UNITED ADOPTEES INTERNATIONAL - NEWS

IN THE HEADLINE - TODAY'S ARTICLE

2009-07-17T02:08:00.000-07:00

This is the Flash Board of
United Adoptees International
Adoption World News

FROM THE UAI NEWSROOM 17 July 2009

South Korea - The Korea Times
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Korea Continues to Deny Overseas Adoptees Access

By Jennifer Kwon Dobbs and Jane Jeong Trenka

The Ministry of Health, Welfare and Family opened a central adoption information service center Wednesday to provide post-adoption services to adoptees searching for their birth families. However, there's one significant problem that the ministry has ignored: adoptee access.

This center is meant to fulfill the requirement of a ``central authority'' by the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption. Click on the central authority's new Web site (www.kcare.or.kr) featuring images of adoptees for whom their birth families are searching and you'll find it is completely in the Korean language. Can an overseas adoptee whose first language is either English or French read or use this?

Since 1953, South Korea has sent over 160,000 Korean children abroad to 14 Western countries. It is the oldest and largest adoption program in the world, despite South Korea's economic miracle.

Reunion with birth families is a primary reason for adoptees to return to South Korea. From 1995-2005, the ministry reported that 78,000 adoptees came to South Korea to search for their families. Yet only 2.7 percent were reunited. What accounts for this low success rate?

Mads Them Nielsen, former director of post-adoption services at Global Overseas Adoptees' Link (G.O.A.L.) from 2001-2003, said, ``In a given year I received approximately 240 requests including e-mail inquiries. I have reunited only 10 cases. The main problem was getting information from the agencies.''

The lack of adoptee access includes not only records and translation, but also active adoptee representation.

Although the central authority has prominent representation by adoption agencies, an overseas adoptee who lives in Seoul, who was a potential candidate for the board, was dropped without explanation.

His replacement, Steven Morrison, is an adoptee living in the United States who is head of Mission to Promote Adoption in Korea. He cannot regularly attend meetings or events in Seoul important to the information service center's decision-making process due to his overseas residence.

At an institutional level, the ministry continues to view adoptees as a whole as children and discriminates against them as ``orphans'' and ``foreigners'' who cannot represent their own interests and who should not make decisions about themselves.

However, adoptees continue to struggle to make their voices heard. The ministry's second hearing on the revision of South Korea's civil and overseas adoption laws on July 1, sponsored by the Korean Women's Development Institute (KWDI), marked the first time in 56 years of international Korean adoption that a critical mass of overseas Korean adoptees were able to directly communicate their own interests in a governmental forum. The KWDI provided professional, simultaneous translation services.

This public hearing was originally intended to be the last one before the ministry sends its suggested revisions to the Adoption Law to the National Assembly.

However, after seeing the number of adoptees and supporters who turned out to voice their opinions, Park Sook-ja, director of the ministry's family policy bureau, announced that another public hearing might be necessary to further discuss adoptee and single mother concerns.

But the ministry has not released information about a third public hearing. Instead, it has rushed toward opening the service center both online and onsite without consulting overseas adoptees and without any regard for the comments they gave at the last public hearing.

The ministry intends for the center to bring South Korea into compliance with the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption.

In accordance with the convention, it should hold the records of the adoptees and assist with birth family searches. It should also serve as a watchdog over the agencies. However, the center is incorporated as a private entity, not a governmental agency with sufficient oversight.

The center's facilities and problems are the same as the old GAIPS (Global Adoption Information and Post Services Center) Adoption Information Center.

In fact, it is located in the old GAIPS office ― they have yet to even change the sign on the door. GAIPS failed to establish a sufficient working relationship with overseas adoptees because it was not willing to provide language access.

Despite appearing to make improvements, the South Korean government continues to deny the adoption community authentic access and services. Fifty-six years and counting of adoption history, overseas adoptees are still waiting.

Jennifer Kwon Dobbs, professor of English at St. Olaf College in Minnesota, is the author of ``Paper Pavilion.'' Jane Jeong Trenka is the author of ``The Language of Blood, Fugitive Visions,'' and co-editor of ``Outsiders Within: Writing on Transracial Adoption.'' They are members of Truth and Reconciliation for the Adoption Community of Korea (TRACK), a group advocating for transparency in adoption practices both past and present to improve the lives of Korean families and adoptees.

W O R L D - A D O P T I O N - N E W S

2009-07-13T23:21:00.000-07:00

This is the Flash Board of
United Adoptees International
Adoption World News

Complete(d) articles can be read
with the additional links.

Updated -Friday 17 July
Year - 2009
Time - 09.22 (GTM+1)
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R U S S I A - U S A

Russian Orphans Arrive

By Tuquyen Mach for 3 WSAV

Published: July 15, 2009

Ten Russian orphans are in Hilton Head on the adventure of a lifetime. At the end of the trip some of them will get to come back to the U.S. permanently, because some of the children’s host families intend to adopt them.

The State Department says Americans completed more than 17,000 international adoptions in fiscal year 2008. Guatemala topped the list with more than 4,100 children adopted from that country. China was second and Russia third in adoptions to the U.S.

Over the next three weeks, the kids will get to experience their first car ride, their first visit to a beach, and their first outings with their new families.

A big bedroom, a doll, and a loving home await 6 year-old Veronika in Hilton Head. Wendy and Scott Cummings say they’ve always wanted a fourth child.
“It’s a leap of faith. We don’t really know anything about her, except for she’s adorable. We know she’s ours,“ said Wendy.

“When this opportunity kind of came through the school, Wendy talked to me and we talked a little bit about it, and it was pretty clear cut that this was what we’re supposed to do,“ said Scott.

“I’m scared and excited at the same time,“ said 8 year-old Grey Anne, the youngest of the family’s 3 children.

The family says they’re ready for any challenges.

“Veronika speaks no English, and being that she’s only 6, they don’t start school until they’re 7. So she not only doesn’t speak English but does not read Russian,“ said Wendy.

“Trying to help one child get a better chance at life. We have so much here, if we can give a small portion of it to somebody else then that’s great,“ said Scott.

Finally, the moment they’ve been longing for at the Savannah airport, as they get to see Veronika for the first time.

They’ll spend the next few weeks getting to know each other, and the children who don’t have adoptive families yet will get to meet prospective parents.

“[We’re] having families come to the area from other states and from around this area who are interested in adopting to meet the kids and to get to know them a little bit and see if they may be a fit, to see if their families are a fit. Our goal is to find each of them a family before they go,“ said Christina Carr, director of Operation 127, the local sponsor of the trip.

The Cummings and some of the other families have already started the adoption process for four of the 10 visiting children. Through this program with International Guardian Angels Outreach, it will only take about two or three months before the adoption is complete and the kids will get to come home to their new families.

G U A T A M A L A

Sobrevivientes Hunger Strike

Sobrevivientes has begun a hunger strike. The intent is to attempt to get the courts to annul the three adoptions involving the notorious three cases of kindappings.

I believe that everyone in the Guatadopt community wishes that these cases could be resolved in some fashion. And as always it is imortant to remember that these cases are not representative of the thousands of adoptions that occurred.

So that no one thinks I am editing, censoring, etc... I will not be on my computer much if at all the next two days. So expect a delay in approving comments. And in advance, I ask that everyone go out of their way to be courteous and clear in their comments. These are challenging times for our community, let's not let that tear us apart.

By Kevin > read article click here

Additional Article

GUATAMALA - Prosecution asks Guatemala withdraw the immunity of a judge accused of approving adoptions anomalous

R U S S I A

Adoption: la Russie bannit 113 organisations américaines

Russia bans 113 US organisations

The Russian Ministry of Education and Science has banned the bodies of Russian regions to accept adoption applications submitted by 113 U.S. organizations not accredited in Russia, announced the spokesman of the Ministry Levistkaïa Alina.

MOSCOU, 15 juillet - RIA Novosti. Le ministère russe de l'Enseignement et de la Science a interdit aux organes compétents des régions russes d'accepter les demandes d'adoption transmises par 113 organisations américaines non accréditées en Russie, a annoncé la porte-parole du ministère Alina Levistkaïa.

Selon le ministère, 16 enfants russes sont morts au cours des 17 dernières années dans le cadre d'adoptions par des étrangers.

"Aujourd'hui nous n'avons pas reçu les rapports concernant 376 enfants russes. Dans la liste (des parents ne satisfaisant par les engagements), on en trouve pas une seule organisation américaine accréditée en Russie. Il ressort que celles qui sont accréditées respectent leurs engagements, les autres 113 restantes, non", a-t-elle fait savoir.

Les personnes ayant adopté un enfant en Russie doivent envoyer des rapports cinq, 11, 23 et 26 mois après l'adoption, avec des informations concernant son développement, sa santé, ses conditions de vie et ses contacts avec son entourage.

Suite à une récente rencontre entre des représentants du ministère et la secrétaire d'Etat américaine adjointe Michele Bond, la partie américaine se serait engagée à lever les questions en suspens concernant ces organisations.

Les parties ont en outre convenu de signer un accord russo-américain sur l'adoption d'enfants russes, permettant de réglementer les obligations des parents adoptifs américains.

"Il serait bon qu'un tel document soit signé par l'Espagne, la France, la Finlande et l'Irlande", a déclaré la porte-parole du ministère.

V I E T N A M

Babyhandelaars opgepakt in Vietnam

ANP, EFE
Gepubliceerd op 15 juli 2009 09:40, bijgewerkt op 09:42

HANOI -

De politie in Vietnam heeft een netwerk van babyhandelaars ontmanteld. Zij heeft zeven personen die worden verdacht van het verkopen van 33 pasgeborenen aan klanten in China, opgepakt.

Dat liet de politie woensdag weten. Zij is nog op zoek naar twee personen die wisten te ontsnappen. Het gaat om het grootste netwerk van babyhandelaars dat ooit in het Aziatische land is ontdekt, aldus inspecteur Truong Tho Toan.

De handelaren verkochten de baby's voor omgerekend 1000 euro per stuk. Ze haalden de baby's uit ziekenhuizen en dorpjes in de armste en meest afgelegen gebieden van Vietnam. De handelaren boden net bevallen moeders zonder geld aan hun baby te adopteren. In sommige gevallen doodden ze de ouders.

De Vietnamese politie is dinsdag begonnen met de zoveelste campagne tegen mensenhandel. Daarnaast voert ze controles op aan de grens met China en Cambodja. Daar worden ook veel vrouwen verhandeld voor de prostitutie. De economische crisis heeft de mensenhandel verergerd.

UNITED KINGDOM

Number of adopted children returned to care has doubled in five years

By Rosemary Bennett for Times (online) 10

The number of adopted children who have been returned to care homes because their new parents cannot cope with them has doubled in the past five years.

Data obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show that the number has increased by a third in the past year alone as parents struggle with often challenging children who have suffered years of neglect or abuse in their natural families.

Going back into care after living with an adoptive family is a traumatic experience for children, and for the adoptive parents who have to accept their only chance of having a family has gone. It is also a huge cost to an already over-stretched system with the children likely to need expensive specialist care.

The increase in breakdowns comes despite a fall in the number of children being adopted. Only 4,637 children were adopted in 2007, the lowest number since 1999.

The data on breakdowns is in a survey of local authorities, conducted by More4 News and shared with The Times. More4 News will broadcast its special report tonight at 8pm.

Experts say the figures show that many children are being left to suffer at the hands of dysfunctional natural parents for too long before being taken into care by social workers. By the time they are adopted, many have severe emotional or behavioural problems.

Local authorities are not obliged to keep any data on adoption breakdowns and the vast majority of those contacted by More4 News had no figures or only partial records. However, according to the numbers kept by 92 out of 450 local authorities in England, Scotland and Wales, 57 children were returned to care in 2008-09 compared with 26 in 2004-05. If the pattern is repeated across the country, it means more than 250 children were returned to the care system last year.

The Adoption Act of 2002 was supposed to speed up adoption so that children do not have to languish in the care system for too long. However, the bigger problem may be that they are allowed to stay with their natural parents for too long before social workers remove them from their home.

Lord Laming, Britain’s foremost expert on child protection, highlighted this issue in the wake of the Baby P tragedy. He urged social workers to be far more realistic about parents’ ability to turn their lives around and to act more decisively when there are problems.

The figures are also a reflection of the changing face of adoption. Before the 1970s, most adopted children were babies born to single mothers, but today more than three quarters have been removed from their homes because of abuse or neglect. The increase in alcohol and drug abuse among parents is also a growing factor in care proceedings, with parents often being given several chances to break their habit before children are removed.

According to data provided to More4 News by the local authorities, last year only four per cent of adopted children were babies, with the majority aged between one and four. A quarter were aged between five and nine.

Adoption UK, the charity which supports adoptive families, said not enough was being done to help parents to care for a challenging child.

Jonathan Pearce, of Adoption UK, said: “The figures starkly illustrate the difficulties and complexity of modern-day adoptions from care and also highlight the lack of support for adoptive families in their challenging task of being therapeutic parents for traumatised children.”

The charity says the system is still too preoccupied with the intense and lengthy approvals process for would-be adoptive parents, rather than preparing them in advance and helping them afterwards.

Case study
‘I had naively believed in love’

Initially, the adoption seemed to be going well. But Kate discovered that Alex, whom she had adopted when the child was four, had an attachment disorder and heard voices.

“She never left my side, ever,” Kate says. “She couldn’t watch television, she couldn’t play, she didn’t want to play with other children. There was nothing that she could do by herself.”

Alex’s behaviour deteriorated rapidly and she began to torture the family cat. She tried to kill her rabbit. Social services had warned Kate that her daughter’s background was “as bad as it gets”. Alex’s natural mother was an alcoholic and a drug addict.

“I naively believed that with enough love and enough attention and security we could make it all better for her,” Kate says. “But it became a nightmare caring for a child who isn’t attached to you.”

(All names have been changed))

One in 15 children fail to bond with their adopted families according to new figures

By Steve Doughty for Mail Online - 10.07.2009

Numbers of adopted children whose new families break down have doubled in the past five years

Numbers of adopted children whose new families break down have doubled in the past five years, new figures indicated today.

They suggest that around one in 15 children who are adopted by new parents fail to bond with their new families and end up back in the state care system.

The growth in the level of failed adoptions is the latest blow to hit the system for finding new families for children who cannot live with their own parents which has been surrounded in deepening controversy for a decade.

Only slightly over 3,000 children a year now win new families by adoption from the state care system.

Numbers have dropped despite Tony Blair's 2002 adoption law which was intended to push up adoption totals back towards the high levels of the 1970s.

Many of the children who are adopted from care are not babies but older children who have been put up for adoption by social workers only after years of failed attempts to persuade their birth parents to look after them properly.

Most have spent years in care homes or living with a succession of temporary foster parents.

The Labour adoption law did, however, open the door for more single parents and gay couples to adopt children.

The new figures, gleaned from freedom of information requests, show that 57 children were returned to the state care system in the year that ended in April following failed adoptions from 92 local authorities with children's services departments.

The figure compared with 26 in 2004/05.

It suggests that among the 300 councils with children's social services there may have been almost 200 failed adoptions last year from around 3,200 adoptions of children from the care system.

The rising numbers suggest adoption may be coming too late to help many children. In the 1970s, when there were more than 20,000 adoptions from care every year, most adoptions were of babies given up by single parents.

But generous new benefits and housing for single mothers and the growing suspicion of adoption among social workers - who have been open about their dislike of the idea of supplying childless middle class women with families - cut numbers down heavily during the 1980s.

Many couples find it hard to pass the tests set for adoptive parents, which weed out those considered too old, too unfit, those with undesirable habits like smokers, and those with undesirable views on matters like race equality.

However social workers have been anxious to attract new kinds of adoptive parents since Mr Blair's law was passed.

They have been on the lookout for more single parents, sometimes on the basis that children who have grown up with single mothers should be placed with adoptive single mothers.

A series of Roman Catholic adoption agencies have been forced to stop finding homes for children because they object to placing them with gay couples, and in May, the main state-financed adoption agency, the British Association for Adoption and Foster, was forced to apologise after a publication called opponents of gay adoption 'retarded homophobes'.

Author on adoption and the family Patricia Morgan said of the new figures: 'Adopted children themselves have often suffered repeated attempts to re-unite them with their birth parents. Many have also been recycled through many foster homes and children's homes.

'By the time they are finally adopted they can be terribly disturbed and absolutely unmanageable.'

She added: 'There is also a matter of what the adoptive home is like.

'Far more children are now being placed with single mothers. There are figures which show half of placements of older children with single mothers break down.

'There are also increasing numbers of children placed with gay couples and we don't have information on breakdown rates.'

Cameron 'sacrificed RC adoption for gay vote'

Friday, 10 July 2009

Conservative leader David Cameron has been accused of contributing to the closure of Roman Catholic adoption agencies in order to win homosexual voters.

In 2007 Mr Cameron voted for new ‘gay rights’ laws forcing adoption groups to consider gay couples as potential adopters without any protection for religious agencies.

Newspaper columnist Gerald Warner says the Conservative leader had “calculated that it was worthwhile insulting Catholics (8 per cent of the electorate) to please homosexuals (0.8 per cent) because he believed (correctly) that the former do not constitute a bloc vote and imagined (incorrectly) that the latter do”.

The new laws have now seen most of these agencies – known for their work with ‘hard to place’ children – either cut ties with the Roman Catholic Church or drop out of adoption work.

Mr Warner was responding to an article in The Catholic Times by Christopher Graffius commenting on the impact the closure of the agencies will have on children.

Mr Graffius encourages readers to “drop a line to David Cameron and ask him – in the context of the public spending freeze to come – why he felt it so necessary to destroy a third of the capacity of the voluntary adoption sector”.

He warns that “some of the most needy, disadvantaged and desperate children will be denied a chance of an adoption into a stable, loving family” as a result of the Sexual Orientation Regulations (SORs).

