Dilani Butink raised adoption abuses: 'years have been looked away'

Following a damning report , the adoption of children from abroad has been suspended . Amsterdam's Dilani Butink (29) took the Dutch state to court last year for 'shoddy' around her adoption and is pleasantly surprised by the decision.

“There were some tears when the report's conclusion came out ,” says Butink. “It feels like a kind of emotional rollercoaster that suddenly explodes. In a positive way."

Butink discovered, during a trip to her native Sri Lanka in 2015, that her adoption papers were incorrect . As a result, she will probably never find her biological parents again. The court in The Hague ruled last year that the Dutch state is not liable for this , because the fraudulent practices surrounding Butink's adoption were time-barred. The court also found it impossible to determine whether there had been illegal adoption. “I found, and still think, that an easy legal solution. They looked away again, ”says Butink.

The latter happened for years, according to a committee headed by former top civil servant Tjibbe Joustra. The committee noted in its conclusions yesterday that there were already signs of adoption abuses as far back as the 1960s. Butink was born thirty years later. “Looking away, I had low expectations of the research. I was positively surprised to learn that the report was so critical. ”

Biological mother

Butink: “For years it was thought: those poor children are much better off in the Netherlands and we can make Dutch couples who are unwanted childless happy with it. One plus one equals two. But it is not that simple. You also have a third important party: the biological mother. That she is often forgotten is also apparent from the research. Many biological mothers did not want to give up their child at all. ”

The adopted child must also receive more attention, says Butink. “Are children really better off in the Netherlands? What is better'? That has not been properly researched at all. As long as it is not certain that you will help a child with it, I find adoption problematic. I am pleased that proceedings are now being suspended, so that they can be looked into more closely. ”

New adoption system

The committee doubts whether an adoption system is possible in which abuses no longer occur, also because the options for supervising the procedures are limited. The Amsterdam resident also doubts this. “The approach of adoption was once: helping the children there. If that is still the goal, all the money that is now circulating in the adoption world can be put into the children there. Instead of bringing them here. The fact that Dutch parents may then remain undesirably childless is a nasty side effect, but it should always be in the best interests of the child.

Butink will appeal against the court's decision in her case and hopes that 'prescription' in adoption cases will no longer be possible in the future. “After Friday I have the feeling that we are finally being heard, but I have also built up quite a bit of suspicion over the years. The first step has been taken. Now we have to wait and see what will really happen. ”

Response from the House of Representatives

The House of Representatives is shocked by the way in which children from poor countries have been adopted in the last fifty years, as the Joustra Committee states in the report. She wants a fundamental rethink of intercountry adoption.

Due to the sensitivity of the issue, the new House of Representatives and the next cabinet will have to debate the future of intercountry adoptions. That is the opinion of the spokespersons of the coalition groups VVD, CDA, D66 and the ChristenUnie. That is why the current House of Representatives will not aim for a debate later this week, but for a round table discussion with the authors of the report. "This is not something you discard on a Thursday afternoon before the election recess," said CDA MP Madeleine van Toorenburg.

Rethinking

Since 1956, 40,000 children from other countries have been adopted by Dutch parents. “There must be a fundamental rethink with regard to intercountry adoption,” says VVD MP Tobias van Gent. "What strikes me deepest is that those adoptions are done with the best of intentions, but that the practice turns out to be more unruly."

“The government knew about it and looked away,” says PvdA MP Attje Kuiken. "Very very painful and very sad for adoptive parents and adopted children." Chick is also shocked by the existence of baby factories.

“ It is an extremely intense report,” says Van Toorenburg. “We have to consider whether intercountry adoption is still possible and how it is still possible. If only the Netherlands no longer adopts, that will not solve the problem in the world. And it may be that parents adopt children through other, less visible ways. ”

Pathetic

For SP MP Michiel van Nispen, the fact that the government was aware, but looked away, is 'a devastating conclusion and fierce news for all involved'. Van Nispen calls it 'sad' that this investigation is coming so late and that no action has been taken before. In the short term, he states: "Generous money must be made available for searches for pedigree information."

“There must be identity restoration for adopted children who need it,” says GroenLinks MP Niels van den Berge. “Those who want to should be able to find their biological parents. The big question is also whether and how adoption can still be done. ”