Adoptions of foreign children in France: historians report numerous frauds

A report by two historians reveals dysfunctions that have occurred over the years in the process of adopting foreign children in France.

Marie Marre, born in Mali, was adopted at 19 months by a couple from Normandy. "I was told that my mother was very poor, and that she had given me up for adoption ," she said. Its adoption was organized in 1989 by an association approved by the French State. By going back to her past, she studied each piece of her file and noted "inconsistencies" .

At the time, his adoptive mother, Brigitte Marre, was not suspicious of the organization, authorized by the State. "It's hard to think that we took someone else's child ," she says. Along with eight other adopted children, Marie Marre filed a complaint against the association and its correspondent in Mali.

Many reports

In a report, two historians report numerous reports of this type, in dozens of countries. "When candidates for adoption from northern countries ask for children to adopt, that creates an offer in southern countries, with all sorts of possible deviations" , analyzes Yves Denichère, researcher at the University of Angers (Maine -et-Loire).

Johanna Lamboley, adopted in Chile at the age of 5 and a half, in 1986, also discovered gray areas in her file. At the time, social assistance would have pushed her biological mother to put her in boarding school.

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