The SORs make it illegal to discriminate on grounds of sexual orientation in the provision of goods and services, including adoption services.

The decision to pass the SORs with no protection for religious groups “goes against the available evidence”, writes Mr Graffius.

“This suggests that same-sex co-habiting couples are more likely to suffer relationship breakdown than co-habiting heterosexual couples, where 52 per cent will have moved out of their relationship within five years.

“It does no favours to ‘difficult to place’ children, many of whom may have been physically or sexually abused, to place them with couples who will, in the majority of cases, suffer relationship breakdown.

“In these cases the interests of the child have always come first, except in parliament.”

Mr Graffius writes: “The irony is that Catholic Children’s Societies help people whom the state would turn away.

“The public services are so stretched that they will not seek to help anyone whose situation is not deemed to be ‘critical’.”

The two major parties have continued to compete for the ‘gay vote’ this week, with Labour Minister Chris Bryant pointing to a Conservative MP’s support for a free speech protection in the offence of inciting homophobic hatred as evidence of a “poor voting record” on these issues.

Last week David Cameron said he was sorry for supporting a law preventing local authorites from promoting homosexuality in schools, and reiterated his support for ‘gay marriage’.

N E T H E R L A N D S - M A L A Y S I A

1950 Child Custody Victim Bertha Hertogh Dies at 72

KUALA LUMPUR, July 9 (Bernama) -- Bertha Hertogh or Nadra, who made world headlines in 1950 when she became the centre of a legal conflict between her Dutch parents and a her adoptive Muslim mother, died at her residence in Huijbergen, The Netherlands yesterday.

She was 72.

Hertogh or fondly known as Nadra when she lived in Singapore and Indonesia, died of leukimia, according to a statement from Malaysia's ambassador to The Netherlands, Dr Fauziah Mohd Taib that was e-mailed to Bernama here, Thursday.

After the judge assigned her to her Dutch parents, riots broke out between Muslims and Christians in Singapore, which resulted in 18 deaths and 200 hundred others injured.

Dr Fauziah said for many people, Nadra, who was born in Bandung, Indonesia, remained an icon in the battle against British imperialism and an example of what religious differences could lead to.

She later returned to The Netherlands, but her heart always remained in Malaysia and Indonesia, Fauziah added.

In 1999, Nadra returned to this region for the first time since the riots to film a documentary for a Dutch television station.

"According to Hertogh, her childhood had been the only period in her life that she was really happy. Bertha Hertogh is remembered as a loving and caring woman who continuously dedicated her life to others. Her own happiness always came in second," said Dr Fauziah.

At the moment, a motion picture titled Nadra is in pre-production stage in Singapore, Malaysia and The Netherlands.

The film captures the pespective of Nadra and the events that led to the riots and how she became a victim of religious and colonial conflicts.

The film is directed by Ben Sombogaart and is expected to be released in the fall of 2010.

-- BERNAMA

N E T H E R L A N D S

Iedereen zwijgt over Adoptieschandalen - TROUW - 09.07.2009

Berichten over kinderdiefstal veranderen niets aan de praktijken rond adoptie

Opnieuw bereikte een adoptieschandaal de internationale pers. Eerder berichte Trouw in 2008 al over adoptieschandalen in China. Maar dat het daar niet bij zou blijven was gewoon een kwestie van afwachten. Al wilde de Nederlandse overheid er niet aan. Na de vele, zogeheten, incidenten in de jaren negentig en beginjaren van deze eeuw, zou het wel heel toevallig zijn, als het bij dit het ene bericht in 2008 zou zijn gebleven.

Nu zou je denken, dat de maat wel eens vol zou zijn. Na adoptieschandalen uit India, Sri Lanka, Haïti, en nu weer uit China, waar Nederland afgelopen jaren bij betrokken raakte, zou je zeggen, dat de Nederlandse overheid en het publiek toch wel wijzer zou zijn geworden. Maar niets is minder waar. Het parlement gaat rustig op vakantie en hoopt waarschijnlijk dat ook dit nieuws wel weer over zal waaien. Want Nederland is niet gediend met een debacle met de Chinese overheid over een ‘minor issue’. Diplomatieke belangen zijn ogenschijnlijk belangrijker dan levens van kinderen en hun ouders. Deze analyse wordt nog eens duidelijker na het bestuderen van de brief van de Chinese Centrale Autoriteit (CCAA), de instantie die over de adopties van kinderen gaat. Uit de brief van februari 2008, gericht aan de Nederlandse Centrale Autoriteit (Ministerie van Justitie), blijkt duidelijke dat er niet teveel vragen gesteld moeten worden over de misstanden in China als het gaat over kinderdiefstal in kader van deze kinderen die ter adoptie gereed worden gemaakt naar het buitenland. Ook wordt er in die brief te kennen gegeven; dat het beter is om de betrokken Chinese ouders niet in te lichten, om de adoptieouders die een band zijn aangegaan met het adoptiekind niet te verontrusten. En dit allemaal in het belang van het kind en binnen de regels en de geest van het Internationaal Haags Adoptieverdrag. Althans zo stelt de CCAA het in de brief naar Nederland.

Opnieuw blijkt dat de internationale gemeenschap niet gevoelig is voor dergelijke situaties en dat zij niet van zins is om in te grijpen om ouders in niet westerse landen te beschermen tegen diefstal, ontvoering en verkoop van hun kinderen voor de adoptie. Immers, adoptie is in het belang van het kind zo wordt altijd geredeneerd. Hierdoor wordt strafbaarheid in het internationaal strafrecht nog steeds niet als een noodzaak gezien. Want er zou geen sprake zijn van uitbuiting maar van een levensreddende handeling. Maar elk welnadenkend mens begrijpt dat dit bij dergelijke adopties niet van toepassing kan zijn. Maar tot nu toe weigeren landen om een aanpassing te maken voor dergelijke criminele activiteiten. Nederland incluis.

De vraag is waarom de internationale gemeenschap, met name adoptieouders en politici die vaak als eerste staan te roepen dat het om het belang van kinderen zou moeten gaan, zich nu, en telkens weer als dergelijke zaken opduiken, hullen in stilzwijgen. In het belang van geadopteerden is het in ieder geval niet. Die worden elk jaar geconfronteerd met vervalste, voorgelogen en incomplete adoptiedossiers. Maar geen enkele overheidsinstantie die bereid is ze juridisch en financieel bij te staan. Terwijl zogenaamde kindertehuizen, onder toeziend oog van Nederlandse diplomaten in desbetreffende landen, door wensouders contant worden ‘gesponsord’ voor bedragen van 2500 tot 5000 euro per kind, worden adoptieouders door de Nederlandse staat gesubsidieerd voor meer dan 3500 euro per geadopteerd kind in Nederland.

Maar waar moeten geadopteerden naar toe als ze achter komen dat er van alles mis is met hun adoptie ? Naar dezelfde overheidsinstellingen die voorheen meewerkten met dergelijke transacties en activiteiten, hopend op enige begrip en medewerking ? De eerste aanklacht van een geadopteerde tegen een dergelijk instantie is een kwestie van wachten geworden.

TROUW - 09.07.2009

Everyone is silent when Adoption scandals appear

By, Hilbrand W.S. Westra

Reports of abduction, trade and childtrafficking for adoption, does not change the practices surrounding adoption

Again another adoption scandal was published by the international press. Earlier the Dutch national newspaper ‘Trouw’ published in 2008 about adoption scandals in China, involving Chinese Adoptees from the Netherlands. But that it would not be the last one, was just a matter of waiting to happen. Even tough the Dutch Parliament did not want to believe these messages. After the many known, incidents in the nineties and the beginning of this century, it would be very coincidental, that this one post in 2008 would have been the last one.

After adoption scandals in India, Sri Lanka, Haiti, and now from China, where the Netherlands in recent years was involved with, you would say that the Dutch government and the public surely would have become wiser and would immediately take measures. But nothing is less true.. The parliament went on summer recess and hopes quietly that this news will blow over again as it did before. Because the Netherlands is not served by a debacle with the Chinese authorities on a ‘minor issue’ like this. Diplomatic interests are apparently more important than lives of children and their parents. This analysis is even more evident after studying the letter from the Chinese Central Authority (CCAA), the authority on the adoption of children in China. In the letter of February 2008, addressed to the Dutch Central Authority (Ministry of Justice), appears clearly, that “ It is better not to pursue, expand or elaborate on this issue further.” With other words, Don’t ask questions about the abuses in China when it comes to abduction, childtrafficking and childlaundering for making children adoptable for intercountry adoption. Also in the same letter the CCAA says. “..to keep secret for related families in order not to interrupt the bond established between the adoptive parents and the children and impose any unnecessary pressure on them.”. And all this in the interest of the child and within the rules and spirit of the International Hague Adoption Convention. At least according to the CCAA in the letter to the Netherlands.

Again this all shows, that the international community is not sensitive to such situations and that it is not willing to intervene to ensure that parents in non-Western countries being protected against theft, abduction and sale of their children for adoption. Because adoption is in the best interest of the child, it is always exclaimed. This is the reason why these criminal acts are still not punishable by the international criminal law. Because with adoption there is no question of exploitation, but a life-saving act, according to the international standards. But every human will understand that such adoptions can not apply to these principles. But until now, western countries refuse to adapt their laws to such criminal activities. Including the Netherlands.

The question is why the international community, especially adoptive parents and politicians, who are often the first to declare, that the interests of children should be safeguarded, are so silent when these kind of cases appear. It is in no way in the interest of adoptees.

They are faced each year with forged, lied and incomplete adoption records. But no government is willing to help them legally and financially to assist them to handle the many problematic issues they encounter. While so-called orphanages under agreeable eyes of Dutch diplomats in those countries receive cash donations by ‘would be parents’ ‘sponsoring‘ them for amounts from 2500 to 5000 dollars per child, adoptive parents are State subsidized for more than 3500 per adopted child in the Netherlands.

But where can Adoptees go if they find wrongdoings regarding their adoption? To the same governments that previously participated in such transactions and activities, hoping for some understanding and cooperation? The first indictment of an adoptee against such a body is a matter of waiting to become.

UNITED KINGDOM

RC adoption group given survival bid to High Court 08.07.2009

A Roman Catholic adoption agency has been given the chance to appeal after losing a bid to protect its pro-marriage ethos last month.

The Leeds-based charity, Catholic Care, was told by the Charity Tribunal last month that under the new Sexual Orientation Regulations (SORs) it would have to consider gay couples as potential adopters, despite its belief that children need a mother and a father.

However, the adoption agency has now been granted permission to appeal to the High Court over the matter which the Tribunal said was of “public importance” and “would be appropriate for the High Court to consider on appeal”.

Mark Wiggin, chief executive of Catholic Care, said the charity had not yet decided whether to pursue the appeal.

“We have to leave open the option,” he said.

The charity is one of several Roman Catholic adoption groups forced to choose between abandoning their beliefs on marriage, dropping out of adoption work or risking falling foul of the SORs.

The SORs make it illegal to discriminate on grounds of sexual orientation when providing goods or services, and were controversially introduced in 2007 with no exemption for religious adoption agencies.

The agencies were given until the end of 2008 to comply.

Catholic Care had hoped to clarify in its charitable objects that it only placed children with couples in a manner which is in keeping with its religious ethos, but the Charity Commission refused its attempt last year.

Last month a spokesman for Leeds Diocese said he feared the decision would mean charities like Catholic Care “will need to close their adoption services and a flagship service of the charities will be lost”.

He added: “We are concerned about the possible impact this will have on potential adoptive parents and children.”

Additional Articles

DENMARK - INTERNATIONAL

EU states fail to stop child trade - Shanghai Daily - 08.08.2009

EUROPEAN Union countries are failing to protect vulnerable children from being trafficked for sexual and labor exploitation or organ extraction, and must step up efforts to fight it, an EU agency said yesterday.

Morten Kjaerum, director of the EU's Fundamental Rights Agency, said an unknown number of children are traded within the 27-nation bloc in what he described as "part of the modern slave trade."

"Little is done" within EU countries to protect children held in asylum shelters from being exploited and taken by criminal gangs active in trafficking, he said.

"The protection of every child is a duty for all states," Kjaerum said. "We have both a moral and legal obligation to protect children."

The agency's 159-page report said the EU needs to develop a standard definition of child trafficking, bolster enforcement of existing laws and improve care for victims.

EU countries are mulling new proposals presented by Jacques Barrot, the EU's justice commissioner, in March, which would allow police to use phone taps to hunt down culprits and to better protect the victims of trafficking, most of whom are forced into prostitution.

He is also urging member states to offer victims healthcare, housing and residency rights in exchange for information on human trafficking rings.

Kjaerum said existing measures were not enough to tackle child trafficking.

"Without improvements in the identification of victims and the conviction of perpetrators, laws designed to prevent child trafficking and protect victims will continue to exist only on paper," he said.

The report said child trafficking statistics for Europe are hard to come by, and several member states either deny it occurs in their country or reported numbers far below the projected level.

The European Commission says "several hundred thousand" people are trafficked into the EU or within the bloc each year.

EU spokesman Michele Cercone said child trafficking is "one of the priorities" of the EU executive which has recently increased efforts to coordinate a Europe-wide crackdown against trafficking gangs. < Aditional Info

EU must do more to fight child trafficking (07/07/2009)- FRA

BELGIUM

Europa moet strijd tegen kinderhandel opvoeren

De Europese Unie moet haar inspanningen in de strijd tegen kinderhandel aanzienlijk opvoeren. Die oproep heeft het Europees Agentschap voor de Grondrechten vandaag gelanceerd. Volgens een nieuw rapport van het agentschap weerspiegelt het extreem lage aantal veroordelingen geenszins de omvang van de problematiek in Europa.

Gebrek aan gegevens
Elk jaar wordt een aanzienlijk aantal kinderen verhandeld met het oog op seksuele uitbuiting, zwartwerk, adoptie of het ontvreemden van organen. Volgens directeur Morten Kjaerum van het Europese agentschap strekt het probleem zich over de hele Europese Unie uit, maar de ware omvang valt door een gebrek aan voldoende gegevens moeilijk in te schatten.

Opvangcentra
Wel staat volgens Kjaerum vast dat de opvangcentra een belangrijk doelwit zijn. Het grote aantal kinderen dat elk jaar verdwijnt uit deze faciliteiten, loopt volgens het rapport een groot risico om in de handen van mensenhandelaars te vallen. Zo verdwenen zo'n 400 van de ruim 1.300 minderjarigen die vorig jaar op het Italiaanse eiland Lampedusa arriveerden.

Genegeerd
Het Europese agentschap stelt vast dat het probleem grotendeels genegeerd wordt. Tot dusver heeft slechts een handvol lidstaten het probleem aangepakt, bijvoorbeeld via de oprichting van gespecialiseerde centra voor minderjarige slachtoffers van mensenhandelaars, waar een vertrouwensband met de autoriteiten kan opgebouwd worden.

Illegalen
Een bijkomend probleem is dat sommige lidstaten slachtoffers van mensenhandel vaak niet behandelen als slachtoffers, maar als illegalen of prostitués. Kjaerum pleit voor Europese wetgeving met minimumnormen die ervoor zorgen dat slachtoffers van kinderhandel in geen enkele lidstaat om die redenen bestraft worden.

Voorstel
De Europese Commissie presenteerde deze lente een voorstel voor een betere aanpak van mensenhandel. Dat zou volgens het agentschap een grote stap vooruit betekenen voor de bescherming van en de zorgverlening aan slachtoffers. De lidstaten moeten het voorstel nog goedkeuren. (belga/lpb)

CHINESE CHILDREN ALSO ENDED UP IN BELGIUM

At least five stolen en trafficked children from Guizhou ended up in Belgium. The Belgium government followed the strategy of denial and tried to silence the issue hoping that the parliamentarian summer recess will ease the turmoil of this tragic news. The Belgium central Authority 'Kind & Gezin "denied yesterday that chldren from this trafficking scheme ended up in their country. But Belgium media reported that at least five Belgium families had stolen children from Guizhou.

Chinese officials planned and executed a well run childtrafficking process from Zhenyuan. Media in China are reporting that at least 42 children but maybe even 80 or more children were taken from their families to be sold into adoption to the west.

At least four countries are hit by this baby trafficking scheme. United States, The Netherlands, Belgium and Canada. But probably also Spain, France, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Australia are related countries were these children went.

No government is willing to consider stopping adoptions from China though. Not willing to risk the relationship with the Chinese government and economic and diplomatic relationship. Adopters and Adoption Parents saying that they are shocked by this news but are not giving up to adopt from China.

But year after year new adoption scandals appear and no government is willing to take serious measures to prevent and prosecute childtrafficking or to hold and stop adoptions from high risk areas in the world like China.

Related Articles

Adopties uit China kunnen niet bevraagd worden - Niewsblad BE
Geen gestolen kinderen in Vlaanderen - Nieuwsblad BE
Minstens Eén gestolen kind in Vlaanderen - HLN.BE
Adoption d'un enfant 'vole': il restera en Belgique - RTL.BE
Bezorgd om Adoptie - De Standaard

IRELAND - VIETNAM

New Delays on Adoption

By Caroline Crawford - Monday July 06 2009

IRISH couples hoping to adopt children from Vietnam will be left in limbo for another month after talks to secure a new agreement failed.

Adoptions from Vietnam to Ireland were halted in May after a five-year agreement between the states come to an end without new procedures in place.

The move left up to 350 prospective parents, who had already been approved for adoption following a lengthy assessment, in the dark as to when their adoption could go ahead.

Last week, Irish officials held further talks with their Vietnamese counterparts to address the problem.

However, while Minister for Children, Barry Andrews, said good progress has been made, they had been unable to secure a new interim agreement.

A spokesperson for Mr Andrews said: "Adoptive parents will want to know if and when adoptions between Ireland and Vietnam will resume.

