ago and was up for adoption when she was admitted in SOFOSH, child care agency. On Wednesday when a couple reserved her for adoption, he real parents landed up in SOFOSH.(HT PHOTO)

Life has taken a few bizarre, sharp turns for this four-year-old girl, that too in the space of a year’s time. She first suddenly went missing from the Pune railway station around 16 months ago.

Four months later, the girl suddenly re-appeared, barely a few metres from where she was reportedly abducted by an unidentified person.

On Thursday, the girl, now admitted to the Society of Friends of Sassoon Hospital (SOFOSH) unit, was re-united with her biological parents, just as another couple had reserved her for adoption.

Ujjwal Niketan has never received any aid from any governmental or government-aided agency and most of the funds were sourced from individuals, according to the management

Ujjwal Niketan has never received any aid from any governmental or government-aided agency and most of the fun... Read More

Gurgaon: The counsel for Sister Lily Baretto, Shaju Francis, who had represented her in Saturday's anticipatory bail hearing, clarified to TOI that there isn't any charge of trafficking against his client.

He said in the first FIR, the sister has only been charged under sections 75 (punishment for cruelty to child) and 80 (adoption without following prescribed procedure) of the Juvenile Justice Act, while the second was registered under sections 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery of valuable security), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating) and 471 (using as genuine as fraud) of the IPC.

Regarding the charge of not following procedures while giving away two minor girls for adoption, the counsel, Francis and Drishti Mishra, told the court that while the "correctness" of giving away the two minor girls for adoption using a "single adoption deed" might be debated, it cannot be used to attribute malice on part of Baretto, adding the two girls were siblings, who were placed at the shelter home by their aunt, who could not take care of them. The lawyers also clarified the children were never entrusted to the orphanage by CWC, so giving them away for adoption, Baretto had acted by guidelines for "rehabilitation and social re-integration" in Section 39 of the JJ Act.

Over delay in action in cases against two Ujjwal Niketan trust-run care institutes

Taking a serious view of delay in police action in cases pertaining to child care institutes (CCIs) run by Ujjwal Niketan Charitable Trust, the Haryana State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (HSCPCR) on Thursday summoned the Special Investigation Team officers and demanded immediate action in the case.

Dissatisfaction expressed

Expressing dissatisfaction over investigation in the case, HSCPCR member B.K. Goel, who was on a day-long visit to the city in connection with cases related to the commission, said Assistant Commissioner of Police (City) Rajiv Kumar was summoned and directed to arrest Lily Berito, who ran both the CCIs, within 10 days.

“It is surprising that there is no headway in the case even after the formation of an SIT,” said Mr. Goel.

Adoption Notice: Adoption Service Provider Accreditation/Approval Relinquishment

July 31, 2017

The Council on Accreditation (COA) reports that Lutheran Social Services of New York in New York, NY, voluntarily relinquished their accreditation/approval on July 19, 2017.

Agencies that are not accredited or approved may not act as a primary provider but may perform services for intercountry adoption under the supervision of an accredited or approved adoption service provider so long as they meet the requirements of 22 CFR 96.35(a). When an agency or person’s accreditation or approval expires or is relinquished, the agency or person is responsible for executing their plan to transfer cases and records pursuant to 22 CFR 96.33(e) and 96.42(d). Families working with Lutheran Social Services of New York may wish to contact the agency directly with questions about case or record transfer. If the agency is not able to answer questions about case or record transfers, families may wish to review the information published by the Council on Accreditation (COA) for information about case transfers or about the accreditation/approval requirements.

The Department of State’s role with case transfer plans is limited. The Department of State does not review or approve case transfer plans. The Department does, however, communicate with foreign Central Authorities and competent adoption authorities about the accreditation status of agencies and persons and case transfer plans, as needed.

Cum a vândut Nicolae Ceau?escu copiii români unor familii din Fran?a

AL

ANA LUCA

Jul 26 2017, 3:50pm

Francezii preferau mai ales copiii blonzi ?i îi alegeau din acela?i orfelinat pe care l-a vizitat Michael Jackson, unde li se cereau ?p?gi.

Adoption is a difficult and lengthy process in India, especially for single women. In January 2014, Dr Mala Sharma (name changed) registered with the Central Adoption Research Agency (CARA) to adopt a child.She had tried private organisations earlier, like Missionaries of Charity, but failed repeatedly. "They'd question why I'm not married, who I stay with, how I'll bring up the child alone," recalls Sharma.

After registering with CARA, her name came up for the first referral in December 2015. A seven-month-old baby at a nearby Shishu Mandir was up for adoption. "They said there's a 48-hour window in which I can come and see the child, else it goes to the next person in queue. At that time each referral gave you a chance to meet three children. Now, only one is introduced. This one was premature so I requested if I could see the other two. By the time they got back, the referral window had expired and the baby went to someone else," recalls Sharma.

She got two more referrals. "Each time, they kept asking the same questions and delayed the process. Once I took my parents and brother with me to show that I do have a family and can take care of a child. But then they pointed out that my parents were old and needed care as well. I was asked how much property I owned, if I planned to get married... Basically , they discourage you if you are single. Or, they try to give you children with health problems that couples don't want," says Sharma. Finally , after three years of dogged effort, Sharma brought a one-and-half-year-old boy home this April. She's now 47.

A recent proposal passed by CARA may now make adoption easier for women like Sharma. Financially able, 40-plus single women will be given preference over others in the adoption process. Deepak Kumar, CEO, CARA, says the number of single women registering for adoption has been increasing in the past few years. "Right now we have a few hundred registered with us. This was an idea of the honorable minister (women and child development minister Maneka Gandhi). We just want to see how we can help single women over 40 with this process," says Kumar, adding that after three months the proposal will be up for a review.

This proposal comes at a time when the Surrogacy Regulation Bill 2016, if passed in Parliament, will ban single men and women from opting for commercial surrogacy , leaving adoption as the only legal way for them to become parents.

National July 21, 2017

Orphanages no place for infants, government says

Pech Sotheary / Khmer Times Share:

Children under the age of three will no longer be accommodated in residential care centres by the end of next year, while the building of new orphanages will be banned, the Ministry of Social Affairs has announced.

The move came as the ministry and partner organisations pushed ahead with plans unveiled in April to reintegrate 3,500 children from orphanages back into families.