Baudouin's story

Boudewijn does not hesitate for a moment when his partner Amanda joins the Sri Lanka DNA team a few months after the birth of their daughter Tess. “DNA offers hope, also for Amanda and me. Maybe one day she will find biological family.”

In the beginning, in addition to his full-time job as director, Boudewijn mainly provided assistance for Sri Lanka DNA. He soon becomes more involved. On the ferry to Ameland – on his way to Wendy – he writes the policy plan for the foundation. He then joins the board.

Boudewijn knows what it is like to long for your child. Due to a divorce, he only sees his eldest son from another relationship for one weekend every fortnight. His second child, a daughter from a subsequent relationship, dies in the womb during pregnancy. “Having to miss a child, I feel that in my whole body every day.”

Before Boudewijn has his eldest son, he is about to adopt a child. In retrospect, he is glad that things turned out differently. He doesn't think adoption is the best solution. “I think you can facilitate families much better on the spot.”

That is why he now wants to do everything in his power to reunite mothers in Sri Lanka who have given up a child with their child through DNA testing. And a little fast, because those mothers are getting older. A biological bond is unique, he thinks. “We see it ourselves with Tess; that smile is mine, that frown is yours. The things you pass on, your qualities, that is a mirror of yourself.”

If it succeeds to connect biological family via DNA, that is a "huge kick" for Boudewijn. His greatest wish is therefore to get more mothers from Sri Lanka in the DNA database. “That would save a lot of difficult searches and huge disappointments.”

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