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María Hastings, and others adoptees like her, are reuniting with their biological families in Chile

María Hastings, 37, has always known she was adopted. But didn't know that her mother didn't give her up willingly. On Sunday she met her biological family for the first time in Santiago, Chile. She spoke to As It Happens guest host Peter Armstrong.  6:27

When María Hastings landed at the airport in Santiago, Chile, on Sunday to meet her biological family for the first time, she said she felt "a little numb."

But that changed when she walked out of customs and saw her birth mother, sister and two nieces waiting there for her. 

Alan Jones, 56, and Kris Kathryn Jones, 57, are each facing a list of felony charges

A West Michigan couple is facing multiple felony charges for allegedly abusing their adopted children over several years.

Two parents in Wyoming are facing abuse charges involving their adoptive children in what the Kent County Prosecutor's Office alleges was torture that went on for more than a decade. 

Kris and Alan Jones, of Wyoming, each face three counts of torture and three counts of child abuse. Torture is a felony in Michigan and carries a maximum life sentence if convicted. 

It's believed there were three children in the home at the time. 

According to a probable cause document filed in 62A District Court this week, Kris and Alan Jones became the legal adoptive parents of those three children in 2011. 

In the years following, it's alleged the children faced poor living conditions that included being put in dog collars, and forced to eat dog food with milk and oatmeal with hot sauce. The children were also forced to run miles, were pushed down the stairs, held down, punched and choked. 

SUCHE NACH DEN WURZELNLEIBLICHE ELTERN FINDEN: RECHTE VON ADOPTIVKINDERN

23. Februar 2024, 11:44 Uhr

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The now closed adoption agency DIA knew their employee in South Africa was working double jobs, but they hid the information from the Danish Appeals Board. DIA also acknowledges that the employment was a way of circumventing aid.

Back in December, the Danish Appeals Board suspended all adoption mediation from South Africa. Barely a month later, the Ministry of Social Affairs, Housing and the Elderly also decided to suspend the last five countries from which DIA was still mediating adoptions.Michele Spatari/AFP/Ritzau Scanpix

An employee at the adoption agency Danish International Adoptions (DIA) in South Africa has worked for both DIA and their South African partner, the organization Impilo, which mediates orphans for national and international adoption. 

DIA was aware of the double-dealing, but on several occasions chose not to inform the Danish Appeals Agency. 

The adoption agency also acknowledges that hiring the employee was a way of providing financial support to Impilo after it was decided in January 2022 that it was no longer legal to give it directly to organizations like Impilo.  

NARA - Each year in Japan there are over 200,000 abortions. Every two weeks, a newborn infant dies of abandonment. And each year, more than 50 children lose their lives to physical abuse at the hands of their parents.

This is according to the nonprofit Migiwa, based in Nara Prefecture, western Japan.

Migiwa's mission is to protect unwanted babies, acting as a mediator to help place them with new families through plenary adoption. Such cases often involve birth mothers choosing to give up their right to raise their child with a disability such as Down syndrome.

Although the health ministry has offered a lower estimate of roughly 122,000 abortions occurring in fiscal 2022, organizations such as NPO Florence say that one newborn baby dies every two weeks in Japan due to abuse and neglect or from being abandoned in parks and other public spaces.

The Japan Network for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect also reports more than 50 deaths due to abuse occurring each year, meaning one child loses his or her life every week.

NARA - Each year in Japan there are over 200,000 abortions. Every two weeks, a newborn infant dies of abandonment. And each year, more than 50 children lose their lives to physical abuse at the hands of their parents.

This is according to the nonprofit Migiwa, based in Nara Prefecture, western Japan.

Migiwa's mission is to protect unwanted babies, acting as a mediator to help place them with new families through plenary adoption. Such cases often involve birth mothers choosing to give up their right to raise their child with a disability such as Down syndrome.

Although the health ministry has offered a lower estimate of roughly 122,000 abortions occurring in fiscal 2022, organizations such as NPO Florence say that one newborn baby dies every two weeks in Japan due to abuse and neglect or from being abandoned in parks and other public spaces.

The Japan Network for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect also reports more than 50 deaths due to abuse occurring each year, meaning one child loses his or her life every week.

https://www.demorgen.be/meningen/drie-ethiopische-belgen-getuigen-adoptie-is-helaas-geen-feelgoodverhaal~b47f10d5/?fbclid=IwAR1WEmi1lq36d2RLOWFuZ180dq7qe5Rg9AcekzayMMrKlW9-GDhKR1j2fQs&referrer=http%3A%2F%2Fm.facebook.com%2F&referrer=https://l.facebook.com/&utm_campaign=shared_earned&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook

Shashitu Rahima Tarirga, Thereza De Wannemaeker and Temesgen Mees were adopted from Ethiopia.

SHASHITU RAHIMA TARIRGA , THEREZA DE WANNEMAEKER AND TEMESGEN MEES February 21, 2024, 3:00 am

Through the VRT documentary Francisco Desir, the audience gets an insight into the emotional journey of adoption. For us adoptees, the emotions that Francisco goes through are all too recognizable. It takes a lot of courage to start the search for your first family. As adoptees, we can only applaud the fact that Francisco wants to share this quest with the general public.

Thoughtful opinions, sharp pens. All unmissable opinion pieces in your mailbox every week.

The Delhi High Court has ruled that the right to adopt cannot be raised to the status of a fundamental right within Article 21 of the Constitution of India, nor can it be raised to a level granting Prospective Adoptive Parents (PAPs) the right to demand their choice of who to adopt. Justice Subramonium Prasad said that there is no right at all to insist on the adoption of a particular