"However, it is not possible to be definitive on this, as a number of processes on both sides are required before a new agreement can be brought into force."

Shane Downer, chief executive of the International Adoption Association, said: "To date, more than 650 children have been adopted from Vietnam into Ireland, so it has been a very positive agreement.

relationship

"I think there is a very clear intent from both sides to establish a new agreement.

"We have had a very good relationship with Vietnam and the Vietnamese and Irish authorities are working well.

"I hope that, by August, we'll be nearly there, if not there already."

About 2,000 Vietnamese children are adopted overseas each year, a fraction of the overall birth rate, as the authorities there have been placing a greater emphasis on domestic adoptions in recent years.

Vietnam is due to adopt the Hague Convention on Inter-Country Adoption, which sets minimum standards for overseas adoptions, early next year.

Concerns have been raised about corruption in the adoption system there, with the United States suspending adoptions from Vietnam late last year.

A US investigation found examples of orphanages paying destitute parents the equivalent of almost a year's salary to hand over their children. These children were subsequently put up for inter-country adoption.

Foreign couples were also told to make cash donations.

Setback for adoption Parents - Herald.ie

Vietnam prosecuted three people for childtrafficking - MSNBC

Chiltraffickers convicted in Vietnam - Vioces for Vietnam Adoption Integrity

Silence greets exposure of corrupt adoption practices - Independent.ie

CHINA ADOPTION SCANDAL 2009

2009-07-03T01:08:00.000-07:00

CHINA - INTERNATIONAL - ADOPTION SCANDAL

THE NETHERLANDS

REACTIE MINISTERIE VAN JUSTITIE

Minister Hirsch Ballin van Justitie is bezorgd over de berichten uit China en heeft een onderzoek gelast door de inspectie Jeugdzorg naar de mogelijke misstanden en de gevolgen daarvan voor Nederlandse adoptieouders. De minister zal via de Nederlandse ambassade in China in contact treden met de Chinese autoriteiten.

Daarnaast brengt een delegatie van het ministerie van Justitie in augustus een werkbezoek aan China om over de handelwijze bij adopties te spreken. Ook staat versterking van de samenwerking op de agenda.

Nederlandse vergunninghouders die actief zijn in China informeren de adoptieouders die uit de provincie Guizhou hun kind hebben geadopteerd.

Weer adoptieschandaal in China- N etwerk

| TV| 03.07.2009 | International Issues| Adoption Scandals | Source: Netwerk |

De Chinese overheid heeft ouders gedwongen hun kinderen af te staan en boden hen ter adoptie aan. Een aantal kinderen is via adoptie ook in Nederlandse gezinnen terecht gekomen. Dat melden Chinese media volgens dagblad 'Trouw'.

Volgens deze media gaat het om een tehuis in het district Zhenyuan in de provincie Guizhou. Sinds 2001 zouden ongeveer tachtig kinderen zijn weggehaald van hun ouders, in dit tehuis zijn ondergebracht en ter adoptie zijn aangeboden. In China staat een boete op het krijgen van meer dan één of twee kinderen. Wanneer de ouders de boete niet konden opbrengen, werd het ‘illegale’ kind weggenomen.

Dit adoptieschandaal staat niet op zichzelf. Al eerder berichtte Netwerk over verdachte adopties uit China, nadat een groot adoptieschandaal in het district Shaoyang in de provincie Hunan werd onthuld in 2006. Families dienden daar een petitie in waarin ze hun afgenomen kinderen terugeisten.

Uit dat schandaal bleek dat Nederlandse adoptieorganisaties ook kinderen adopteerden uit kindertehuizen die bij het schandaal betrokken waren. Maar na de geruststellende woorden van China aan het Ministerie van Justitie bleef en blijft Nederland kinderen uit China adopteren.

Vanavond in Netwerk antwoord op de vraag hoeveel verhandelde Chinese kinderen via adoptie in Nederland terecht zijn gekomen.

Dossier

Adoptie

Extra materiaal

De meeste adoptiekinderen zijn vondeling, maar niet allemaal

Adoptie uit China

Een nieuw schandaal stelt adoptie uit China in een kwaad daglicht. Maar komen deze praktijken vaak voor?

Geen adoptieouder zit te wachten op het bericht dat zijn of haar kind mogelijk met dwang is weggenomen bij de biologische ouders. En veel mensen rekenen daar ook niet op. Wie vanuit China adopteert, gaat ervan uit dat de kinderen echte vondelingen zijn. Het bericht in Chinese media dat in een district in de provincie Guizhou kinderen van hun eigen ouders zijn weggenomen door de autoriteiten en naar een tehuis zijn gebracht, haalt dat beeld onderuit. Maar zijn daarmee alle adopties uit China dubieus?

Dat niet. Vanuit China zijn 110.000 Chinese kinderen – meest meisjes – naar het buitenland gegaan, onder wie zo’n 5000 naar Nederland. Een flink deel, met name de gehandicapte kinderen, is afgestaan omdat de ouders niet voor hen wilden of konden zorgen. Een ande

r deel is vrijwillig afgestaan uit armoede of door bijvoorbeeld alleenstaande moeders.

Het grootste deel van de vondelingen komt door de ’eenkindpolitiek’ – die ouders één of twee kinderen toestaat – en dus onder druk van de wet. Maar daar zijn gradaties in. In veruit de meeste gevallen zijn meisjes te vondeling gelegd omdat de ouders liever een jongetje krijgen. Die kan later – zeker op het Chinese platteland – voor zijn ouders zorgen en de familielijn voortzetten.

De Chinese overheid grijpt echter ook zelf in. In het distr

ict Shaoyang in de provincie Hunan namen tussen 2002 en 2005 ambtenaren die verantwoordelijk zijn voor de bevolkingspolitiek, een tiental kinderen weg bij ouderparen. Sommige daarvan zijn vrijwel zeker biologische kinderen, hoewel de autoriteiten volhouden dat het ging om illegaal geadopteerde kinderen. De kinderen kwamen in een tehuis terecht. Van één kind is inmiddels aangetoond dat het in de VS verblijft.

Ook in het district Zhenyuan in Guizhou zijn kinderen weggenomen door de autoriteiten, in dit geval met zekerheid bij hun biologische ouders. Uit de Chinese media blijkt overigens dat die het niet eens in alle gevallen erg vonden. Sommigen hadden liever dat hun meisje onder staatszorg ging vallen dan dat ze boete moesten betalen vanwege haar illegaliteit. De kinderen zijn in een tehuis geplaatst voor adoptie naar het buitenland. Dat levert het tehuis donaties op: to

t vorig jaar 3000 dollar, inmiddels 5000 dollar.

Er duiken geregeld dit soort verhalen op – ook over kinderhandel (zie kader). Alleen kan zelden voor specifieke kinderen worden vastgesteld dat ze zo’n route hebben afgelegd. Tehuizen en autoriteiten in China veranderen de gegevens in de dossiers op zo’n manier dat de herkomst van kinderen nauwelijks te achterhalen valt. Ook in het Zhenyuan-schandaal kan alleen DNA-onderzoek definitief uitsluitsel geven over welke geadopteerde kinderen zijn weggenomen.

Er zijn dus vier verschillende categorieën: vrijwillig afgestane kinderen, vanwege de bevolkingspolitiek ’vrijwillig’ afgestane kinderen, verhandelde kinderen en door de overheid weggenomen kinderen. De verhouding tussen die categorieën is moeilijk vast te stellen. Het is nog steeds aannemelijk dat die laatste twee groepen veel kleiner zijn dan de eerste twee. Maar zolang er geen absolute duidelijkheid komt en er in China steeds nieuwe voorbeelden opduiken van wanpraktijken, zullen adoptieouders moeten leven met de mogelijkheid dat hun Chinese kind niet vrijwillig is afgestaan.

Overheid pakt kinderen af van ouders en biedt hen ter adoptie aan, ook naar Nederland

De Chinese overheid heeft ouders gedwongen hun kinderen af te staan. Via adoptie belandden die elders, melden Chinese media.

In een district in China zijn sinds 2001 ongeveer 80 kinderen door de lokale overheid van hun families weggenomen en in een tehuis gestopt. Van daaruit zijn ze naar het buitenland geadopteerd. Uit het betreffende tehuis zijn ook kinderen naar Nederland geadopteerd. Volgens de China Daily is een van de weggenomen kinderen daadwerkelijk in een Nederlands gezin terechtgekomen.

Volgens Chinese media gaat het om het district Zhenyuan in de provincie Guizhou. Het bevolkingsbeleid in China dwingt families slechts één of twee kinderen te krijgen. Voor ’illegale’ kinderen krijgen ze een hoge boete opgelegd of kunnen ze andere straf krijgen. In dit geval moesten families die de boete niet konden opbrengen het kind afstaan.

Volgens de Chinese media vervalste het tehuis in Zhenyuan samen met de autoriteiten de papieren van de kinderen om hen voor vondelingen te laten doorgaan. Daarna konden buitenlanders hen adopteren. De donatie die bij zo’n adoptie hoort – 3000 dollar – werd gedeeld door het tehuis en de lokale autoriteiten. Hoeveel kinderen uit het tehuis naar Nederland zijn gekomen, was gisteren nog onduidelijk.

Er duiken geregeld verhalen op over lokale autoriteiten in China die families dwingen hun kinderen aan een tehuis af te staan. Soms kan worden bewezen dat die kinderen door buitenlanders zijn geadopteerd. Zo dienden in 2006 families in het district

Shaoyang in Hunan een petitie in waarin ze afgenomen kinderen terugeisten, een zaak waar onder meer het tv-programma ’Netwerk’ aandacht aan besteedde.

Van enkele van die kinderen is vastgesteld dat ze nu in buitenlandse adoptiegezinnen verblijven. Tehuizen in Hunan kochten in die tijd overigens ongeveer duizend kinderen van handelaren, ook voor adoptie naar het buitenland, maar onduidelijk is of het daarbij om echte vondelingen ging of eveneens om bij hun familie weggenomen kinderen.

Het bijzondere aan deze zaak is dat Chinese lokale media erover berichten. Ook heeft een ambtenaar uit Zhenyuan bevestigd dat veel van de kinderen uit het tehuis van de stad door de lokale autoriteiten zijn weggenomen bij hun familie.

Verwante artikelen

Minister wil ophelderingover adopties uit China - Reformatorisch Dagblad 03.07.09

China is verplicht het belang van het kind voorop te stellen - Trouw 06.07.2009

'Illegale Chinese adoptiekinderen in Nederland' - Novum

Weer ophef rond adoptie uit China- Trouw 2008

Hirsch Ballin vraagt China opheldering over adoptie - Trouw 2008

Tweede kamerstukken juni 2009 o.a. over China

Again Ba by girls sold for Adoption in China

|Newsarticle| 03.07.2009|International Issues|Adoption Scandals

|Source: Wall Street Journal|Gordon Fairclough Ellen Zhu at gordon.fairclough@wsj.com|

SHANGHAI -- Authorities in southern China are investigating allegations that local officials took babies from their parents between 2003 and 2005 and delivered them to an orphanage that press reports said has offered children for overseas adoption.

The government said "related people" had already been punished for wrongdoing. The probe was announced Thursday, the same day that Time Weekly, a newspaper based in Guangzhou, carried accounts of two families in the county -- Zhenyuan in Guizhou province -- saying officials took their baby girls when they couldn't pay fines levied on them for allegedly violating family-planning laws that limit the number of children a couple can have.

Time Weekly's story, which was prompted by a whistleblower who posted the account of a third family online, said the practice was widespread in the county at the time. Dozens of children from the orphanage where the children were reportedly taken were adopted by parents from the U.S. and other foreign countries. Another Guangzhou paper carried a similar story Wednesday.

The government of the prefecture overseeing Zhenyuan county said in a statement issued Thursday, "We will not cover up" any problems and "will investigate every case."

Tens of thousands of Chinese children have been adopted by U.S. parents over the past two decades. China imposes strict rules on who is eligible to adopt Chinese children and the country's overseas-adoption system is generally considered to be very transparent and to involve little corruption.

An official at the Zhenyuan County Public Security Bureau said it had looked into the publicly identified cases -- the two in the newspaper stories and the one posted online -- and concluded that in two of them, the families had voluntarily abandoned their children. In one case, the official said a child was surrendered after "inducement by family-planning officials."

The official said that officials from the local government, family-planning office and orphanage have been "punished." He declined to be more specific.

According to the Time Weekly story, two couples were told that if they couldn't pay a fine of "tens of thousands" of yuan (10,000 yuan is around $1,500) for having too many children, they would have to give up their babies for adoption. One father said he agreed to send a daughter to the orphanage. The mother of another baby girl said that she initially agreed and then pleaded to get her daughter back, but was refused. She said officials told her not to worry because her baby would be sent to a family abroad, the newspaper report said.

—Ellen Zhu contributed to this article.

Write to Gordon Fairclough at gordon.fairclough@wsj.com

Orphanage scandal officials punished

Orphanage-scandal probe starts

COUNTRY FILE MALAWI

2009-06-23T01:34:00.000-07:00

M A L A W I

The lessons of Idah's long journey from Malawi to Burlington

With their four-year legal battle to adopt from Malawi, Ontario family paved the way for Madonna to do the same. But their stories have sparked fierce debate, as activists worry these cases are flouting the country's laws

The Globe and Mail by Geoffrey York
Mchinji, Malawi — From Monday's Globe and Mail, Tuesday, Jun. 23, 2009

Before Madonna, before the hype and the fury over her Malawian babies, there were the Clementinos of Burlington, Ont.

The global spotlight never fell on the Clementinos. Nobody heard of their long struggle to adopt a little girl named Idah from Malawi.

But their victory, after a four-year, $35,000 legal battle, was a precedent that paved the way for the U.S. pop superstar to adopt a pair of children from the same African country. Their story raises the same awkward issues – of poverty and culture, of deciding what is best for a child's future, and for the future of a country.

“ We're doing it for the good of the child. If you can make a difference, why wouldn't you?”

Children like Idah – and Madonna's far more famous David and Chifundo – have sparked a fierce debate in Malawi, where activists worry that the phenomenon of foreign adoption is creating a commercial value for their children, and diverting financial resources that would be better spent on health and education.

But for her adoptive parents in Burlington, who have never been to Malawi, the issue is simpler. By removing Idah from the austere existence of an African orphanage, they believe they are giving her the nurturing that she needs to have a chance in life.

“We're not trying to remove Idah from her culture, but to give her an opportunity,” says Jane Clementino, a management consultant and mother of three other children. “We're doing it for the good of the child. If you can make a difference, why wouldn't you?”

Idah, whose birth name is Effina Chulu, is now a lively 11-year-old Grade 5 student and cross-country running champion at a school in Burlington, an outer suburb of Toronto. Last month she became a Canadian citizen, the culmination of a six-year effort by Jane and Carlo Clementino.

Like Madonna, the Clementinos persuaded a court to let them bypass a law that requires them to be a “resident” of Malawi if they want to adopt a Malawian child. As a result, Idah became one of the first children in the country to be adopted by foreigners.

Jane and Carlo Clementino are shown with daughter Idah and sons Lucas, left, Cole and Reid in their Burlington, Ont., home.

Children's rights groups are worried that these cases are making nonsense of their country's laws. In the past few years, they say, hundreds of children have been quietly removed from Malawi in violation of the national law and its clear requirement that only residents of the country can adopt.

But for the parents in Canada, the law is a bureaucratic obstacle that needs to be streamlined so that more children can be adopted by foreign families. With adoption in China becoming more difficult, a growing number of Canadians are turning to Africa.

Idah's journey, like that of Madonna's adopted son, David Banda, began in a village in Malawi, a small landlocked country of 13 million people in southern Africa where most people subsist on less than $2 a day.

Both children were considered orphans, although their fathers were still alive. Both were taken to an orphanage called Home of Hope in the ramshackle border town of Mchinji, near the Zambian border.

Idah was the first child to be taken from Home of Hope and brought to a foreign land. A few years later, in an eruption of global publicity, David was the last.

A brick wall surrounds the orphanage, topped by shards of broken glass to keep intruders out. “The Fear of the Lord is the Beginning of Wisdom,” says a painted slogan on the wall.

Inside the walls are 580 children and the orphanage's founder, Rev. Thomson Chipeta, an 80-year-old Presbyterian minister.

Also inside the orphanage is Idah's father, Patrick, who works here in exchange for the food he needs for his survival. He briefly meets me at a market outside the orphanage, but is reluctant to talk. “If they see me here with you, I'll be in trouble,” he says, before walking away.

There's no evidence that Mr. Chipeta is motivated by commercial factors. A former orphan himself, he seems sincere in his love of the children. Yet money, and a craving for foreign donations, is a recurring theme in almost everything he says to a foreign visitor.

Mr. Chipeta takes me on a tour of the orphanage, ending in a small brick building that bears the painted name “The Fax House to God.” Inside are the remains of a house built by South African missionaries in 1925.

“This is just a simple place where I have a direct line to God,” the minister says. “He provides all our needs.” Then he bows his head in prayer, asking for divine help so that I will publicize his orphanage “to tell many people that we need help.”

He has already given me a brochure with details of how donors can send a bank transfer to the orphanage. Madonna's charity, Raising Malawi, is providing about $300,000 annually to the orphanage, but he says it needs a further $500,000 every year.

Before Madonna came along, Canadians were the main supporters of Home of Hope. The biggest benefactor was a woman named Jane Glaves who raised tens of thousands of dollars for the orphanage from her church and Rotary Club in Brantford, Ont.

The minister calls her “Auntie Jane” and “a great gift from God.” He estimates that she raised $75,000 a year for the orphanage. Its nursery and primary school are named after her.

While he is keen to seek foreign money for the orphanage, Mr. Chipeta is less keen to discuss Madonna's role at his orphanage. “People will think we don't need help,” he says.

