Serbia: Baby Theft Proven In 42 Cases
Serbia: Baby Theft Proven In 42 Cases
BELGRADE – The Union of Parents of Missing Babies of Serbia tracked down the 75th newborn baby suspected stolen from its parents in Pozarevac on Friday.
According to the president of the Union, Vladimir Cicarevic, they are still in the documentation collecting phase, hoping that they will be ready to take DNA samples in two weeks time.
If they succeed and the DNA samples match, it will be the 43d child case for which they have proof that the baby was sold after birth.
The Union has been conducting a parallel investigation and for the past year and a half, has managed to track down dozens of youngsters. The majority was, according to Cicarevic, found in Serbia – some of them are mature people while others are still minors – but their traces also led them to some European countries and even Canada.
“We visited the City Hall, Registry Office, maternity hospital, neonatology, etc. in Pozarevac, together with parents looking for their daughter. There is reasonable suspicion that certain persons illegally adopted the child,” said Cicarevic and explained what their investigation consisted of. They mainly find the children through medical and other documentation, following leads from mothers’ protocols and so on, he said.
“A child can not get out of the hospital unless the papers are ‘washed’ through a third woman. We compare the lists of who left the hospital on the day when the baby allegedly died. By slowly narrowing the list of ‘suspects’, at the end, there is always one woman who doesn’t have proper documentation about her pregnancy. There are no papers proving that she was pregnant, but she was able to leave the maternity ward of the hospital with a baby”, stated the Union president.
A particular problem are alleged acceptances of mothers to give their children up for adoption. They claim that a number of mothers were given the drug “Formidal” to put them to sleep. Side effects of the medication, when used in therapy, are apathy, depression and disinterest. A mother would sign whatever she was given without even remembering of having done so. She would be told that her baby died, and if she decides to search for it one day, there would be a paper that she allegedly willingly signed to give her baby away.
The manual for “Formidal” reads that the medication is used the treatment of insomnia, but can also be used before surgery in order for the patient to become sleepy and relaxed. After stopping its usage, there are possible side effects, such as headache, extreme anxiety, tension, discomfort, confusion and irritability.
The Union also came up with information through insiders within Centers for Social Welfare. They find it suspicious for an adopter to skip ahead 20 places on the waiting list and suddenly be in cue to adopt a baby. The majority of children were found through their registration number and DNA analysis.
“First we check all paperwork, then our staff or detectives from a private agency conduct a field investigation. When they find the person suspected to have been stolen as a baby, we search for any kind of DNA material – gum, cigarette, anything. We then send DNA samples of the mother and the child to laboratories in Vienna or Switzerland. Only one sample so far did not match, while 42 did. The rest of them are still in the examination phase,” explained Cicarevic.
DNA analysis, which costs between 300 and 400 euros, is financed by parents. Parents whose children are found while still minors, they do not make contact with them right away. For the child, this is a big shock and can create incurable traumas. Parents do not want that. They don’t want to spoil their childhood and future, but wait for the child to mature and make contact in a roundabout way… However, there are direct meetings, he said.
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