They were best friends in an orphanage in India. Until they were both adopted and separated from each other. By an unlikely coincidence, Teena (6) and Wine (5) are now reunited in Zedelgem, West Flanders. They live one kilometer apart and go to the same school. "Teena and Wine are like sisters to each other."

The touching reunion happened about three years ago. The two girls saw each other on the playground of their school in Zedelgem. Immediately the recognition was there, and they fell into each other's arms. According to their adoptive parents, there was "a spark of recognition" between Teena Kyndt and Wine Dierick: the feeling that they had known each other from birth. meetingThe coincidence became even greater when their adoptive parents turned out to be friends. They live a kilometer apart in Zedelgem and got to know each other during the long adoption procedure - both couples wanted a child from India through De Vreugdezaaders. Teena (now 6) came to Belgium in September 2007 and went to live with one couple, Wine (5) followed in March 2008 and got a home with the other couple. No one in Belgium had any idea of ??the special bond between the two girls who were best friends at the orphanage in Calcutta. Until that meeting on their school playground. Hilde, Wine's mother: 'Teena is six months older than Wine, and she remembered very well the name of her best friend.' language problem'The children didn't have to get used to each other at all. They just picked up the thread they had lost a year before," says Bart, Teena's dad. The two girls did have a practical problem. Bart: 'Teena already spoke Dutch and Wine only Bengali. But they understood each other without words. You really saw that there was already a strong bond between those two.' Since the unlikely reunion, the two have been like sisters to each other, Teena's mom Conny says. 'Exactly magnets. Other children can play on the playground, but they belong together. They are always very sweet and caring for each other.' princessesWhy Teena is so important to Wine? "Because she's from my country," says the youngest. "Wine comes to sleep with us every now and then," Teena adds. 'We are friends, forever and ever. We also dance together.' That's right: every week the girls in Zedelgem take dance lessons together. Promptly they show their skills to a tune from K3. According to their parents, the children have a lot in common. For starters, they have energy for four - duracellekes , Papa Bart calls them laughing. "They both love dancing, gymnastics and ballet," he says. "It's two nimble ladies."During the conversation, the girls switch princess costumes a few times. 'That fondling with princesses is of course typical at that age', says Bart, 'but it is still striking how proud they behave. Indian women dress very striking and colorful, wear beautiful bracelets and jewelry. Wine and Teena like nothing better than to walk around dressed up. They weren't even four when they wanted earrings.' Sister NyssaCan Teena and Wine remember anything about the orphanage where their close bond grew? “That Sister Nyssa didn't let us cry,” Teena says. But according to her mother, she heard that. 'After six months, young adopted children have forgotten everything about their former environment. The new experiences here are also so overwhelming. What Teena does know, she has from photographs.' It is certain that the Indian girls will forever remain two hands on one stomach. 'Next year they can choose who they are in the class with, and then they will undoubtedly choose each other', says mom Conny.

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Human traffickers sell children to paedophiles

Published: 15 Apr 11 10:29 CET

Online: http://www.thelocal.de/society/20110415-34415.html

Share An international band human traffickers has been caught smuggling children to Germany from Haiti and beyond, then selling them to paedophiles, officials said Friday. The group allegedly posed as an aid organisation, luring the children with promises of a better life.

Frédéric Prinz von Anhalt and Zsa Zsa Gabor want a baby (15 Apr 11)

Police look into children with obscure IDs

10:52, April 14, 2011

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The Ministry of Public Security is carrying out a six-month inquiry to learn who certain children with obscure identities are and will hold the leaders of the local police departments accountable if child abductions occur, the ministry said on Tuesday.

As part of a six-month campaign that began that day, local police will conduct DNA tests on children who have unknown identities and, to learn whether they have been abducted, compare the results with information contained in a national anti-trafficking DNA database, said Vice-Minister Zhang Xinfeng in a video conference on Tuesday.

13 Apr 2011
Association Meeting for Crèche (orphanage) Directors
Posted by Dixie

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(sorry this is so long, but there is a lot of information and I feel strongly about some of these issues!)

There are more than 100 registered orphanages that are licensed for international adoptions in Haiti. Orphanages that are licensed for adoptions are called Crèches. We only had about 15 orphanages represented at the meeting. You would think that all crèche directors would be interested in influencing the new adoption law since it is going to affect them a lot. I was the only foreigner at the meeting. I think that is really sad that more directors will not take the time to come and voice what they think about this law.

Each law in Haiti must be voted on and passed by the House of Deputies and the Senate. Then it becomes law after passed and published. We went through the proposed law that was voted on and passed by the Deputies here in Haiti. We looked at each and every article in the law. There was a lot of discussion and we compared what was voted on with the law that was first proposed. There are some problems with this law. Errors that need to be corrected. Some of the wording is not acceptable but when you go back to the original proposed law, this law seems to be much better.

The association is inviting all of the Senators to a reception next week at a local restaurant/hotel to present the changes we would like to see in the proposed law. Many of the Senators are new and might know very little about adoptions. We want to educate them BEFORE they take the law to a vote. We want them to understand what adoptions mean to all of the relinquished orphans in Haiti. We also want them to understand that licensed orphanages are following a legal process and we must follow that process for a legal adoption.

The second thing the association will do is hold a press conference and educate the Haitian public about orphanages and adoptions. The public here believes whatever they hear on the radio. UNICEF, Save the Children, IBESR are not afraid to go to the press. They release information to journalists continually. They go on the radio trying to win over the public to their cause. We must do the same. We have to educate the public to realize that sometimes adoption is the answer for a child’s situation. None of us think that every time adoption is the best answer. But if nothing works to keep the family unified, it should be considered. And the public in Haiti needs to know what adoption really means. Many of our parents that come to the orphanage have been told stories by their neighbors and friends and think what they have been told is the absolute truth no matter what we tell them!