Pressed for his opinion on foreign adoption, he calls it a “very difficult question” that only the government can decide. Then he reaches for his Bible for an ancient precedent. “Is it good for a child to be adopted? It goes back to Moses.… The Bible confirms that Moses had a better education because of the family he was brought up in.”

Effina Chulu, one of the first infants brought to the orphanage, was renamed Idah in honour of a daughter of Mr. Chipeta who had died. Bright and friendly, she became a favourite of Ms. Glaves, the Canadian woman who visited the orphanage twice a year.

In 2003, Ms. Glaves decided to take two malnourished boys from Malawi to Canada for medical treatment. Five-year-old Idah was perfectly healthy, but she was brought to Canada as a “companion” for the boys, and was soon in the foster care of the Clementinos. All three of the children were eventually adopted in Canada, and several of the lawyers and officials who helped arrange those adoptions were later instrumental in helping Madonna with her adoptions in Malawi.

Ms. Glaves wrote later that the journey to Canada by the three Malawian children was “God's will” and a way to “teach the world what love is about.”

But activists in Malawi reject the idea that “God's will” is a sufficient reason to send a healthy child to a faraway country.

The huge sums donated by foreigners, especially after a successful adoption, are an incentive for unscrupulous people to set up orphanages for money-making reasons, they say. And the tens of thousands of dollars spent on a single adoption would be much better spent on supporting Malawi's schools and hospitals so that many more children could live healthy lives, the activists say.

Foreign adoption, they say, must only be a “last resort” when there is nobody in Malawi who can take care of an orphan. “The orphanages and the authorities haven't exhausted all the options in looking for places for the children,” says Maxwell Matewere, executive director of Eye of the Child, a Malawian children's-rights group.

“Many orphanages are acting as recruitment agencies,” he says. “They keep on recruiting children to justify their orphanage and to keep raising money. Once you start commercializing the process, the children lose out.”

He estimates that more than 300 children from Malawi have been adopted by foreigners in the past nine years without following the legal rules. Often their families are misled into thinking that the children are going abroad for schooling or medical care and will return home later, he says.

In the case of Madonna's adoptions, the children were given to her essentially as “a token of thanks” for her charitable work in the country, Mr. Matewere says.

In April, a high court in Malawi rejected Madonna's bid to adopt Chifundo, since the singer was not a resident of the country. Ignoring the residency rule “could actually facilitate trafficking of children by some unscrupulous individuals who would take advantage of the weakness of the law of the land,” Judge Esme Chombo ruled.

“Consider the consequences of opening the doors wide. Anyone could come to Malawi and quickly arrange for an adoption that might have grave consequences on the very children that the law seeks to protect.”

The ruling was overturned last week by Malawi's Supreme Court of Appeal, which criticized Judge Chombo for focusing on “some imaginary unscrupulous individuals.” The court said Madonna could be considered a “resident” of Malawi – even though she doesn't actually live in the country – because she has “a targeted long-term presence” with her charitable efforts and her “long-term ideas” of investing in projects to help its children.

Activists worry that this ruling will make it easier for wealthy foreigners to adopt Malawian children in exchange for charitable donations to the country. The definition of “resident” has been bent completely out of shape, they say.

Mavuto Bamusi, national co-ordinator of a Malawian rights group called the Human Rights Consultative Committee, rejects the idea that foreign adoption can be justified as a response to poverty. “If a child is adopted to take her out of poverty, it's like saying that the 13 million people of Malawi should be taken out of poverty – let us vacate the country,” he says.

“Instead of putting one child in a school in London, couldn't the same resources be spread across 15 children in Malawi? The real causes of poverty are not being addressed. Is adoption a sustainable way of protecting children? No.”

Another group, Save the Children UK, argues that foreign adoption can actually worsen the problems that it hopes to solve. “The very existence of orphanages encourages poor parents to abandon children in the hope that they will have a better life,” a spokeswoman said.

Back in Burlington, Jane Clementino sees it differently. She is convinced that Idah would have faced a “dismal” future if she had remained in the orphanage.

Ms. Clementino acknowledges that Idah has extended family in Malawi, including aunts, uncles and adult sisters. “Their intentions are pure, they would love to take care of their own, but they don't have the means,” she says.

“These children are in an orphanage because no one else could take care of them. My understanding is that there's not that many people in Malawi with wealth who are looking to adopt.”

The process of adopting Idah was “long and arduous,” she says. “The path isn't established – there isn't any easy way to do this. The adoption laws and the paperwork aren't easy to understand.”

In fact, if the Clementinos had never met Idah, they might have abandoned the idea of adopting a child from Malawi, she says. “But once you make eye contact, you become invested. It's a different journey.”

Comments

POLITICS & ADOPTION

2009-06-19T22:53:00.000-07:00

UAI zegt samenwerking met het IOC op

UAI cancels cooperation with Dutch Chinese NGO
Due different views on adoption and the conflict of interests from Adoptees, the UAI was pressed to cancel the cooperation with the representatives of the Chinese overall Organisation called IOC.

In earlier meetings during the last two years the UAI and the IOC reached an agreement of cooperation regarding a National Day for Chinese Adoptees in the Netherlands.But suddenly the board and new members of the IOC committee (All Chinese) forced a new approach and the UAI had to tender a new cooperation while the cooperation for the day itself was already agreed upon.

With the termination of the position of one of the Dutch employees within the IOC the cooperation of the UAI and the new IOC committee was endangered. The focus of the IOC is strengthen the alliance with China instead of talking about Child rights and the other side of adoptions from China.

This and other reasons pursued the UAI to cancel the cooperation with IOC.

Afgelopen maand heeft u van de UAI bericht ontvangen dat wij in samenwerking met Inspraak Orgaan Chinezen (IOC) en Vereniging Nederland China (VNC) een nationale dag voor geadopteerde chinezen zouden organiseren (NDGC) op 7 november 2009.

De UAI heeft zich echter terug getrokken uit deze activiteit wegens onverenigbare belangen van het IOC en de UAI. Daarnaast zijn de eerder gemaakte afspraken met het IOC door hen niet nagekomen en de UAI voelt zich daarom genoodzaakt zich terug te trekken uit de organisatie voor de NDGC.

Het betreurt ons ten zeerste dat wij u moeten mededelen dat deze dag geen voor ons geen doorgang zal hebben omdat politieke en andere belangen van partijen de voorhand hebben gekregen inplaats de belangen van geadopteerden. Het stuit de UAI tegen de borst, dat een Nederlands Chinese Organisatie die de belangen van inwonende Chinezen, inclusief de ruim 5100 geadopteerde Chinezen, in Nederland zegt te behartigen, een duidelijke koers zet voor politieke - en handelsbelangen ter faveure van de Chinese Staat.

Ten slotte willen wij Angela Boone danken voor haar inzet om, in de voorfase, de NDGC op de kaart te zetten binnen het IOC. Wij vinden het dan ook meer dan treurig, dat deze activiteit, ertoe heeft moeten leiden, dat zij haar werk zal moeten neerleggen bij het IOC.

In de discussie over adoptie blijft de geadopteerde regelmatig buiten beeld

…The children who are adopted since the sixties and seventies to the Netherlands, have become adults and are no children anymore. They are getting more involved in the social debate regarding adoption. So there is a voice, now an ear that listens. It is the experience of this first group of adoptees who can make a useful contribution to the adoption debate. And yes, that their conclusions can be highly critical, should be a reason to listen.

And their question, is Adoption in the interest of the child ? Seems a conclusion that no politician wants to answer, because that is not in the interest of the so called ‘wishparents’ . Or was the topic raised because of the interest of the child ?...

Ms. Ime S. Vreken LLM

Senior Laywer at the Council of state

Article is a personal contribution the adoption debate and is a excerpt of the article: "In the adoption debate, the adult adoptees are many times kept out of sight"

Volkskrant 20-21 juni 2009

Bij adoptie staat het belang van het kind voorop. Als een soortmantra werd dit door elk Kamerlid opgedreund tijdens het algemeen overleg in de Tweede Kamer over interlandelijke adoptie op 11 juni (Binnenland,12 juni).

De belangrijkste uitkomst van het overleg was echter dat, ondanks eerdere berichten, de minister van Justitie Ernst Hirsch Ballin aan de wensen van de Kamerleden toegaf en erin toestemde dat deelbemiddeling uit de Verenigde Staten mogelijk blijft. Tot grote vreugde van de wensouders die het resultaat van hun lobby vierden en riepen: ‘We hebben gewonnen.’

Een ander geluid was te horen van Ina Hut, directeur vanWereldkinderen (de grootste vergunninghouder in Nederland op het gebied van adoptie), en oud-hoogleraar adoptie René Hoksbergen, die vooral door het gebrek aan toezicht en controle bij deelbemiddeling en het daarmee gepaard gaande risico op kinderhandel, voor afschaffing pleitten.

Onder de dekmantel van het belang van het kind is het uiteindelijk het belang van de wensouders geweest dat zegevierde. Wie tijdens het overleg buiten beeld bleven, waren de geadopteerden zelf, terwijl er wel degelijk een grote groep geadopteerden aanwezig was. Hoewel ik de uitkomst van het overleg zeer betreur en van mening ben dat adoptie zich in een richting ontwikkelt waar het nooit voor bedoeld is geweest, zou ik toch menen dat – los van de uitkomst – iedereen het op zijn minst zeer vreemd moet achten dat bij een discussie over adoptie politici, deskundigen en ook wensouders in beeld komen, maar geadopteerden buiten beeld blijven. Wellicht worden zij soms onbewust overgeslagen, omdat nog steeds het beeld bestaat dat een geadopteerde een klein kind is over wiens hoofd door volwassenen wordt bepaald wat in zijn of haar belang is.

De kinderen die sinds de jaren zestig en zeventig voor adoptie naar Nederland zijn gekomen, zijn allang geen kinderen meer en mengen zich steeds meer in het maatschappelijke debat. Een stem is er dus wel, nu nog een oor dat luistert. Juist de ervaringen van de eerste groep geadopteerden kunnen een zinvolle bijdrage leveren aan het debat. En dat die bijdrage soms zeer kritisch van toon is, zou juist een reden moeten zijn ernaar te luisteren.

Is adoptie wel in het belang van het kind? Dat lijkt echter een conclusie die geen politicus wil trekken, want dat is niet in het belang van de wensouders. Of ging het nu om het belang van het kind?

mr. Ime S. Vreken

Geadopteerd uit Zuid-Korea en werkzaam als Senior Jurist bij de Raad van State

Artikel is

op persoonlijke titel geschreven

Terug n aar h

et belang van het kind

Op 11 juni d e batteerde minister Hirsch Ballin met negen Kamerleden over adoptie. Het werd een besch amen de vertoning, waarin niet het belang van het kind, maar dat van de adoptieo uders centraal stond.

R

ené Ho

ksbergen

Doel van het Alg emeen Overleg op 11 juni was met adoptie samenhangende problemen te bespreken en de minister voorstellen te doen om wetgeving aan te passen. Voor het televisieprogramma Netwerk zei ik later dat de discussie voor mij een teleurstellend verloop had. Mevrouw Hut, directeur van de grootste adoptieorganisatie Wereldkinderen, liet in ditzelfde programma weten dat zij boos was omdat economische en politieke overwegingen boven het belang van het kind gaan.

Beperkte bemoeienis

Het hele debat werd een beschamende vertoning. De discussie draaide voor 90 procent om de deelbemiddeling uit de Verenigde Staten. De dagen ervoor was namelijk duidelijk geworden dat de minister voornemens was deelbemiddeling aan banden te leggen, conform het advies van de commissie-Kalsbeek. Bij deelbemiddeling proberen aspirant-adoptieouders zelf ergens in de wereld een kind te traceren om het te adopteren. Bemoeienis van erkende adoptieorganisaties is beperkt.

Er bestaat geen ‘recht op een kind’, alleen dankbaarheid als je er een krijgt

De VS heeft het Haags Adoptieverdrag geratificeerd. Volgens dit verdrag kan alleen nog gewerkt worden via erkende adoptieorganisaties. Het is dan allereerst de bedoeling dat gezocht wordt naar mogelijkheden het kind in zijn eigen land te laten. In 2008 kwamen via deelbemiddeling 61 kinderen naar Nederland, van wie 56 uit de Verenigde Staten, allemaal Afro-Amerikaanse kinderen. Wanneer deze adopties worden beperkt, zullen met name homoseksuele paren nauwelijks kans op adoptie hebben.

Hoewel het om slechts een klein aantal kinderen gaat, ontslaat dat ons niet van de verplichting kritisch naar deze adopties te kijken. Kernpunt bij adoptie is immers de latere vraag van geadopteerde: was mijn adoptie noodzakelijk en zo ja, ook de overplaatsing naar een geheel ander land? In de Scandinavische landen en België heeft men adopties uit de VS om die reden reeds stopgezet. Het argument dat voor deze ‘zwarte’ kinderen uit de VS geen Amerikaanse ouders te vinden zijn, doet je afvragen waarom er dan zoveel kinderen uit bijvoorbeeld Ethiopië naar de VS gaan. In de VS worden elk jaar ongeveer twintigduizend uit het buitenland afkomstige kinderen geplaatst, onder wie tweeduizend kinderen uit Afrikaanse landen.

Gemakkelijk

Daarbij zijn er vraagtekens bij de adoptiekosten. Amerikaanse adoptieorganisaties werken graag met Nederlandse ouders, omdat over de geringe transparantie van de kosten kennelijk weinig bezwaar wordt gemaakt. Het gaat om bedragen tussen de 23.000 en 55.000 dollar. En het is gemakkelijk, er hoeft, ondanks het Haags Adoptieverdrag, niet ‘langer’ gezocht te worden naar een echtpaar in de VS.

Het COC kan tevreden zijn. Hun argument dat homoparen evenveel recht op een kind hebben als heteroparen heeft gewerkt. Dat er geen ‘recht op een kind’ bestaat, maar alleen maar dankbaarheid als je een kind krijgt, durven de Kamerleden kennelijk niet in de mond te nemen. De Kamerleden, en nu ook de minister, zijn ervan overtuigd dat deze adopties uit de VS moeten doorgaan, deelbemiddeling of niet.

Mening geadopteerden

Tijdens het debat werd door alle deelnemers voortdurend betoogd dat ‘het belang van het kind’ centraal staat. Dan zou je verwachten dat aan geadopteerden was gevraagd wat zij van deze kwestie vinden. Omdat buitenlandse adoptie al meer dan vijftig jaar bestaat, zijn er genoeg geadopteerden die een duidelijke mening hebben. Deze mening is niet gehoord. Misschien omdat bekend is dat zij zeer kritisch staan tegenover adopties uit de VS? De grote landelijke organisatie United Adoptees International heeft aan de minister en alle Kamerleden duidelijk gemaakt dat deelbemiddeling, waaronder die uit de VS, aan banden dient te worden gelegd, juist om het belang van het kind. Er dient allereerst gekeken te worden of er niet adoptieouders in het geboorteland gevonden kunnen worden. Zouden die in het rijkste land van de wereld, waar al zo veel zwarte kinderen worden geadopteerd, niet gevonden kunnen worden? Het geadopteerd zijn is al een uitzonderingspositie, het raciale element eveneens en daar zou plaatsing bij een homopaar als volstrekt onnodige bijzonderheid nog bijkomen?

Er speelt zo veel meer

Speelt hierbij het belang van het kind enige rol? Nee, slechts het belang van adoptieouders telt hier. En dat tekende de gehele discussie op 11 juni, terwijl er zo veel meer zaken rond adoptie spelen. Bijvoorbeeld die rond de bewaartermijn van dossiers van geadopteerden, nodig om informatie over hun achtergrond te verkrijgen. Op het voorstel van één Kamerlid de bestaande 30 jaar te verlengen tot 100 jaar reageerde de minister niet eens. Op het voorstel bij tweedekindplaatsing minder star het leeftijdscriterium van veertig jaar te hanteren, werd door de minister slechts vaag gereageerd. Over de handelwijze bij illegale adopties, koop van kinderen of adoptie van een gekidnapt kind werd nauwelijks iets gezegd. China is dan ook een te belangrijke handelspartner om al te openlijk over mistoestanden in de zorg voor kinderen aldaar te spreken. Over de invoering van de ‘zwakke adoptie’ in ons land schiep de minister geen enkele duidelijkheid. Zwakke adoptie is in het belang van pleegkinderen en hun –ouders. De pleegouder kan dan zijn reeds vele jaren verzorgde en opgevoede kind adopteren zonder dat de banden van het kind met zijn oorspronkelijke ouders geheel worden verbroken. Enkele Kamerleden wezen op de noodzaak van verbetering van de nazorg voor adoptieouders en speciaal voor volwassen geadopteerden. Veel verder dan te verwijzen naar het ministerie van Jeugd en Gezin en de bestaande jeugdhulpverlening kwam de minister niet.

De discussie op 11 juni had weinig met het belang van het kind te maken. Een nieuw Algemeen Overleg dat echt over adoptie zal gaan is absoluut nodig.

René Hoksbergen is emeritus hoogleraar adoptie.

Christianity becomes a driving force in adoptions

2009-06-15T00:55:00.000-07:00

Christianity becomes a driving force in adoptions

Comments 34 | Recommend 5

July 2, 2009 - 5:56 PM

MARK BARNA

The Gazette

Dinner at the Hassoldts' Colorado Springs home resembles a spirited children's party at the United Nations.

Nine-year-old Kiana, born in China, and 8-year-old Landon, born in South Korea, talk quietly with each other while 7-year-old Garett, born in Vietnam, boasts of cleaning his plate.

Four-year-old Corbin, born in Tulsa, Okla., is told he can have no seconds until he finishes what he already has.

The Liberian-born children, Alia and Joeliana, both 4, joke loudly while 2-year-old Aiden sits in his high chair stabbing at his food and shouting.

Kalyn, 15, and Caresse,11, the only kids at this party who were born in Colorado Springs, help serve the younger children.

