How a Berliner struggles for her naturalization

Tika Stern was brought to Berlin from Nepal as a baby by German parents - but not as part of an official adoption. She grew up without valid papers. Now she finally wants to live in Berlin as a recognized German. By C Rubarth and H Daehler

Tika Stern grew up in Berlin without valid papers

the 24-year-old has to travel to Nepal to clarify her identity

Adopted from abroad often search for their origin

"I'm from Berlin, my roots are here," says Tika Stern. The 24-year-old stands in her old school in Berlin-Friedrichshain in front of photos from her school days. "But on paper I'm not German."

Tika came to Berlin as a toddler. Her German parents wanted to adopt a child, saw her as a baby in a children's home there: a cute little girl with short, dark hair.

But her biological parents refused to adopt her, they wanted money, says Tika. Her German mother flew back disappointed. Her father kept trying to take Tika to Germany.

Came in with a fake birth certificate

What happened then, what exactly her father did, she doesn't know. It wasn't until she was ten or eleven that she found out, and at least slowly understood, that she came to Berlin with her German father, a forged birth certificate and a Nepalese woman posing as her mother - into a life without valid papers. An official adoption never took place.

Many children who are now adults and who were brought to Germany in the 1980s and 1990s are concerned with the question of how their journey to Germany went, says Melanie Kleintz. She was illegally adopted in Peru herself as a baby – and today she supports other adoptees in their research into their origins. "If you go looking for your origins, there are always biological parents and mediators who say afterwards: The adoptions were not legal."

Source: rbb/Anja Kabisch

rbb/Anja Kabisch

Forced adoption in the GDR

"Known for a long time - only researched selectively"

Panic at border control

In the early years, a child's ID card based on the fake birth certificate helps Tika to avoid attracting attention. Tika shows photos from Rome, she travels to Tunisia, often to Spain. It wasn't until her ID card expired in 2008 - when she was ten years old - and she didn't get another German identity document because the forged birth certificate that had been uncovered in the meantime, that she didn't have anything anymore. Traveling across borders becomes dangerous.

When she was 16, she went to Auschwitz with her class. On the way back, the bus is stopped at the German-Polish border: passport control. That was one of the worst moments of her life, says Tika today. "My heart dropped. I was nervous. I was scared." As a matter of course, she shows the police officer her expired child ID card. She lets her get away with it.

Tika wants to be independent

At the age of 20, with the help of a lawyer, she received at least a right of residence, which identifies her as a Nepalese, and she has to go to the State Office for Immigration regularly to have her title extended. A generous step by the authority, says her current lawyer, Oda Jentsch. But for Tika, it feels wrong. "I grew up here. I wish to be independent of other people's permission. I would like to travel, vote, get married someday." And she wants to bear the name of her German family. Her temporary residency permit now says "Shrestha," the name that appeared on her fake birth certificate.

Tika shows children's photos (Source: rbb/Helena Daehler)Children's photos of Tika

Fight for German citizenship

"Tika has to travel to Nepal, a country she doesn't even know, so that she can present her Nepalese documents here in Germany," explains lawyer Oda Jentsch. Only then can you apply for naturalization. The situation is difficult for her, the lawyer said. "Since she came here as a minor, she is in a situation through no fault of her own that is not provided for by the legislature." Now that she is an adult, she is responsible for presenting and sorting her documents, which no one has done for her before.

The 24-year-old is working on a crowdfunding campaign with her friends. Collects money for flights, accommodation, interpreters, lawyers. Her goal: 25,000 euros. "Nepal is like another world to me," says Tika. You have no connection to this country. "But I'm not German, not Nepalese - I don't want to continue floating in this nothingness."

Now more strictly regulated

A story as complicated as that of Tika Stern is very rare, according to a spokesman for the Berlin Immigration Office. "As far as is known, this is the only case in our jurisdiction." The Hague Adoption Agreement has been in force in Germany since 2002 and provides strict guidelines for international adoptions. This includes counseling and the consent of the birth parents and an aptitude test of the potential adoptive parents. Since 2021, adoptions that are not accompanied by one of the approved foreign agencies are prohibited.

Who can illegally adopted people turn to?

Experience and individual studies suggest, says adoption counselor Melanie Kleintz, that in a not insignificant proportion of all foreign adoptions, money has flowed or documents have been doctored. She calls for clarification, an independent commission that investigates all previous foreign adoptions and how the children got here. So far, says Kleintz, isolated associations or self-help groups have helped with the search for origin. "We adoptees don't have a lobby here in Germany."

Kleintz accuses the authorities of not having looked closely at the time and now sweeping the mistakes from back then under the carpet. In fact, the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs also confirms that there is no official body that illegally adopted people in Germany can turn to.

focus on the future

Does Tika blame her parents for putting her in such a situation? She can no longer ask her father, he died a few years ago. She has a good relationship with her mother. She had a good childhood, she says. It's a shame how things went back then. "But I also see the loving aspect that no one meant me harm." Now she wants to focus on her future. "Because I can't undo the decisions I made back then."

REGULATION OF INTERNATIONAL ADOPTIONS

Germany joined the Hague Convention [bundesjustizamt.de] in 2002. It is intended to ensure that cross-border adoptions take place in the best interests of the child and in compliance with their fundamental rights as recognized under international law. State-recognized placement agencies support adoption procedures and the recognition of adoptions in Germany.

Unaccompanied international adoptions, which are not accompanied by a state-approved placement agency, have only been banned in Germany since April 1, 2021. This means that an international adoption is now only permitted via approved international agencies or the central adoption offices of the federal states. The process includes proof of identity, which is often accompanied by a document verification process in the country of origin. In connection with this, the family members, roommates, etc. are questioned so that the circumstances of the birth and the further life paths are known and questioned. Further information from the Central Adoption Office Berlin-Brandenburg (ZABB) [mbjs.brandenburg.de].

Broadcast: rbb24 evening show, March 28, 2023, 7:30 p.m

Contribution by Christina Rubarth and Helena Daehler

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