Some good things in the law if the Senate doesn’t change them:

1. A couple must be married 5 years if not married, then have lived together as a couple for 10 years. (the law does not mention age)

2. If one member of a couple is over 30 years old, then it says they can adopt without length of marriage being a problem. (we think this part will be changed and we want it to read if there is documented infertility. None of the directors were in favor of a newly married couple adopting.)

3. NOTHING IS MENTIONED ABOUT NUMBER OF CHILDREN IN A FAMILY!!!! It just says priority consideration is given to couples with no biological children, but if a couple has biological children then children over 8 years old within the family must give their consent to their parents adopting another child. (LET’S PRAY THIS IS LEFT IN!)

4. Single women and men can adopt if they are widowed or divorced and at least 35 years old. (We are going to ask the senators to change this to read SINGLE, WIDOWED, OR DIVORCED)

We need to pray that the law isn’t changed too much and only improved in places. If the Senators change anything, the proposed law then needs to go back into the House of Deputies to vote on the changes made.

There is an urgency about making the associations’ wishes known to the senators because the talk is that they will be voting sometime in May! May is not very far away and we have a lot of things to do in very little time.

We also need to educate the Senators and Deputies about the Hague Convection and what it would mean to Haiti and adoptions. I am afraid that UNICEF will push the Haitian government to ratify the convention without being prepared for the changes required by Haitian Social Services. Haiti is still very much in recovery from the earthquake and there is no way we can prepare for the Hague regulations yet!

It took the USA 10 years to get ready to ratify the Hague. Haiti needs more than a few months! It would be a disaster if they ratified it before they are ready.

Pray for wisdom for Haitian Senators and Deputies for all things but especially for the proposed Adoption Law and concerning the Hague Convention. I pray they will do their own research and not just accept what UNICEF or even what the association tells them. I also pray they actually think of all of the children in orphanages sitting, waiting, crying, for a “forever” family!

A Consultation on Definitions of Formal Care for Children: An Invitation to Participate

http://www.crin.org/docs/Definitions for Formal Care.doc

 Author: BCN, Save the Children, EveryChild, ISS Geneva, and SOS Kinderdorf International

Date: Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Minister asks Adoption Authority to assess situation in Vietnam

THE MINISTER FOR CHILDREN Frances Fitzgerald has asked the Adoption Authority chairman to visit Vietnam to assess how the country has improved its foreign adoption system.

Adoptions from Vietnam to Ireland have been suspended since the bilateral agreement between the two countries lapsed in May 2009 amid international concerns about the circumstances surrounding adoptions from Vietnam.

In February 2010, an International Social Service report commissioned by UNICEF Vietnam and the Vietnamese government found that inter-country adoptions from Vietnam were “essentially influenced by foreign demand”, meaning the number of children available for adoption was more related to the number of prospective adopters than the needs of the children.

It added:

12 April 2011 Last updated at 13:40 GMT 

SCardiff After Adoption conference on child identity

Adopted children find piecing together their past a struggle as they get older

Adopted children often struggle with their cultural identity as teenagers, according to a charity providing adoption support.

After Adoption aims to raise awareness of the difficulties faced by adoptees at a conference in Cardiff on Tuesday.

Lisa Rutledge, Times Staff|Apr 11, 2011 - 5:07 PM| 0 |Report a Typo or Correction
Adoption employees arrested

Former officials at Imagine Adoption face fraud charges


Adoption employees arrested. The Cambridge-based adoption agency made headlines around the world after news broke of the organization’s bankruptcy and fraud investigation.
TIMES FILE PHOTO
Two former employees of the Cambridge not-for-profit international adoption agency Imagine Adoption Inc., were arrested and charged Friday with breach of trust and fraud in connection with $420,000 in allegedly misused funds.

The agency’s former general manager Rick Hayhow, 46, was arrested in Cambridge and founder and former executive director Susan Hayhow, 45, was arrested in Whitby. Both have been charged with one count of breach of trust, six counts of fraud over $5,000, three counts of fraud under $5,000, as well as an additional and separate count of fraud over $5,000.

Both were released on a promise to appear in a Cambridge court on May 26.

Waterloo Regional Police Fraud Branch detectives, in partnership with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, began looking into complaints about inappropriate use of agency funds in July 2009. The business had declared bankruptcy, citing a $363,000 shortfall.

Investigators launched an extensive investigation, examining “a large volume of documents relating to financial transactions” and interviewing clients of the agency.

At the centre of the investigation is $420,000 in agency funds alleged to have been used for personal use, including vacations, clothing and renovations to a personal residence in Cambridge.

Hundreds of families across Canada were shocked when news of the agency’s financial issues, especially when many paid money upfront in hopes of helping secure adoption of children from orphanages in places like Ghana.

The Cambridge-based agency later got a second chance thanks to new leadership.

Creditors voted to revive the agency operated by Kids Link International Adoption Agency and families paid up to $6,000 each to help keep the agency running.

Police are still investigating and ask that anyone with information contact the fraud branch at 519-650-8500, ext. 8370 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.

The scandal of orphanages in tourist resorts and disaster zones that rent children to fleece gullible Westerners

By IAN BIRRELL

10th April 2011

As a child welfare expert who has worked amid bullets and bombs in some of the world’s toughest war zones, Jennifer Morgan is not someone easily shaken. But even she admits she was shocked by some of the orphanages she visited recently in Haiti.

‘Outside it is a sunny day. Then you step inside the walls of an orphanage and realise that the children there have been exposed to rapes, severe beatings, emotional and mental trauma,’ she said. It was even more disturbing, she added, than the damaged children she came across amid the deadly mayhem of Darfur.