Overseeing the controlled chaos are Steve and Shonni Hassoldt, who clearly revel in the big family they've created: three biological children, one of whom is old enough to be out on his own, and seven adopted children. Next year, they hope to complete adoption of an Ethiopian child.

"I am in love with my babies," Shonni Hassoldt said.

But there's more to the couple's penchant for adoption than just a love of children. What started as a way for them to add to their family after Shonni had complications with a pregnancy has become a Christian mission to help the orphans of the world, as written of in the New Testament, and to raise children strong in faith.

"This is our answer to the great commission, but instead of going out into the mission field, we are bringing them to us to raise them up as disciples of Christ, and then let them out into the world," Steve Hassoldt said.

Christian adoptions on rise

Compelled by their faith and a push from churches and ministries, more Christian couples are doing what the Hassoldts have done and building their families through adoption. The churches and ministries do their part by instituting programs to help the families navigate the sometimes difficult road to adoption and to offer emotional and spiritual support.

Maddi Noleen, Colorado executive director of Bethany Christian Services, a global adoption group with a clientele that's mostly Christian, credits church and parachurch involvement with an increase in adoptions throughout the U.S.

"They have really stepped up to the plate," said Noleen, whose organization has facilitated 47 adoptions in Colorado so far this year, compared with 39 in all of 2008.

In Colorado Springs, Focus on the Family's three-year-old Adoption & Orphan Care Initiative has had great success at educating Christians and others about foster care adoption, Noleen said.

"We believe every child deserves a permanent family to call their own, and we are never going to give up on these kids," said Kelly Rosati, senior director of the Sanctity for Human Life division at Focus. "The churches are embracing this."

Last November, New Life Church hosted the Focus foster adoption program, co-sponsored by the Colorado Department of Human Services. Thirteen hundred people from various churches attended, and 260 families started the process to adopt kids in foster care.

Independent of that effort, hundreds of families who attend New Life Church have adopted children domestically and internationally, said New Life senior pastor Brady Boyd, who, with his wife, is raising two adopted children.

"There is a huge groundswell of interest in adoption among believers," Boyd said.

He's hoping more will become interested, especially in foster adoptions. To raise awareness among his approximately 10,500 church members, Boyd has set a goal of 100 foster-care adoptions.

At Rocky Mountain Calvary, which has a weekly attendance of about 3,500, seven families are part of the 6-month-old adoption ministry.

"We feel it is a biblical call. There shouldn't be orphans," said Kent Nolley, a mission pastor at the Colorado Springs church.

Vanguard Church, where 1,300 worship each week, hopes to officially launch its adoption ministry in a couple of weeks. Executive Pastor Rick Clapp, who will head the program, and his wife, Laura, adopted two Swaziland orphans, ages 1 and 2, in spring.

The Clapps, who have four biological children, said they decided to adopt, in part, because they saw devastating poverty during a mission trip to Swaziland and wanted to make a difference in children's lives, and caring for the world's children is biblically mandated.

"God laid it on our heart to adopt," Rick Clapp said.

Adoption challenges

The Hassoldts are members of Mountain Springs Church, which has a 2-year-old ministry that lends emotional support to congregants going through the adoption process.

The couple started adopting in 1999, and never thought they'd end up taking in so many children - especially given the challenges of adoption.

Though foster-care adoptions can cost as little as $500, domestic and international adoptions through private agencies can cost from $15,000 to $35,000. The wait to finalize some international adoptions can be three years.

Adoptive parents can also face scrutiny from friends and co-workers. Steve Hassoldt said people have told him that orphans from outside the U.S. would be better off being raised in their own country, that they can't save the world through adopting disadvantaged kids, and that adopting so many children in light of the couple's limited financial means is unethical.

Hassoldt, a claims team manager for State Farm Insurance, acknowledges that it's been a stretch financially. Because Shannon spends her day homeschooling their nine children, he's the only breadwinner.

The Hassoldts, however, have been helped financially by family, friends, State Farm - which offers $5,000 toward adoption costs - and tax breaks.

Even so, the couple has dipped deep into their savings to pay for the adoptions. But they have no regrets.

Shonni Hassoldt said she's learned through the adoptions how open-hearted children of different ethnicities can be toward one another.

"Sometimes I think how I have children from China, South Korea, Vietnam - all countries that are enemies of one another, but here they are brothers and sisters," she said.

The couple also view their colorful family as part of God's plan.

"This is our mission field," Steven Hassoldt said. "We let God's love come through us to them."
---
Call Barna at 636-0367. To learn more about the Hassoldts, go to Barna's blog, The Pulpit, at http://thepulpit.freedomblogging.com/.

Faith-based Adoption Web sites:

Focus on the Family: www.icareaboutorphans.org

Bethany Christian Services: www.bethany.org

Christian Adoption Agency: www.adoptioninformation.com/Christian_adoption_agency

Christian Adoption Information: http://www.adoptioninformation.com/Christian_adoption

For His Glory Outreach: www.forhisgloryoutreach.org

= IN THE SPOTLIGHT =

2009-04-13T23:54:00.000-07:00

In the Spotlight

Once a while the UAI News want to present a person, article or activity which need to get attention or could use some more exposure.

The Spotlight article will receive attention and will be spread around the globe by this bulletin but also in our newsletters and emails.~

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ IN THE SPOTLIGHT ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Every were in the world, adult adoptees are active and working to create dialogues with involved parties. This week the UAI is giving attention to our fellow international adoptees from the US >

STOLEN FOR ADOPTION

International Adopt Watch and Stolen For Adoption are a labor of love and done by concerned volunteers.

All of the information on this site is gathered from multiple public sources and credible private tips we receive, which is compiled in one place for easier access. Our only intent and mission is to expose this information so these children can be located.

We only list children that may have been stolen for the purposes of adoption.

If you are in the United States, and you are missing a child, please contact your local police authorities.
If you are a parent in a "country of origin", or country where international adoptions take place and you suspect your child has been abducted for adoption, you must attempt to file a report with your local authorities. We understand that often times complaints made in these countries are unregistered or dismissed. We may be able to refer you to organizations not affiliated with police authorities that may be able to assist you. Please email us for information on these organizations.
If you have information to add, information you would like to see changed, or a child to add to the site (only found from another public listing source), please email us.
If you believe you may be an adoptive parent of of one of these children, please contact us and we can refer you to proper authorities. We will not act as intermediaries, and will only provide you information on the proper organizations to contact.

Because we are NOT law enforcement of any type, we do not intervene in investigations, make reports to authorities on your behalf, or intervene in any way in the judicial or investigative processes. We are merely a photolisting of compiled information.

PLEASE CONTACT YOUR LOCAL POLICE, NATIONAL POLICE, OR INTERPOL IF YOU HAVE ANY INFORMATION ON ANY OF THESE CHILDREN.

= ADOPTEE ORGANISATIONS =

2009-04-10T06:58:00.000-07:00

CAL

Chinese Adoptee Links (CAL) International is the first global group created by Chinese adoptees of all ages.

CAL launched in the summer of 2006 with a penpal program that connected adopted children in Ireland to adopted children in the USA…

We are from Hong Kong, Taiwan, mainland China, and from around the world.

CAL’s Mission

Create a multigenerational social network for the 120,000+ Chinese adoptees living in 26 countries worldwide. CAL’s Vision: to use our social network to give back to the greater community (”bridging”) through “Global Generations, Incorporated.”

We are completely run by volunteers, ages 8 to 84, on four continents.

“CAL International - Linking Generations of Adoptees & Friends Worldwide”

Geadopteerd Belgie

A Digital meeting place for adoptees in Belgium. Tabitha and Sang Ho are welcoming adoptees to get in touch with eachother and to contact the site as digital meeting place.

Waar kan ik terecht met mijn vragen rond 'het geadopteerd zijn'?
Waar kom ik vandaan?
Wie ben ik?
Waarom werd ik ooit afgestaan?
Is een rootsreis wel iets voor mij?

Dit zijn slechts een paar van de vragen die wij ons als geadopteerden soms stellen.

Voor wie is deze site?

Voor iedere geadopteerde die in contact wil komen met andere geadopteerden of gewoon benieuwd is naar ervaringen van anderen. Of ben je op zoek naar antwoorden op concrete vragen rond adoptie: dan is deze site iets voor jou!

Contact

Wil je met elkaar in contact te komen of ervaringen en informatie met elkaar uitwisselen? Dit kan via het FORUM of één van de CHATROOMS (voor beiden moet je wel eerst een login aanmaken).

Het is de bedoeling dat jullie samen met ons de inhoud van deze website verder uitbreiden tot een heuse webstek met veel informatie, links en mogelijkheden.

We rekenen op jullie om mee te bouwen aan geadopteerd.be!

Babitha en San-Ho, de iniatiefnemers.

Alle ideeën, tips en ondersteuning zijn van harte welkom via info@geadopteerd.be

POUND PUP LEGACY - INTERNATIONAL -

Pound Pup Legacy an international group that documents and discusses the many effects child placement and child abuse have on an individual and on society.

Mission

PPL's mission is to become a recognized voice in future decisions regarding child placement, through international networking with organizations and persons that:

contribute to family preservation practice;

research consequences of child placement and abuse;

investigate the economy behind child placement;

support the needs of those affected by child placement and child abuse;

advocate all adopted and foster-cared voices that have otherwise gone unheard.

Bringing together experience and expertise, PPL wishes to assist children of all ages, so family preservation can become a reality and adoption becomes the very last option anyone would have to consider in the future.

ICASN - AUSTRALIA -

The Inter-Country Adoptee Support Network (ICASN) has been set up to provide support to Adoptees who have been adopted cross-culturally. The term Inter-Country Adoptee (ICA) generally refers to those who are raised in a country of origin different to their country of birth but will be used loosely within ICASN to include any adoptee who experiences cross-cultural aspects of adoption.

Purpose

The purpose of the Inter-Country Adoptee Support Network (ICASN) is to provide support emotionally and culturally to ICAs, as an avenue for exploring the issues of trans-racial adoption in as positive a manner as possible. Often the journey of exploring adoption issues is a private and sometimes painful one and it is our hope that in reaching to others who have shared a similar journey we may assist ICAs to grow and find peace within themselves. Often ICAs have not met another ICA before. We try to provide a network as a place of belonging with people who have a shared experience, where true empathy and understanding can be found.ICASN acts to facilitate the interconnections between ICAs by utilising a confidential Database. Details of our members are maintained to help ICAs keep in touch with each other and form their own friendships.

Network

ICASN is a network run by ICAs for ICA's. ICASN believes in supporting the ICA no matter where they are in their journey of discovery.ICASN aims to reduce feelings of aloneness and isolation in the experience of cross-cultural adoption.ICASN believes in connecting as many ICAs from as countries of birth as possible and forming sub-support groups that allow the sharing of experiences and resources relevant to that country of birth.ICASN believes in raising awareness to the issues that ICAs face to the wider community, enhancing understanding and support.

T R A C K - KOREA / INTERNATIONAL -

TRACK is Truth and Reconciliation for the Adoption Community of Korea. We are a group of internationally adopted Koreans, Korean Americans, and Korean nationals based in Seoul working within South Korea toward the following:

Mission

TRACK advocates for full understanding of the practice of adoption, both past and present, to preserve the rights of children and families.

Vision

A world where the adoption community and Korean society have a mutual understanding and compassion that allows them to heal to create a bright collective future.

Goals

Provide an opportunity to reconnect and dialogue with Korean society.
Research and document the history of international adoption from South Korea.

SCHELFHOUT SCANDAL - BELGIUM

2009-04-06T23:19:00.000-07:00

B E L G I U M

Senator Schelfhout vind illegale opneming van kind uit Congo normaa l

13.06.2009 Kirsten Betrand

Belgium Senator Schelfhout used her position to traffic a child from Congo to adopt

After adopting a child from Ethiopia the Belgium Senator Schelfhout trafficked a child from Congo wanting to adopt. The boy, now called Emile was taken from the Hospital without any legal adoption procedure said the Adoption Institute, responsible for the administrative adoption Procedure in Belgium.

Els Schelfhout heeft de adoptieprocedure van het kindje dat ze naar ons land haalde, opgestart. Het verzoekschrift ligt bij de jeugdrechter. “Vreemd”, reageert Jo Labens van de Erkende Vlaamse Adoptiediensten. “Normaal moeten kandidaat- adoptanten voor ze naar de rechtbank trekken bij ons een voorbereidingscursus volgen, maar dat is hier niet gebeurd. De politica uit Hamme kwam in januari in opspraak omdat ze de zwaar zieke Emile met een humanitair visum vanuit Congo naar ons land haalde. Eens hij in België was, gaf ze te kennen dat ze het weeskind wilde adopteren. Haar plannen zetten kwaad bloed bij andere kandidaat-adoptieouders, omdat ze in hun ogen de strenge adoptiewet had omzeild.

De senator hield vol dat ze niets verkeerd had gedaan en startte de adoptieprocedure op. “Momenteel ligt het verzoekschrift bij de jeugdrechter in Dendermonde”, zegt ze aan de telefoon. “Het gaat om een binnenlandse adoptie van een gekend kind”.

Hadden specialisten niet gezegd dat het moeilijk zou worden om Emile te adopteren? “Dat klopt alleszins niet”, zegt Schelfhout. “Juridisch is alles erg duidelijk, ik overtreed geen enkele regel, ik volg gewoon de procedure zoals beschreven door Kind en Gezin.”

Attest

Maar die instelling heeft geen weet van het dossier, hoewel elke adoptie in Vlaanderen bij hen moet worden aangemeld. “Tot op heden hebben we nog geen aanmeldingsformulier van mevrouw Schelfhout ontvangen”, zei woordvoerster Leen Dubois gisterenavond.

Gevolg is dat de senator geen voorbereidingscursus heeft gevolgd. Die voorbereiding is nodig omdat er achteraf een attest wordt afgeleverd, dat ingediend moet worden samen met het verzoek tot adoptie bij de jeugdrechtbank. “Zonder attest kun je in principe zelfs geen verzoekschrift neerleggen”, zegt Jo Labens, voorzitter van de Erkende

Vlaamse Adoptiediensten (EVA). “Hier heeft de jeugdrechter zich blijkbaar soepel opgesteld. Alle kandidaat-adoptieouders die voor binnenlandse adoptie van een gekend kind kiezen, moeten van de wetgever eerst zo’n attest bij ons behalen. Het gaat dan bijvoorbeeld om lesbische koppels die het kind van hun partner adopteren. Maar mevrouw Schelfhout hebben wij nog niet gezien...”

Schelfhout ziet het probleem niet. “Tien jaar geleden hebben we een meisje uit Ethiopië geadopteerd. Toen al hebben we zo’n cursus gevolgd. Ik neem aan dat dat voldoende is. Maar als de jeugdrechter beslist dat we nog een voorbereiding moeten volgen, dan doen we dat zeker."

DEELBEMIDDELING - ADOPTION BY PARTIAL MEDIATION

2009-03-23T01:37:00.000-07:00

N E T H E R L A N D S

Hoe adoptabel is het adoptiekind?

VK - 19.06.2009 - Mirjam Schöttelndreier

‘Het is een wijdverbreid en hardnekkig misverstand dat in arme landen miljoenen ouderloze of verlaten kinderen verkommeren in tehuizen of op straat, voor wie interlandelijke adoptie de enige kans is om op te groeien in een liefdevol gezin’, schreef journaliste Jeanne Roefs onlangs op de opiniepagina van de Volkskrant. ‘In werkelijkheid is er wereldwijd een veel grotere vraag naar jonge, gezonde kinderen voor adoptie dan dat er ‘aanbod’ is van beschikbare kinderen.’

Het is een belangrijke constatering. Kinderen hebben volgens het Internationale Verdrag voor de Rechten van het Kind het recht op te groeien bij ouders of familie, liefst in de eigen gemeenschap of het land van herkomst. Volwassenen – homo, hetero, gehuwd of ongehuwd – hebben geen recht op een adoptiekind.
Begrijpelijk is het wel, die omdraaiing. Maar voor de discussie over de voorwaarden voor zorgvuldige adoptie, die onlangs in de Kamer gehouden werd, blijft het zaak de doelstelling zuiver te houden. De vraag moet zijn: waarmee is het kind gediend?

Ten behoeve van het Kamerdebat verscheen begin juni het ‘Kwaliteitskader vergunninghouders interlandelijke adoptie’. Adoptiemoeder Geertje van Egmond, bekend van haar boek Bodemloos bestaan, las het rapport en reageert kritisch. Ze valt vooral over de zinsnede: ‘Het kind dient – voor zover dat bekend kan zijn – adoptabel in psychologische en medische zin te zijn.’

Voor zover bekend. Dat is nou net de kunst; achterhalen of een kind er door adoptie op vooruit gaat of niet, aldus Van Egmond. Ze stelt een uitgebreidere kennismakingsperiode voor. Het liefst wil zij opvanghuizen in de landen van herkomst, waar kinderen drie maanden verblijven alvorens ze naar Nederland vertrekken. In die tijd kunnen de kinderen in alle rust door onafhankelijke deskundigen worden geobserveerd. Klikt het wel tussen ouders en kind? En wat is precies de achtergrond van het kind? Niet altijd is goed onderzocht wat het kind met zich meedraagt, en hoe vrijwillig de biologische ouder afstand deed.

Van Egmond erkent dat het een duur plan is. Maar: een kwart van de adoptiekinderen die naar Nederland komen, krijgt uiteindelijk serieuze problemen. De kosten die daarmee gepaard gaan, zijn ook niet mis. Dus haalt Van Egmond haalt graag die ene oud-Hollandse zegswijze aan: ‘De kost gaat voor de baat uit.’

