The Child Welfare Committee has decided to hand over the newborn girl - found abandoned at Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) on June 30 - to Prayas Bharti Trust, a government-authorised adoption agency.

The committee works under the state government's social welfare department.

The PMCH sources said the baby girl would shortly be handed over to the agency so that they could initiate the legal proceedings of adoption. "Around 15 people and families showed interest in adopting the baby girl but we were waiting for her health condition to improve. The baby had chest infection apart from some other problems. She was under constant monitoring of doctors. At present, she is absolutely fine. We would soon hand over the baby to Prayas Bharti Trust because the Child Welfare Committee has given instruction regarding the same," said an official of the PMCH paediatrics department on condition of anonymity.

The sources said the government-authorised adoption agency had told the committee that many had shown interest in adopting the baby and they had apprehended that the baby might go in wrong hands if the hospital did not abide by the rules of handing over the baby to some government-authorised adoption agency.

Suman Lal, president, Prayas Bharti Trust, said she had written a letter to the committee regarding the same.

4th Meeting of the Special Commission on the Hague Convention

NORDIC ADOPTION COUNCIL July 2015 Birgitta Löwstedt

4TH SPECIAL COMMISSION 8-12 June 2015

"20 years of the 1993 Hague Convention”

The objective of the 4th Special Commission (SC) was to review the practical operation of the 1993 Hague Convention; in the light of the 20 years that have passed since its birth. The discussions included presentations by some experts and some 'round table' sessions to introduce certain topics. After each presentation and round table sessions, there was time for discussions, questions and comments. Special for this year: A preparatory meeting was held on Saturday 6th June, for new States parties to the convention and for those States seriously considering ratification of, or accession to, the Convention. 19 States participated, with totally 33 experts. It was very successful and appreciated by participants.

When he was an attorney and administrator with the Florida Department of Children and Families in Tallahassee, Stephen Pennypacker helped write the new rules used by investigators that include gathering more information from families to assess their children’s safety.

Since returning to Gainesville as president and CEO of the Partnership for Strong Families in April 2014, he is now implementing those changes on the ground level.

If done right, he said the system will remove fewer children who don’t need to be removed from their families, will remove the right children and provide the right services to families “to teach them how to make their kids safe permanently so we can get out of their lives.”

The Partnership for Strong Families is one of 18 nonprofit organizations around the state that contracts with DCF to manage foster care and adoption services through 1998 legislation to privatize the foster care system. The organization — with headquarters in Gainesville — covers the 13 counties in the third and eighth judicial circuits in North Central Florida with 105 employees and another 150 subcontracted case managers. Most of the partnership’s $32 million annual budget comes from state and federal funding.

Pennypacker said the partnership takes over cases referred from DCF and determines what services and counseling families need. In cases where children are removed from the home, most are placed with relatives and family friends. Others are placed in foster care. After about a year, the partnership and courts may decide to terminate parental rights, leading to the potential for adoption.

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SUSTAINED EFFORT NEEDED TO CHANGE CULTURE OF INSTITUTIONALISATION OF PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES – MAIREAD MCGUINNESS

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Sustained efforts by the international aid community working with the EU are needed to address persistent problems of institutionalisation of people with disabilities in some European countries, according to Mairead McGuinness, MEP and Vice-President of the European Parliament who this week facilitated a discussion on advancing the issue with European Commissioner for Regional Development, Coriana Cretu, and Irish activist John Mulligan of Focus on Romania.

Concern was expressed that ways were being found to circumvent an initiative for which McGuinness was responsible, that is, the revision of EU structural fund rules that preclude the use of structural funds for the construction or renovation of institutions, so that funds can be directed towards projects that support community living.

Tuesday, July 07, 2015

THE INTERCOUNTRY ADOPTION DEBATE IS OVER

Despite what some may believe, the intercountry adoption debate is effectively over.

For years, the intercountry adoption (ICA) debate has involved a continuum involving three positions. One side, whom I will label the ICA cheerleaders, sees ICA as the best intervention for millions of children caught in destructive, dead-end situations with no adequate domestic solutions. Under the banner of “every child has a right to a family,” this position prioritizes ICA as often the only means of providing children living outside of parental care with a permanent family. The hope was there would routinely be hundreds of thousands of intercountry adoptions annually, such that there would no longer be “orphans” wasting away in orphanages or on the streets.

On the other side are the ICA opponents, who oppose any systemic practice of ICA as neo-colonialist exploitation which takes children from poor, usually non-white, vulnerable families and communities in developing and transition economies, and sends them to generally white, privileged families in rich nations. This perspectives emphasizes the child’s loss of family, community, culture, language, and nation. Some ICA opponents interpret the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) as opposed to any systemic ICA practice, and as incompatible with the Hague Adoption Convention.

The Supreme Court on Monday passed a landmark judgement, permitting unwed mothers to have the guardianship of their child without the consent of the biological father.

According to reports, a bench, led by Justice Vikramjit Sen was adjudicating a plea by a woman challenging the necessity of involving the father in a guardianship petition.

According to the petition, the father of the child does not even know about his existence.

As per the guidelines stated under Guardians and Wards Act and the Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act, a notice has to be sent to the child's father to obtain his consent when a plea for guardianship is moved.

In this case, the woman has said that she does not want to disclose the parentage as the father has nothing to do with the upbringing of the child.

Councils get £30m fund to speed up adoption searches

Money to be announced in budget will cover fees that ministers say discourage local authorities from searching outside their borough for parents

Man and child

Last year it emerged that the number of children being put forward for adoption had nearly halved in 12 months. Photograph: Alamy

Rajeev Syal

America’s national security adviser, Anthony Lake, told Frasure in a memo that he favoured revising the map. The former Dutch defence minister Joris Voorhoeve recalls a meeting with Lake at which the American appeared to be “one of a number of persons – who might not like to be reminded of the fact – who then thought the enclaves were indefensible anyway … They considered the enclaves to be very complicated situations which did not fit into a future map.”

Lake, who is now head of the UN Children’s Fund, Unicef, said last week: “While holding the position of executive director of Unicef, whose humanitarian mission depends on its non-political character, I have had to decline, often regretfully, to speak publicly about events in my previous career as a government official. I apologise and wish it were otherwise, for there is no doubt about the importance of the war in Bosnia. There was no issue about which I cared more deeply.”

FERMETURE DU SERVICE ADOPTION

Médecins du Monde a définitivement fermé son service adoption depuis le 31 décembre 2019. C'est en juillet 2015 que le Conseil d’Administration a décidé l’arrêt de ce programme et l’accompagnement de la décroissance progressive de nos activités d’adoption.

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President Sirleaf Lifts Moratorium on Child Adoptions in Liberia

Tuesday, 30th June 2015

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Monrovia, Liberia - President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has lifted the moratorium placed on child adoptions in Liberia and has directed that the laws, regulations, and standard operating procedures for adoption be strictly adhered to.

According to an Executive Mansion release, Government has amended the Domestic Relations law, which explicitly includes processes for inter-country adoptions. Government has also put in place Standard Operating Procedures and Accreditation Guidelines with strong safeguard measures for both Domestic and inter-country adoptions. The new Standard Operating Procedures provide for appropriate action and review by the Probate Court and by the Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization.