Born a girl - sent away the adopted child

15 June 2004

Sent to a Polish orphanage after seven years

The doctor couple adopted a boy from Poland, as a gift on their wedding day.

Five years later they had their own daughter. Shortly afterwards, they returned the boy to the orphanage in Warsaw.

The boy, who is now nine years old, was adopted by the couple seven years ago.

The couple has been working as a doctor in a Swedish city since 1999, but are Polish citizens.

When the boy was adopted, he was a gift to the woman on the couple's wedding day, writes the major Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza.

Two years ago, the couple had their own daughter. Then they chose to tell the boy that he is not their biological son.

Started process

In September last year, the couple went from Sweden to Poland and left him at the orphanage.

The next day they went back to Sweden and started a legal process to cancel the adoption. The couple claim that they can not take care of the 9-year-old because he is violent.

Mental health problems

The doctor couple has not told if the boy's violent behavior began before or after he was told that he has been adopted.

The 9-year-old had major psychological problems after he was left in the orphanage.

- We have never had a child here with such problems and with such a difficult situation, even though most children here have experiences that no adult can even imagine, says Ewa Kaminska, psychologist at the orphanage.

Must pay maintenance

She is very critical of how the couple treated the boy.

- I understand that the parents had a hard time dealing with him, but if I have difficult children - should I just leave them then? she says.

On May 20, the verdict fell in court. Instead of dissolving the adoption, the court in Warsaw chose to deprive them of custody of the boy.

This means that they will have to pay maintenance until he is 18 years old.

Recently, a French couple has said that they can consider adopting the 9-year-old. Now the orphanage will take a position on their interest.

Annika Madejska, Joakim Andersson

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