Reageren? opvoeding@hartenziel.nl

Terug naar het belang van het kind

Deel uit het artikel van prof.dr. R.A.C. Hoksbergen in het Katholiek Nieuwsblad 19 juni 2009

Emeritus professor and renowned specialist dr. R.A.C. Hoksbergen says in the Dutch Catholic Newspaper that the Dutch Parliament had no ear for the interest of the adoptees and were just protecting the interest of adopters and the gay movement. Why should we adopt from the US while they adopt 20.000 children a year from abroad and 80.000 children domestically. Even 2000 children from Africa. Scandinavia stopped adoption from the US for this particular reason because the US does not practice the subsidiary rule as they should.
The voice of adult adoptees was rejected and no politician dared to stand up for this group and cover their interests. Even the minister did not answer any questions to show any interest in the need of adoptees to have their interest exposed and protected. Why did the Parliament not want to hear their interests ? Because these adult adoptees are critical ? And would not agree upon the US issue as presented by the adoption lobby ? It is kind of obvious why the coalition and members of parliament did not want to hear the adoptees. It was not in the interest of adopters and the relationship with the US.

....De VS heeft het Haags Adoptieverdrag geratificeerd. Volgens dit verdrag kan alleen nog gewerkt worden via erkende adoptieorganisaties. Het is dan allereerst de bedoeling dat gezocht wordt naar mogelijkheden het kind in zijn eigen land te laten. In 2008 kwamen via deelbemiddeling 61 kinderen naar Nederland, van wie 56 uit de Verenigde Staten, allemaal Afro-Amerikaanse kinderen. Wanneer deze adopties worden beperkt, zullen met name homoseksuele paren nauwelijks kans op adoptie hebben.

Minister van Justitie om, deelbemiddelingen uit de VS blijft bestaan

DUTCH PARLIAMENT ENFORCES THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE TO KEEP ADOPTIONS BY PARTIAL MEDIATION POSSIBLE FOR (HOMO) ADOPTIONS

The coalition and other members of the House of Representatives enforced the minister of Justice last Thursday to keep the adoption channel for Homosexuals and singles and Heterosexuals by so called 'do it yourself' adoptions open.

The adoption lobby groups succeeded to get rid of the restriction which the minister introduced earlier in 2008 and beginning this year.

The Adoption Lobby groups and the Parliament were not interested in the opinions of the Adoptees organised by the UAI and the SIG. The earlier meetings with politicians and the Ministry by these organisations seems now to be a strategic move to keep adoptees quit in the adoption debate.

Again the rights of Adopters and the Homo lobby are far more important than those of parents and adoptees. The Dutch Parliament and the US Lawyer groups like Goldstein won their battle for more adoptions from the US. While the US is the only channel were adopters can get babies of two months old (if not younger).

Thursday was a black Day in the (Dutch) Adoption History.

Wensouders in juichstemming - Geadopteerden is niets gevraagd

Terwijl wensouders na het Algemeen Overleg van de vaste Kamercommissie van Justitie en leden en (vertegenwoordigers) van de COC elkaar juichend en huilend in de armen vielen, was het opvallend, dat de geadopteerden, die het evenbeeld van de kinderen zouden kunnen zijn, die men vandaag als claim en recht meent te kunnen verkrijgen, werden gemeden alsof het een storende factor was in de vreugde en feestje van de, bij wijze van spreken halfzwangere, wensouders.

Hun tranen werden niet gezien noch serieus genomen. Deze geadopteerden die ooit ook onder het mom van het belang van het kind zijn geadopteerd, waren vandaag letterlijk en figuurlijk het kind van de rekening.

De parlementsleden die allen starten met de mantra, dat de deelbemiddelingen en adopties uit de Verenigde Staten in het belang waren van de kinderen, weerden de geadopteerden in hun betoog en lieten hen volledig buiten het onderwerp. Ondanks het werk van de UAI en ook het SIG binnen politiek Den Haag. Van alle onderwerpen werd geen enkele in het belang van geadopteerden beantwoord.

Vandaag is helaas bewezen dat Nederland en het Nederlandse parlement het belang van kinderen slechts gebruikt als een middel om de werkelijke bedoelingen te maskeren en dat is om in de rechten te voorzien van wensouders. Het electoraat. De regels rond het internationale kinderverdrag is vandaag van tafel geschoven en het veel zwakkere Haags Adoptieverdrag is als argument gebruikt om meer en snellere adopties te realiseren. Zonder zich te verantwoorden wat de intentie van waar het verdrag ooit om begonnen was. Namelijk om te zorgen dat de wildgroei in adoptie zou worden verminderd en ouders en kinderen zouden worden beschermd tegen de uitwassen en directe invloed van wensouders. Echter sinds vandaag zijn de rollen omgekeerd.

Het is niet alleen een zwarte dag in de adoptiegeschiedenis. Maar ook een van groot belang. Nederland heeft vandaag door middel van haar besluit in het AO, de deuren wijd open gezet voor een breder te dragen adoptieverdrag wat reeds is voorbereid binnen de Europese Raad en deels al gebruikt wordt in de Europese Unie. Na Frankrijk, Italië en Spanje, heeft Nederland vanaf vandaag ingestemd met de claim op recht op kinderen. En dat, maakt alle overleggen en de klacht van (aspirant) adoptieouders in Nederland, dat de UAI te fors zou zijn in haar uitspraken, vanaf vandaag ongeloofwaardig.

Het recht op een kind van de wens - en adoptieouders heeft gezegevierd en dat kan ons inziens nooit in het belang van kinderen zijn.

Meer artikelen rondom dit thema:

Geen recht op Kinderen - door dr. Anneke Vinke
Reacties van geadopteerden en andere profesionals in het Zorg en adoptieveld
Dit is de Dag, radio interview met Joan Hansink (UAI live op radio 1)
Samenvatting COC verslag over het AO
Netwerk 11 juni 2009
Trouw artikel van 10 juni 2009 - Iris Pronk
Trouw artikel van 10 juni 2009 - Frank Kools
Doe het zelf adopties steeds populairder
Meer aandacht voor Homo en Lesbische stellen
Stellen mogen adopties niet zelf regelen (2008)
Justitieminister Hirsch Ballin, gebruikt onzuivere juridische redenering voor lief om zichzelf te redden

ADOPTION SOCIAL DEVELOPMENTS

2009-03-19T00:58:00.000-07:00

US - The nation's first embryo adoption bill passed Georgia Senate

Georgia Senate has approved the nation’s first embryo adoption bill – Option of Adoption Act (HB 388), legislation which would allow for embryos to be formally adopted, offering the same legal rights to adoption as human beings, in accordance with Georgia adoption laws.

According to the bill, en embryo is an individual fertilized egg of human species, from the single-cell stage to 8 – week development.

While the HB388 allows for adoption of the embryo, it fails to grant it its own rights. It does however, ask for a change to the definition of the word “child” to include human embryo. It also asks for the adoption to be no longer carried out as a form of contract or property law.

Governor Sonny Perdue is expected to sign it into law, given his life long pro-life stance.

Since the Senate version of the Option of Adoption Act was changed slightly, it has to go back to the House for final approval. The 2009 legislative session ends on Friday, April 3.

Another related piece of legislature is also being considered, SB 169, which will limit the creation of embryos for research, scientific or destructive purposes. It does allow for continuation of the research that is being already done on existing stem cells, supports adult stem cell, research and studies using induced pluripotent stem cells.

Source, Examiner by Ewa Kochanska

Additional article: Georgia State House Passes Embryo Adoption Bill to Protect Unborn Children

Country File - SOUTH AFRICA

2009-03-17T03:06:00.000-07:00

AFRICA - Adoption in South Africa

Although they have come under considerable media scrutiny, celebrities like Angelina Jolie and Madonna have done much to change previously held ideas about the acceptability and feasibility of adoption.

For most, adoption is only an option if you can't have a child of your own — the alternative for those who are infertile, singles who would like to have children on their own and same-sex couples.

In a country such as South Africa however, where the HIV/Aids pandemic is at its worst and where child-headed households are becoming common, it would be ideal if everyone at least considered adoption as viable alternative or complement to the more traditional practice of biological offspring...>

Source, I Africa.com by Rebekah KendalThu, 09.04.2009

HISTORY OF ADOPTION

2009-03-10T00:34:00.000-07:00

Preface

To understand how adoption was evolved during the centuries and the habits, customs and development of laws, it is important to have an overview regarding the historical background of adoption in early centuries.

Herewith the UAI presents excerpts of parts regarding ancient laws and customs regarding adoption in the world history.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A Collection of Contracts from Mesopotamia, c. 2300 - 428 BCE

X. Adoption

Contract for Adoption, c. 2000 B.C.

This tablet, which dates from before 2000 B.C., needs no explanation. It makes the form and conditions of adoption sufficiently clear.

ARAD-ISKHARA, son of Ibni-Shamash, has adopted Ibni-Shamash. On the day when Arad-Iskhara to Ibni-Shamash, his father, shall say, "You are not my father," he shall bind him with a chain and sell him for money. When Ibni-Shamash to Arad-Iskhara, his son, shall say, "You are not my son," he shall depart from house and household goods; but a son shall he remain and inherit with his sons.

Contract for Adoption, Ninth year of Nabonidus, 544 B.C.

This document illustrates not only the method of adoption, but the way in which that process might be made impossible by the will of an ancestor in cases involving property.

Bel-kagir, son of Nadinu, son of Sagillai, spoke thus to Nadinu, his father, son of Ziri-ya, son of Sagillai: To Bit-turni you did send me and I took Zunna as my wife and she has not borne me son or daughter. Bel-ukin, son of Zunna, my wife, whom she bore to her former husband, Niqudu, son of Nur-Sin, let me adopt and let him be my son; on a tablet record his sonship, and seal and bequeath to him our revenues and property, as much as there is, and let him be the son taken by our hands." Nadinu was not pleased with the word Bel-kagir, his son, spoke to him. Nadinu had written on a tablet, "For the future any other one is not to take their revenues and property," and had bound the hands of Bel-kagir, and had published in the midst, saying: "On the day when Nadinu goes to his fate, after him, if a son shall be born from the loins of Bel-kagir, his son shall inherit the revenues and properties of Nadinu, his father; if a son is not born from the loins of Bel-kagir, Bel-kagir shall adopt his brother and fellow heir and shall bequeath his revenues and the properties of Nadinu his father to him. Bel-kagir may not adopt another one, but shall take his brother and fellow-heir unto sonship on account of the revenues and properties which Nadinu has bequeathed." (From this point the tablet is too broken for translation until we reach the witnesses. It was dated) at Babylon in the ninth year of Nabonidus.

Contract for Adoption, Thirteenth year of Nabonidus, 542 B.C.

We saw above that marriage was a means of emancipation; the tablet last given shows that adoption was a still more common method of accomplishing it. In the case before us, a man who, judging from the generations of his descendants mentioned, must have been very old, emancipated or adopted his slave on condition that the slave should take care of him. The slave thus adopted ran away and fell into the hands of the granddaughter of his former master whereupon that master destroyed the tablet of adoption, and issued another tablet, which bound the fugitive in slavery to his granddaughter and great-granddaughter forever.

Iqisha-apla, son of Kuduru, son of Nur-Sin, had sealed a tablet of adoption for his slave, Rimanni-Bel, whose name he called Rimut, in consideration of his living and clothing. After that the tablet of adoption was sealed. Rammalli-Bel, whose name is called Rimut, went away and did not give companionship, nourishment, and clothing. Esaggil-ramat, daughter of Ziri-ya, son of Nabai, wife of Iddin-Marduk, son of Iqisha-apla, son of Nur-Sin, has taken him, given him shelter and befriended him, and has given him friendship, nourishment, and clothing. Iqisha-apla, son of Kuduru, son of Nur-Sin, of his own free-will broke the tablet of adoption and sealed him and has delivered him to Esaggil-ramat, and Nubtai, his daughter, the daughter of Iddin-Marduk, son of Nur-Sin. He shall serve Esaggil-ramat and Nubtai, her daughter; after Esaggil-ramat, he is given unto Nubtai, her daughter. Whoever shall annul this word and present bond, which Iqisha-apla has bound and given to Esaggil-ramat and Nubtai, his daughter, may Marduk and Sarpanit command his destruction! (This instrument is dated) at Babylon, in the thirteenth year of Nabonidus.

Codex Hammurabi

"...The Code of Hammurabi (Codex Hammurabi ) is a well-preserved ancient law code, created ca. 1760 BC (middle chronology) in ancient Babylon. It was enacted by the sixth Babylonian king, Hammurabi.[1] Only one example of the Code survives today, inscribed on a seven foot, four inch tall basalt stone slab or stele. Originally, several stelae would have been displayed in temples around the empire.[2][3]...>"

Babylonian Law. Part 6

"... A man who adopted a son, and afterwards married and had a family of his own, could dissolve the contract but must give the adopted child one-third of a child's share in goods, but no real estate. That could only descend in the family to which he had ceased to belong. Vestals frequently adopted daughters, usually other vestals, to care for their old age.

Adoption had to be with consent of the real parents, who usually executed a deed making over the child, who thus ceased to have any claim upon them. But vestals, hierodules, certain palace officials and slaves had no rights over their children and could raise no obstacle. Foundlings and illegitimate children had no parents to object. If the adopted child discovered his true parents and wanted to return to them, his eye or tongue was torn out. An adopted child was a full heir, the contract might even assign him the position of eldest son. Usually he was residuary legatee...>"

Adoption in ancient Rome

As Rome was ruled by a selected number of powerful families, every senator's duty was to produce sons to inherit the estate, family name and political tradition. But a large family was an expensive luxury. Daughters had to be provided with a suitable dowry and sons had to be pushed through the political offices of the cursus honorum.

The higher the political status of a family, the higher was the cost. Due to this, Roman families restricted the number of children, avoiding more than three. The six children of Appius Claudius Pulcher (lived 1st century BC) were considered at the time as political suicide. Sometimes, not having enough children proved to be a wrong choice. Infants could die and the lack of male births was always a risk. For families cursed with too many sons and the ones with no boys at all, adoption was the only solution. Even the wealthy Lucius Aemilius Paullus Macedonicus did not hesitate in giving his two oldest boys up for adoption, one to the Cornelii Scipiones (Scipio Aemilianus, the winner of the Third Punic War) the other to Quintus Fabius Maximus Cunctator...>

EUROPEAN UNION

2009-03-02T06:47:00.000-08:00

Children easy targets for traffickers

Caritas members from around the world will urge the European Union to do more on child trafficking at a meeting in Paris on 16 October. Human trafficking is an increasing phenomenon across the world. In 2005, up to 2.4 million people were being trafficked every year. Children are among the most vulnerable.

Caritas members will urge the current French Presidency of the European Union to raise awareness among Europeans at an international symposium organized entitled: "To fight trafficking in children: What to do in the European Union?" Caritas Internationalis Advocacy Co-ordinator on Migration, Trafficking and Gender Martina Liebsch will be attending the meeting. She said, "Children are considered easy targets by traffickers. Once taken to another country they may fall victim to sexual exploitation, child slavery or forced adoption." <

Source : Caritas

Geen transfusie, dan geen Adoptie

2009-02-24T00:15:00.000-08:00

Geen Transfusie dan geen Adoptie

DEN HAAG/VEENENDAAL - De 30-jarige Veenendaalse Jehova's Getuige Nathalie Grandia kan zich niet voorstellen dat zij ooit een verklaring zal ondertekenen waarin ze toestemming geeft voor een bloedtransfusie aan haar adoptiekind.

Dit zei ze gisteren bij de Raad van State in Den Haag. Samen met haar man is Grandia naar de hoogste bestuursrechtbank gestapt tegen minister Hirsch Ballin van Justitie. Die heeft het paar een beginseltoestemming geweigerd voor het adopteren van een kind uit het buitenland. De reden daarvoor is dat de jehova's uit Veenendaal weigeren een verklaring te ondertekenen waarin zij instemmen met het verlenen van alle gangbare medische behandelingen aan hun adoptiekind. Voor de meeste adoptiefouders is de verklaring een formaliteit, maar voor het kinderloze echtpaar Grandia maakt hun handtekening het verschil tussen het wel en niet hebben van een adoptiekind. "Natuurlijk zijn we bereid om alle medische zorg te geven die nodig is. Maar bloedtransfusies gaan in tegen onze leer." Het is Jehova's getuigen niet toegestaan bloed of bloedproducten te gebruiken die afkomstig zijn van anderen. Het paar vindt dat Justitie flexibeler moet zijn.

Er zijn alternatieven voor een bloedtransfusie, zoals het toedienen van een zoutoplossing. Verder is een bloedtransfusie niet zonder risico. "Er kan besmet bloed worden toegediend, en gisteren is er zelfs iemand overleden als gevolg van een menselijk fout", zegt raadsman Bos namens het echtpaar. De minister zou dan ook niet alleen om religieuze, maar ook om medische redenen een uitzondering moeten toestaan. Het ministerie blijft er echter bij dat het weigeren van bloedtransfusies niet in het belang van het adoptiekind is. De rechtbank in Utrecht die de zaak in eerste instantie heeft behandeld, vindt het standpunt van de minister discriminerend, maar te rechtvaardigen. Een adoptiekind heeft recht op extra zorg en heeft geen belang bij onthouding van gangbare medische handelingen, aldus de uitspraak de Raad van State. Voor Jehova's getuigen met kinderen die een bloedtransfusie nodig hebben, is een afspraak gemaakt met de kinderbescherming. In noodgevallen vraagt de Kinderbescherming tijdelijk de voogdij aan de kinderrechter, waardoor de ouders even buiten spel staan. Grandia wil van dit protocol ook gebruikmaken. Uitspraak volgt.

Country File - TURKEY

2009-02-19T23:21:00.000-08:00

Law allows foreigners to adopt Turk children

ANKARA - Social services experts and psychologists have reacted positively to the new adoption arrangement in general, though some argue that cultural differences might create an adaptation problem depending on the child's age. Parliament has approved a law permitting foreigners to adopt Turkish children, hoping it provides a better future for kids

A new law enabling foreign nationals to adopt children from Turkey has garnered support from the experts.

