800 Colombian adoptions to the West are suspected to be illegal

East Bogotá, March 2021. The cotton swab should be rubbed deep into the oral cavity against both sides. The Colombian half-sister of Stockholm-based Marta Persson, Hilda Grisales Blandon, takes a deep breath. Trying to swallow the nervousness away.

Ten more seconds. Clear.

Laura Mora puts the stick in a small plastic bag and marks it with her name and social security number. She works for the Dutch organization Plan Angel, which brings together adopted and Colombian families.

The sample must be sent to the Netherlands for analysis. Hilda Grisales Blandon hopes that at least one of her three missing siblings left their DNA in the same registry.

At the end of last year The family contacted Marta. She was adopted to Sweden, but Hermalina Grisales Blandon never gave her written consent.

Now the family hopes that DNA technology will help them in their search.

– It may be our only chance to find her, says Hilda Grisales Blandon.

DNA samples, along with Facebook, have become crucial tools for adoptees looking to find their birth parents and vice versa. There is a queue for sampling in front of the assembly hall in the east of Bogotá.

The main goal of Plan Angel is to reunite people. A side effect, however, is that the organization can identify suspected anomalies related to the adoptions.

The result of the DNA tests in February: Of a total of 20 cases, twelve can be traced back to illegal adoptions, says Laura Mora.

– We see a lot of cases in which mothers have been robbed of their children, she says.

Laura Mora is one of Plan Angels more than 50 volunteers in Colombia. The organization was founded in 2008 in the Netherlands. Marcia Engel had just reunited with her Colombian mother and discovered that her adoption was illegal.

During her search, Marcia Engel had paid large sums of money, argued with authorities, and fumbled in the dark for almost a decade. Eventually she found her mother using DNA technology. She founded Plan Angel to help find other adopted and Colombian families.

– This is my life’s work, my passion. I’ll do this until I die, says Marcia Engel.

In total, the organization has collected records on just over 1,000 people. Plan Angel has files with testimonials from Colombian mothers looking for their children and adoptees looking for relatives.

Adoptees are matched with their relatives using DNA results and online detective work.

– Your stories do not match the children’s documentation. More than 80 percent of families did not give their children away voluntarily, says Marcia Engel.

“The Swedish government and other governments have failed to take responsibility,” says Marcia Engel.

Photo: Plan Angel

Marcia Engel mentions cases from several western countries who have adopted children from Colombia: Sweden, USA, England, France, Spain, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, Switzerland, Norway, Denmark.

– You turned children into “paper orphans”, orphans on paper, she says and continues:

– The mothers were described as mentally ill, prostitutes, criminals. Instead of contacting the families, the authorities sent the children away for adoption.

Plan Angel has granted DN unambiguous access to the organization’s database, contrary to the promise of anonymity for families and adoptees.

DN has read testimonials of more than 1,000 adoptions from Colombia. More than 800 of them contain information about serious irregularities: mothers who have not consented to adoption, children abducted from temporary day care, children pronounced dead at birth, and children who have been abducted.

The certificates are valid for adoptions from the mid-20th century up to and including the 21st century.

The database contains information on all types of crimes that a Dutch committee documented in relation to Colombia in its investigation of February this year – an investigation that led the state to apologize to the country’s adoptees and to temporarily stop international adoptions.

The committee cannot estimate how many children have been illegally adopted to the Netherlands. However, you commissioned a survey from the Dutch National Statistical Office.

– 3,500 adoptees answered. It was a representative sample, says Georg Frerks, who headed the committee together with Yannick Balk.

The adopters had found many inaccuracies. Parents name, place of birth. Identity. Only 20 percent had correct adoption documents. Among the Colombian adopters, two-thirds had papers with false information.

Frerks stresses that false documents do not prove that adoption was illegal, but that it points in that direction.

– It indicates that illegal activity has taken place, but an indication is not 100% legal evidence.

In the database that DN went through There are 21 testimonies to Armerotragedin – the volcanic eruption in Colombia on November 13, 1985. More than 20,000 people died.

According to the stories, families have seen their children saved only to never see them again.

“Some of the children were adopted in other countries even though their parents were alive”

The Dutch Adoption Committee was in Colombia and examined the Armerotragedin.

– Parents saw their children being rescued and kidnapped by helicopter. Some of the children were adopted to other countries even though their parents were alive, says Georg Frerks.

The organization Fondación Armando Armero was able to use DNA technology to determine that 67 of the 400 missing children had left the country for international adoption. Although they weren’t orphans.

– This runs like a thread through the history of adoption. Natural disasters and other catastrophes – after that the international adoptions increase, says Yannick Balk.

Marcia Engel is critical how easy it was to go through international adoptions.

– An immigrant to Europe has to prove his background. But if a child is adopted with two A4 papers, they’ll be taken in immediately, she says.

Your views are in line with the conclusions of the Dutch committee’s investigation. She believes that corruption in the countries of origin means that the authorities there do not help parents keep their children.

– There are loopholes in the law. The Swedish government and other governments have failed to take responsibility, says Marcia Engel.

Adoption Center: “The responsibility of the countries of origin to investigate the background of the children”

Facts. Schedule Angel

A non-profit organization that works to reunite adoptees with their Colombian families.

Founded in 2008 by Marcia Engel, a Dutch citizen, adopted from Colombia.

Has offices in the Netherlands, Belgium and France and works with over 50 volunteers in Colombia.

The business is financed through donations.

Facts. So we did it

– On site in Colombia, DN documented when Colombian DNA tests itself in the hope of finding relatives who have left the country through adoption.

– DN has been given temporary access to the organization’s database against the promise of anonymity for families and adoptees. DN accessed all documents in the database via an encrypted transmission and then deleted all files.

– On a video link, DN interviewed Marcia Engel, founder of Plan Angel and researcher on the Dutch committee, who examined, among other things, adoption activities from Colombia to the Netherlands between 1967 and 1998. DN also read the Dutch committee’s investigation.

Facts. These are ethical adoptions

The Hague Convention on Child Protection and Cooperation in the Event of International Adoption

The country of origin must have ensured:

This international adoption is in the best interests of the child after considering the possibility of bringing the child to the country of origin.

– that the family and the authorities have given their written consent.

– that the mother’s consent was only given after the child was born.

– that no one is allowed to generate inappropriate financial gain.

Sweden ratified the convention in 1997.

The Convention on the Rights of the Child

The contracting states undertake:

– Respect the child’s right to retain their identity, including citizenship and family relationships.

If a child is illegally stripped of their identity, adequate assistance is provided to restore them quickly.

– ensure that the same rules apply as for national adoption.

Sweden ratified the convention in 1990. Applicable under Swedish law since January 1, 2020

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