Foreign nationals, including foreigners who live in Turkey and meet the criteria set by Turkish laws, will be able to adopt children from Turkey, according to the new law, which went into effect upon being published in the Official Gazette.

The new law seeks to benefit children and stipulates that Turkish families will be given priority when adopting. If families or individuals eligible cannot be found to adopt the child in Turkey, the children will be allowed to be adopted by foreigners. The procedures will be carried out by Turkey’s Social Services and Children Protection Institution, or SHÇEK.

Social services experts and psychologists have generally reacted positively to the new arrangement, but some argued that the cultural differences, depending on the age of the children, might create an adaptation problem in the new country. "Growing up in a new culture is of course likely to create some difficulty for the adopted. But it is a preferable situation for the adopted children to live amid a family atmosphere rather than being brought up by an institution," child psychologist Emine Öztürk Kılıç told the Daily News.

Age of child important

"The age of the child is also important. Older children may face more problems such as learning a foreign language and adopting a new culture," Kılıç said. "But it doesn't matter whether the family is Turkish or foreign. They should have a family." The adoptive parents must care and provide education for the child for at least one year before adoption, according to the new law. The adoptive parent must be at least 30 years of age; the child must spend one year with the adoptive parent under his/her care; the adoptive parents must be at least 18 years older than the adopted child; and the couple should be married for at least five years. The adopted child will become an heir of the adoptive parent.

Murat Altuğgil, president of the Social Workers Association in Ankara, said the most important thing was to seek the children’s benefit as defined in the international conventions on children. He said the cultural differences could potentially play a negative role in the adopted child’s integration into a new culture. "If the family meet the criteria, then there will be no serious problem. The important thing is to secure their integration to the society. Cultural differences depending on the age of the child may create some difficulty, but the adopted could face some adaptation problems near Turkish families as well," he said.

"The families are already well investigated. It is the least preferable choice to leave the child to be raised by an institution," he said, adding that investigating a foreign family or individual would not be a big problem as SHÇEK cooperates with international institutions. Psychologist Zuhal Yerlikaya said that if the language development started in the native country, the adopted child could face greater problem in learning the second language in the new country and adopting the new culture. "However, the ideal family approaches toward the children and circumstances for raising a child are universal. If these circumstances are secured, then it will not be a problem for the adopted whether it is a Turkish or foreign mother and father," she said. She also said the real problem would be the relationship between the adopted child and his/her biological family.

Source, Hurriyet

Legal Adoption Issues

2009-02-10T06:23:00.000-08:00

Salomons oordeel over de kleine Yosi

Again, another case of childtrafficking for Adoption in the Netherlands in Court

ROTTERDAM - After a pseudo-adoption, the now 4-year-old as Yosi, came as baby without the proper papers from Indonesia to the Netherlands. Since she has still not found her own place. After much wrangling today she was placed in a new foster family. In grief of her pseudo foster parents and pseudeo adoptive mother, who both like to have her care.

The last 3.5 years Yosi lived at a secret address somewhere in the Rotterdam region by Ferdinandusse Chris and his wife. He blames youth care, that the girl must leave now. A first family guardian never visited them, an old report was still used when the appeal was in progress and youth care never showed up at the meeting. The latter is also the Rotterdam Youth consul blame them. Youth Counsil of the city Rotterdam blames youth care the same. They requested for another date, when the Court refused, nobody showed up...

ROTTERDAM - Na een pseudo-adoptie kwam de nu 4-jarige Yosi als baby'tje zonder de juiste papieren van Indonesië naar Nederland. Daar heeft ze vier jaar later nog altijd niet haar eigen plek gevonden. Na veel getouwtrek wordt ze vandaag in een nieuw pleeggezin geplaatst. Tot verdriet van haar pleegouders én haar adoptiemoeder, die beide graag voor haar hadden gezorgd.

De afgelopen 3,5 jaar woonde Yosi op een geheim adres ergens in de Rotterdamse regio bij Chris Ferdinandus en zijn vrouw. Hij neemt het Jeugdzorg kwalijk dat het meisje nu weer weg moet. Een eerste gezinsvoogd liet zich nooit zien, een in zijn ogen verouderd rapport lag bij het hoger beroep nog op tafel en jeugdzorg kwam niet naar de zitting. Het laatste neemt ook de Rotterdamse jeugdconsul hen kwalijk. Jeugdzorg zelf stelt het Hof om een andere datum hadden gevraagd. Toen dat niet kon, kon niemand komen.

Uiteindelijk velde het gerechtshof in hoger beroep een waar Salomons oordeel over de toekomst van het meisje. Ze moet naar het nieuwe pleeggezin, waar ze de meeste kans heeft zich goed te ontwikkelen.

Haar huidige pleegouders maken zich echter grote zorgen over weer de nieuwe verhuizing van Yosi. ,,Ze is een heel vrolijk kind. Gek op dansen en zingen. En ze houdt van plagen. Op school gaat het goed,'' vertelt een trotse Chris Ferdinandus. ,,Ze is ook sterk, maar of ze deze nieuwe verandering aankan?''

Het meisje heeft al een bewogen leven achter zich. Als klein baby'tje nam haar adoptiemoeder haar mee naar Nederland. Eerst deed deze vrouw of Yosi haar eigen dochter was. ,,Ze had echter een goede bekende beloofd voor haar kind te zorgen,'' zegt haar advocaat.Officieel was de adoptie echter niet.

Vervolgens liet ze het kindje 'tijdelijk' achter bij vrienden van haar man, de familie Ferdinandus. Die zorgden voor het meisje of het hun eigen kind was, tot de adoptiemoeder haar weer meenam naar Indonesië. Haar pleegouders haalden hierna Yosi weer terug naar Nederland.
Dit getouwtrek over het meisje neemt het Hof beide partijen erg kwalijk. En mede daarom moet ze nu naar een neutraal pleeggezin.

Bron, Algemeen Dagblad

OBITUARIES

2009-02-10T06:07:00.000-08:00

Vermoorde man in duinen is Enschedeër

Man who was found dead, was the 30 years old adopted Korean Onno Kuut. Kuut was connected with a criminal scene in Enschede the Public Prosecutor stated.

HOEK VAN HOLLAND/ENSCHEDE - De man die vorige week woensdag vermoord is gevonden in de duinen bij Hoek van Holland, is de 30-jarige Onno Kuut uit Enschede. Hij zou voor zijn liquidatie zijn mishandeld, volgens bronnen van deze krant. De politie kon aanvankelijk niet vaststellen of het slachtoffer een man of vrouw was.

Een wandelaar zag een been uit het zand steken. Een forensisch rechercheteam borg het lijk afgelopen donderdag. Gisteren werd de identiteit van de Enschedeër bekend.

De geadopteerde Koreaan was een bekende van politie en justitie, maar is nooit tot jaren langdurige celstraffen veroordeeld...>

Source, Tubantia

Massaal afscheid vermoorde Onno Kuut

Onno Kuuts Funeral Service was visited by many. Tubantie, the local newspaper wrote: He fought against discrimination and became part of rhe Hooligans. When the adoption family left him, he became part of the dark world of criminality.

USSELO - Vele honderden namen maandagmiddag afscheid van de vermoorde Enschedeër Onno Kuut (30), in crematorium Usselo. Hij werd vorige week gevonden in de duinen bij Hoek van Holland. Het begin en einde van zijn leven waren extreem, schetste zijn vader Wim Kuut, oud-onderwijzer in Enschede-Zuid in een toespraak.

Hij schetste aangrijpend de drie delen van Onno’s leven. Als geadopteerde Zuid-Koreaan werd hij uitgescholden en vocht hij daar tegen. Als ‘extreme puber’ en voetbalfan raakte Onno betrokken bij de hooligans van Vak-P. Vanaf zijn 21'ste, toen de familie hem los liet, kwam hij in een ‘duistere wereld’ terecht. ,,Maar je kon liefde geven, er is van je gehouden.’’ Zijn zuster Joske noemde Onno ‘mijn beschermbroer’, die steun vond in de song ‘Hero’ van Mariah Carey.

Source, Tubantia

* SUSANNE BRINK * PASSED AWAY

A sad day for Korean Adoption History and a loss for Civil Rights Movement regarding Korean Adoption.

SWEDEN > On 23 January 2009, the Swedish adopted Korean and member of AKF Susanne
Brink passed away at the age of 45.

Susanne's significance for the adopted Korean community and for all adoptees in general has been substantial to say the least. In 1991, her life as an adopted Korean of Sweden was turned into a Korean feature film: Susanne Brink's Arirang and through the film, the Korean adoption issue, the issue of international adoption from Korea and the overseas adopted Koreans, was practically born among the wider population of Korea.

Susanne also did mission work and support work among adoptees, and her relations and friendships with numerous adoptees both inside and outside Sweden, in the US, in Korea,
and in other Scandinavian and European countries, will always be remembered. Susanne also took part in many documentaries and news reports in Sweden and in Korea as a public spokesman for the rights of adoptees and for telling about the trials and tribulations of being an adult transracial and transnational adoptee in the West.

An international dispute was raised since her article; “Stop sending babies abroad” was published internationally. The article and the movie created a breach in the myth of Korean Adoption.

We owe Susanne for her bravery and persistence. With each step we set, we will remember her work, suffering and herewith we promise, that the tears she shed, will not gone in emptiness. Each one echoes the silenced voice of many. That her soul may rest with her ancestors in the land of the morning calm.

*

Susanne will be buried on March 6 in her Swedish hometown of Norrköping, and through a
last letter, she invites all adopted Koreans to the ceremony

(at 10 AM - Heleneborgsgatan 36 - Östra Eneby kyrka - Norrköping).

Please contact Eleonora Brink, Susanne's daughter, if you want to attend the burial ceremony: brink@triton-partners.com

*

The korean movie "susanne brink's arirang" was based on susanne's life and was seen by thousands in korean movie theatres back in 1991 (and since regularly on Korean tv), raising awareness about the international adoption issue amongst general koreans.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susanne_Brink
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0132539/
http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1800338733/info
http://www.filmtipset.se/film/susanne-brinks-arirang.html
See additional article: South Korean actress Choi JinSil (from the movie Susanne's Brinks Arirang) found dead in apparent suicide. (thanks to Kushibo)
Text & Research, Tobias Hubinette, Hilbrand Westra and Sunny Johnsen

INSIDE STORY OF AN ADOPTION SCANDAL

2009-01-26T00:20:00.005-08:00

INSIDE STORY OF AN ADOPTION SCANDAL

- CUMBERLAND LAW REVIEW - Vol. 39:1 -

BY ARUN DOHLE - Aachen - Germany -

Introduction

In historical terms, intercountry adoptions from India havehad a short run. Within thirty years of its inception, murky scandals of child kidnapping, falsifying paperwork, outright trading, and other tragic stories have ridden these intercountry adoptions. Worldwide, adoption experts widely believed that ratifying the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-Operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption (1993) would help reduce malpractice in such adoptions. The Convention aims to minimize malpractice in adoption and “prevent the abduction, the sale of, or trafficking in children.” But does regulating help in weeding outcases of malpractice? Or does the regulation of intercountry adoptions, because of the strong demand for children, lead to a legalized market for children without effective control? Dutch anthropologist Pien Bos studied the relinquishment process of unmarried mothers in India and came to the startling conclusion that the formal controls in intercountry adoptions are counter-productive:

"I am convinced that these Conventions, Regulations and Guidelinesare not appropriate instruments because they do not address the main concerns. . . . Instead of taking away threats, it takes away transparency and causes a mystification of reality.The more adoption is regulated and monitored, the more politically correct objectives get distanced from daily practices. . . . The transparency of surrender and adoption procedures is obscured by the taboo on the financial component of adoption."

Generally, receiving countries do not know the details of the scandals taking place in sending countries. The aim of this article is to give the reader an inside view of an adoption scandal and to explain how the system deals with the scandal. Therefore, I will often quote directly from documents gathered from journalists, as well as from High Court proceedings. In order to enable the reader to understand the violations, I will give a short overview of the Indian adoption system and regulations. This article illustrates the scandal surrounding the Indian agency Preet Mandir, as it is the agency that has weathered the most corruption and baby-trade scandals and is reputed to have immense clout with the Indian Government. Consequently, the organization’s operations have continued nearly unhampered. Preet Mandir placed 518 children up for adoption during the period from 2004 to 2006, accounting for five percent of all the adoptions carried out by agencies registered with the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA). Of these 518 adoptions, Preet Mandir placed 358 children abroad, representing 13 percent of all Indian intercountry adoptions within this period.9 Preet Mandir works with all major receiving countries, many of whom also ratified the Hague Convention.

Complete article can be requested at UAI Research & Development uai.hwestra@gmail.com

ACADEMIC - RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT

2009-01-26T00:20:00.003-08:00

Adoptie onderzoek gesubsidieerd door ZonMW

University Leiden starts with research; the effects of adoption on Adult Dutch Adoptees

"Homecoming in a New Family"

With this title prof. dr. F. Juffer, adoption mother and Adoption Researcher in the Netherlands starts with fellow researchers a comprehensive data study of the effects adoption by Dutch (domestic) adult adoptees.

NETHERLANDS > Het Adoptie Driehoek Onderzoeks Centrum (ADOC) heeft een onderzoekssubsidie gekregen voor onderzoek naar het functioneren van volwassen Nederlands geadopteerden en hun adoptieouders en hun beleving van afstand en adoptie.

De titel van het onderzoek is “Voorgoed thuis in een nieuw gezin”.

Afstand doen ter adoptie, afgestaan zijn of een afgestaan kind adopteren beïnvloedt het leven van alle betrokkenen op een onomkeerbare wijze. Dit onderzoeksproject, dat o.a. wordt geleid door prof. dr. Femmie Juffer, en dr. Anneke Vinke bijzonder hoogleraar Adoptie bij AGP-D, richt zich op het systematisch in kaart brengen van de gevolgen van afstand voor volwassen binnenlands geadopteerden en hun adoptieouders.

Deelnemers kunnen zich aanmelden via het volgende email adres adoptie_nl@fsw.leidenuniv.nl meer informatie is eventueel ook verkrijgbaar bij de UAI.

Klacht UAI door RvdJ gegrond verklaard

2009-01-26T00:20:00.001-08:00

UITSPRAAK RAAD VOOR DE JOURNALISTIEK

Council of Journalism finds complaint of the UAI legitimate

Last year the foundation registered a complaint to the Council for Journalism against the National Adoption Journal in the context of the article "The pitfall of involvement" written by Ms. Liliane Waanders, chief editor of the magazine. After careful consideration of the complaint, the defendants and a hearing with all parties concerned, the Council reached the following conclusions:

"The Council therefore concludes that the defendant thus has exceeded the limits of which, having regard to the requirements of professional journalistic responsibility, is socially acceptable."

Beoordeling van de klacht van de UAI tegen het Adoptietijdschrift

Kern van de klacht is dat verweerder ten onrechte heeft nagelaten wederhoor toe te passen.

De Raad stelt voorop dat de journalist bij het publiceren van beschuldigingen behoort te onderzoeken of voor de beschuldigingen een deugdelijke grondslag bestaat. Verder past de journalist, indien dit redelijkerwijs mogelijk is, wederhoor toe bij betrokkenen die door een publicatie worden gediskwalificeerd. De beschuldigde krijgt voldoende gelegenheid om, zonder onredelijke tijdsdruk, bij voorkeur in dezelfde publicatie te reageren op de aantijgingen. (zie punt 2.3.1. van de Leidraad van de Raad)

Het beginsel van wederhoor geldt niet voor publicaties die een persoonlijke mening bevatten (bijvoorbeeld columns, recensies en opiniërende bijdragen). Desalniettemin kan een dergelijke publicatie iemands belang zodanig raken dat wederhoor geboden is. (zie punt 2.3.4. van de Leidraad)

Voorts overweegt de Raad dat het een journalist vrijstaat over een bepaald feit zijn mening te verkondigen, mits duidelijk is dat het om zijn persoonlijke opvatting gaat. Dat is hier echter niet gebeurd. Het gewraakte artikel is niet geplaatst en opgemaakt als column of opiniërend stuk, en bevat tevens feitelijke berichtgeving. Aldus is naar het oordeel van de Raad geen sprake van een publicatie waarbij in beginsel geen wederhoor behoeft te worden toegepast. (vgl. RvdJ 2006/59)

In het artikel is vermeld dat klaagster althans haar voorzitter ‘behoorlijk hypocriet is door zijn eigen rol als sponsor en souffleur bij het onderzoek van de studenten van de Hogeschool van Amsterdam’. Voorts is vermeld dat klaagster althans haar voorzitter ‘opnieuw op een onzuivere manier over een vermeende samenhang tussen adoptie en kinderhandel aanstuurt en aan laat sturen’.

Aldus is sprake van een zodanige diskwalificatie van klaagster c.q. haar voorzitter dat verweerder deze uitlatingen niet zonder toepassing van wederhoor had mogen publiceren. Verweerder heeft dit ten onrechte nagelaten, terwijl van hem – gezien de status van het tijdschrift in het adoptieveld – ter zake extra zorgvuldigheid mag worden verwacht.

De Raad komt derhalve tot de slotsom dat verweerder aldus de grenzen heeft overschreden van hetgeen, gelet op de eisen van journalistieke verantwoordelijkheid, maatschappelijk aanvaardbaar is.

BESLISSING

De klacht is gegrond.

De Raad verzoekt verweerder deze beslissing integraal of in samenvatting in het Adoptietijdschrift te publiceren.

Aldus vastgesteld door de Raad op 6 februari 2009 door mw. mr. H. Troostwijk, voorzitter, drs. G.T.M. Driehuis, mw. E.H.C. Salomons en mr. A.H. Schmeink, leden, in tegenwoordigheid van mw. mr. D.C. Koene, secretaris, en mw. mr. F.G. Jansma, plaatsvervangend secretaris.

Country File - Tajikistan

2009-01-26T00:19:00.005-08:00

Tajik women who buy and sell babies

Risky business

Tajikistan > ... "Trafficking in minors is a problem and it still exists," said Azimjon Ibragimov, who heads the Interior Ministry's department on human trafficking.

Trafficking chief Ibragimov says few are aware of legal implications "Those who buy are usually childless couples. And since the legal procedure of adopting a child is complicated people find it much easier to buy a baby," he said. "But most of them don't know what the legal implications of this crime are," he added. Even those aware of the risks often feel they have no choice but to get rid of unwanted children. Many such cases involve young mothers of illegitimate children.
In conservative Tajikistan, having a child out of wedlock can bring shame on a family.
But increasingly older women with existing families are also selling their children.... >

Source, BBC

Country File - Salvador

2009-01-26T00:19:00.003-08:00

Salvadorian Couple Traded in Children - Lawyer Roberto Parada and his wife Ilkea -

El Salvador > The Parada adoption fraud case has now grown to encompass 13Salvadoran children and 11 adoptive American citizen families,''states a cable from U.S. Consul General Nicholas J. Ricciuti, who hasassigned consulate staff members to investigate and is working withgovernment authorities on behalf of several American families.

''Evidence . . . clearly demonstrates that the Paradas and at leastone female associate have engaged in the illegal purchase of childrenfor the purpose of arranging their overseas adoption.
''Evidence developed does not yet establish that CSI had priorknowledge of the Paradas' illegal activities,'' the cable continues,''although it is clear from conversations with CSI officials, Americanadopting parents and (El Salvador) officials that CSI hassystematically distorted events, misinformed its American clients andexaggerated its relationship with influential Salvadoranpersonalities.''

later:"clearly demonstrates that the Paradas and at least one femaleassociate have engaged in the illegal purchase of children for thepurpose of arranging their overseas adoption. The evidence also showsthat this practice resulted in the kidnapping of at least one andpossibly as many as three other children."

Parada's wife and her maid have been charged with depriving a parentof the custody of a child, embassy spokesman Jake Gillespie said.

See Lya Sorano's Guatemala problems
Discovery date: 2009-01-24
Number of children involved: 13
Country from: El Salvador
Countries to: United States of America
Agencies involved: Children's Services International (CSI) Atlanta GA

Source, Thanks to our colleagues of Pound Pup Legacy

Additional Article > Would-be parents tell of broken hearts

MEDIA FILE

2009-01-26T00:19:00.001-08:00

Verlos mij van het Spoorloos Terreur

Triest dat geadopteerden alleen via tv op zoek kunnen naar hun familie

Afgelopen zaterdag kopte dagblad Trouw met deze titel het ingezonden artikel van de voorzitter van de UAI, Hilbrand Westra, in. De titel en subtitel zijn van de redactie van Trouw. Echter het artikel had als doel om de ongebreidelde ijver waarmee programma's als Spoorloos, Grenzeloos Verlangen en Vermist gebruik maken van menselijke drama's open te leggen. Ook het gebrek om een betere inzage te geven om de andere kant van medaille te laten zien - het procesdeel en de adoptieketen, inclusief de rol van adoptieouders en de eenzijdige belichting van het onderwerp adoptie door dergelijke programma's baart de UAI zorgen. Hieronder vindt u een deel van het artikel wat niet geplaatst werd door Trouw.

Al jaren pleit United Adoptees International voor een internationaal fonds en een organisatie waar geadopteerden kunnen aankloppen voor hulp en juridische ondersteuning. Door diplomatieke en politieke belangen, gebrekkige samenwerking van adoptieorganisaties –juist over dit vraagstuk– is een dergelijk noodzakelijke organisatie nog steeds niet in zicht.
Je zou ook kunnen zeggen, dat door programma’s als ’Spoorloos’ en ’Vermist’ het op zoek gaan naar je familie, het niet langer een taboe is om op zoek te gaan naar je biologische ouders. Die bijdrage hebben de programma’s dus zeker geleverd. Maar dat is een indirect gevolg, niet de doelstelling. Alleen de zoektocht zelf levert kijkers op. Wereldwijd worden inmiddels aan dergelijke programma's miljoenen euro’s verdiend.

Eindredacteur van Spoorloos, Paul Vertegaal snapt dat heel goed. Het is dan ook niet verwonderlijk dat hij enkele jaren geleden in de Volkskrant, Adoptie Ja/Nee een duidelijke toon zet, dat adoptie goed is en vooral moet blijven doorgaan omdat het verschil tussen rijk en arm nou eenmaal toeneemt. Dergelijke uitlatingen, zonder ook enige nuance te scheppen in zijn betoog, geeft te denken. Verder baseert hij dat op zijn jarenlange ervaring als redacteur van het programma en de vele gesprekken die hij gehad heeft met adoptieouders die graag kinderen wilden. Dit is natuurlijk preken voor eigen parochie.

Wat mij irriteert aan uitspraken als die van Vertegaal, is dat de makers ervan zich wel bewust zijn van de gevolgen van de programma’s, maar daar geen maatschappelijke verantwoordelijkheid voor hoeven af te leggen. Iets wat Derk Bolt, de bekendste reporter van Spoorloos, in het artikel 'op zoek naar de verloren vader' in het Friesch Dagblad, 2003 van Ines Jonker, wel deed.
Bolt zette vraagtekens bij adopties en de manier waarop adoptieouders ermee
omgingen. Juist door de ervaringen die hij had opgedaan in het veld tijdens die
zoektochten voor het Spoorloos programma. Zijn woorden werden hem niet in dank
afgenomen. Niet door adoptieouders, noch door zijn eigen redactie. Bolt heeft zijn opmerkingen moeten terugtrekken en is destijds min of meer publiekelijk gelyncht. Maar wellicht verdient hij rehabilitatie voor zijn moedige maar niet populaire uitspraken.
Geadopteerden willen op hun eigen tempo met adoptie bezig zijn. De laatste jaren krijgen zij echter te pas en onpas, van familie, buren en buitenlui , de vraag wanneer zij ’nou eens op zoek gaan’ naar hun familie. De geadopteerden zelf hebben daar een naam voor: Spoorloos-terreur.

COUNTRY FILE - FRANCE

2009-01-14T23:25:00.000-08:00

French Peace Corps Recruiting Orphans for Adopters

Gap-year mission to find baby orphans for France

FRANCE > From building homes in shanty towns to helping to save rainforests, travelling to exotic locations for well-meaning projects has long been a gap-year rite of passage for many a 19-year-old. This year French volunteers have been set a more challenging task: to scour the world for orphans for childless families in France.

The volunteers - described as a Gallic Peace Corps - will be asked to put prospective parents in touch with abandoned children in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America.The government plan follows claims that France has been outflanked by Spain, Italy and the United States in the fiercely competitive world of international adoption. <Source : From The Times, Adam Sage, July 29, 2008

The Rama Yade Plan

FRANCE > In a fortnight, Clémence Fournier, 25, will fly to Cambodia with a specific mission: to facilitate adoption of foreign orphans by French parents. Based on her experience in India, Madagascar and Cambodia, where she met Rama Yade, the French state secretary in charge of Human Rights, the young humanitarian´s profile fits the "job." She will be the first "international adoption volunteer." A squad of young "ambassadors", recruited on the model of the U.S. Peace Corps, will be present in twenty countries starting next year in order to make the link between adoptive families and local authorities and avoid excesses like Arche de Zoé ... Accompanied by Gérard Depardieu, the father of this program, Rama Yade announced the dispatch of these volunteers during a press conference at the Quai d'Orsay.

She is not the first to tackle this thorny issue. Three years ago, Jean-Pierre Raffarin pledged to double the number of foreign children adopted in France. To be followed by a vast reform and the opening with much fanfare of the French Agency for adoption (AFA). In 2007, the disastrous results of AFA broke out in broad daylight: -20% of international adoptions over the previous year, while Italy, that also mobilized on the subject, showed an increase of 9%. In this context, Jean-Marie Colombani, the former director of Le Monde, last March presented the government with a highly critical report on the state of the adoption in France.

Funded for more than 55% by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the establishment of this network of intercountry adoption volunteers in any case demonstrates the renewed interest of the Quai d'Orsay for a subject hitherto considered not a priority. Source : Le Point (free translation)

Additional Articles to read at Abandon & Adoption

Carla Bruni wil baby van Sarkozy

Adoption by celebs becomes a habit - Carla Bruni wants to adopt

First Lady from France, Carla Bruni, well known as singer, says she wants to have a baby with the French President Sarkozy. But says, if this not will happen, she will adopt a child.

Adoption by celebtrities seems to be a common good and they present adoption many times as facility. As a 'escape' route by lack of having a own child or as a private project to do good.

This development is very concerning one. Not only for the unprotected children, but foremost for the parents whom are not able to distinct reality from the glamour of the well known person to whom they hand over the child. For a critical example, see Maddona's 'illegal' adoption from Malawi of David Banda.

-
De Franse first lady Carla Bruni wil graag een kind met haar man, de Franse president Nicolas Sarkozy. Mocht het niet op de natuurlijke manier lukken, dan wil de 41-jarige Bruni graag een kindje adopteren.

,,Ik ben niet geobsedeerd door bloedbanden. Ik denk dat je ook een sterke band kunt krijgen zonder dat'', aldus Bruni in een woensdag gepubliceerd interview in het Franse tijdschrift Madame Figaro.

Bruni heeft al een 7-jarige zoon uit een eerdere relatie. De 54-jarige Sarkozy heeft drie kinderen uit twee eerdere huwelijken. Het paar ontmoette elkaar in november 2007. De president was enkele weken daarvoor gescheiden van zijn tweede vrouw Cecilia en trouwde voormalig supermodel Bruni nog geen drie maanden later.

Bron, De Pers, 5 maart 2009

Volunteers to facilitate international adoption

New Recruiting methods introduced to get children for Adoption

FRANCE > Eight young women are going in their adopted country to facilitate the process of adopting English abroad

One hand in Ethiopia, the other has not yet assignment. Élodie Chemarin, 25, and Sandra Dupuy, 28, are among the volunteers that the Department of Foreign Affairs has chosen to attend the French parents wishing to adopt abroad.

Eight young women who Rama Yade, Secretary of State for Human Rights, has entrusted the mission to "explore all possible solutions for children without families to find housing solutions, on-site in their country, or an international adoption as a last resort. " The countries are Vietnam, India, Mali, Ethiopia, Burkina Faso, Madagascar, Guatemala and an eighth country to be chosen soon.

Élodie Chemarin and Sandra Dupuy were selected by the Association of Volunteers of progress among 90 applicants. Both young women are slender wrapped diplomas: Lyon Sciences-Po, a Masters in International Relations, a year of study in the United States for the first time, returning from a mission of eighteen months from orphanages in Namibia, three masters in communication, human rights and geopolitics for the second, a first experience with the secretariat of Human Rights in Geneva.
Almost 30 000 are waiting for a French orphan halfway around the world

Both the head firmly planted on the shoulders. "Our mission has two parts, Sandra Dupuy insists, there are as many child protection that international adoption. "This is not a substitute for organizations to adopt on the spot, but the host of supporting families in their administrative processes," adds Chemarin Élodie.

They know the magnitude of their task. Almost 30 000 are waiting for a French orphan halfway around the world. Last year, 3 266 children were adopted abroad by French families, representing 80% of adoptions.

Young volunteers have spoken with Clémence Fournier, the first to experiment with their mission since August, Cambodia. They know they will sometimes pull an alarm on an orphanage, if necessary. They will face the dismay of parents, the plight of abandoned children, the risk of dubious middlemen. "Obviously, we will receive a share of affect, sighs Sandra Dupuy. It will not bring miracles. But we will do everything to implement solutions. "

Source, La Croix

Thanks to ACT International

Adoption according Jean Marie Colombani

FRANCE - The report Colombani, released last Wednesday in France, is very critical on the organization of international adoption in France. It calls in particular to improve the approval process and to create a "central authority". The figures are "worrying", said Jean-Marie Colombani, who presented a report today on adoption at the l'Elysée. It emphasizes a decrease of 24% in the number of international adoptions since 2005, "which is not the case in all European countries".

Le rapport Colombani, remis mercredi à l'Elysée, est très critique sur l'organisation de l'adoption internationale en France. Il préconise notamment d'améliorer la procédure d'agrément et de recréer une "autorité centrale".

Vers un supermarché de l’adoption ?

Article consacré au rapport sur l'adoption de Jean-Marie Colombani.

The report submitted by the Colombani Committee on intercountry adoption, has not seen the end of arouse of criticism. Pierre Verdier, a distinguished author of books and articles in the field of child welfare, questioned the intentions and objectives of the Commission's report. He wondered especially, if the sole purpose of the report, would not allow candidates to find children on the world market of children.

Thanks to our Colleagues of Abandon& Adoption

[Via AgoraVox, La Taverne des Poètes]

Le rapport remis par la commission Colombani sur l’adoption n’a pas fini de susciter des critiques. Pierre Verdier, auteur éminent d’ouvrages et d’articles dans le domaine de l’aide sociale à l’enfance, s’interroge sur les intentions et objectifs du rapport de la commission. Il se demande notamment si le seul objectif dudit rapport ne serait pas de permettre aux candidats de trouver des enfants sur le grand marché mondial...

Pierre Verdier fait autorité dans le domaine spécialisé du droit de l’enfant et de la famille. Auteurs de nombreux ouvrages qui servent de référence aux professionnels des services de l’aide à l’enfance (Conseils généraux), il est aussi ancien directeur de DDASS et ancien membre du CSA (Conseil supérieur de l'adoption). Il est avocat au barreau de Paris.

Son constat est inquiétant. Il remarque tout d’abord que la commission Colombani a tiré un grand trait sur les études menées ces dernières années par des auteurs qualifiés tels que Jean-François Mattei, Irène Théry, Jean Hauser, quelques autres et lui-même. Le rapport fait table rase des questions soulevées par ces spécialistes comme : faut-il maintenir telle quelle l’adoption plénière ? Doit-on introduire en France l’adoption ouverte comme elle est pratiquée dans certains pays avec succès ? Faut-il légaliser la gestation pour autrui ? Mais le rapport élude aussi des questions tenant à la Kafala (système d’"adoption" du Maghreb), l’adoption par les homosexuels...

Pierre Verdier met en doute les arguments avancés dans le rapport Colombani comme le fait d’annoncer le nombre de "2 100 petits enfants placés qui pourraient faire l’objet d’un projet d’adoption". Ce nombre, dit-il, est sorti de nulle part. L’idée pernicieuse serait-elle de faire croire que de nombreux enfants adoptables croupissent dans les foyers de l’enfance à cause des blocages administratifs et des pratiques des travailleurs sociaux qui donneraient trop la priorité aux liens avec la famille ? Cette hypothèse n’est pas farfelue si on prend au pied de la lettre cette phrase du rapport : "Il ne faut pas renoncer à faire évoluer les pratiques pour augmenter le nombre d’enfants susceptibles d’être adoptés." Pierre Verdier voit dans cette annonce un effet de la politique des quotas.

Pierre Verdier, qui examine les propositions du rapport Colombani, tombe cependant d’accord avec son auteur sur certains points :

Le projet pour l’enfant : actuellement le tribunal prononce l’abandon de l’enfant sur le fondement de l’article 350 du Code civil :

Rappelons qu’une évolution a été introduite par la loi du 4 juillet 2005 qui a modifié l’article 350 afin de faciliter l’adoption des enfants dont les parents se sont volontairement désintéressés depuis au moins un an, quel qu’en soit le motif. Le critère de "grande détresse des parents" ne fait plus obstacle à la demande en déclaration d’abandon.

Mais cette procédure prévoit une sorte de systématisme : "est déclaré abandonné par le tribunal de grande instance..." Cette sorte d’automaticité à décider judiciairement l’enfant abandonné, pourvu bien entendu que les critères soient remplis, laisse peu de place à l’examen de l’intérêt de l’enfant et de son avenir au travers d’un projet. Le rapport Colombani, qui préconise, "l’élaboration in fine d’un projet pour l’enfant" va donc dans le bon sens.

Promouvoir l’adoption simple : la proposition 15 du rapport est de mieux informer sur l’adoption simple qui, dit Pierre Verdier, correspond le mieux à la réalité de l’enfant adopté qui a une double filiation. L’avantage de cette forme d’adoption est aussi qu’elle est révocable, ce qui n’est pas le cas de l’adoption plénière.

Donner un rôle à la famille adoptive : la proposition 24 envisage d’intégrer les familles adoptives comme membres de l’AFA (Agence française de l’adoption créée en 2005). C’est une bonne chose, dit Verdier, sauf qu’il ne faut pas limiter la notion de "famille adoptive" aux adoptants. Il ne faut pas oublier d’associer les enfants adoptés qui, en grandissant, ont leur mot à dire sur leur devenir.

En définitive, Pierre Verdier demeure inquiet sur l’esprit qui anime le projet de réforme et qui semble voué à augmenter l’offre d’enfants adoptables, comme si l’on raisonnait en termes économiques et non en termes de filiation et de politique sociale. Mais ironise-t-il : le projet de grand supermarché de l’adoption internationale ne sera, faute de vraie ambition et de possibilités réelles, qu’une mesquine épicerie.

Références : Organiser le grand supermarché de l'adoption : réflexions à propos du rapport Colombani.

Journal du droit des jeunes - Revue d'action juridique et sociale - N° 275 mai 2008.

Sur le même sujet

->Rapport sur l'adoption de Jean-Marie Colombani
Documentation française, Paris, 2008

-> Le rapport Colombani veut encourager l'adoption nationale
Reuters. 19 mars 2008