The first violence that affects a newborn baby is the name that he or she or them never chose themselves. There will be much more after that: potty training, learning to walk, talk, compulsory schooling, et cetera. It is best to change a first name later in life. My sister did, but it only helped a little. I run into her every year, just this week at the Javaplein in Amsterdam. She sits there forever being 29 years old, I walk up to her expectantly, it's now or never, and as I hear myself talk I know it's in vain.

Me: "Do you know me. We know each other, don't we?” and I know the answer the moment I ask the question. No. A pretty young woman, ethnically mixed, with a head of curly hair and some freckles on her nose. Elsie. My sister. Already 30 years dead. Later in life she called herself Tilasmi, a name given to her by the Baghwan. Still later I was allowed to say Elsje again, and I still do that in my mind.

Sister was also adopted, she was Surinamese/Curacaos/Indonesian and Dutch. A moksi, a mix. Was calling her 'Elsje' necessarily a colonial act of my parents? I do not believe it. I know a very Surinamese lady called Els. 'Kwame' is not for everyone. Parents appropriate a child, especially culturally, and I wouldn't know how else to do it.

Now I read Trouw columnist Babah Trawally, and I do so more often, usually with pleasure. This week he wrote: “You cannot adopt a black African child and then call her Wietske or Tjitske. This is like writing a scientific book without citing the source.”

Would it? Raising a child has nothing to do with writing a science book. 'Cultural appropriation', to put it in good Dutch, is even a necessity in education. “Cling, bonding,” my therapist used to yell.

MARC DULLAERT HAS BEEN APPOINTED THE NEW CHAIRMAN OF THE CHILDREN'S RIGHTS COLLECTIVE

We are very pleased to announce that Marc Dullaert, founder and chairman of KidsRights and former Children's Ombudsman, has been appointed as the new chairman of the Children's Rights Collective.

Next to him, 16-year-old Lars Westra takes on the role of vice-chairman. The Children's Rights Collective is a network of Dutch children's rights organizations that ensure that the rights of children in the Netherlands are enforced. In addition, this network advises the Dutch government on how children's rights can be better observed in the Netherlands.

Together they emphasize the importance of offering children and young people a platform to make their voices heard. We wish them both the best of luck!

The Zambia affair exposed numerous illogicalities and difficulties with child adoptions, not only in international adoptions, but also in adoptions in Croatia. Although it was not talked about until now, Jelena Velja?a's melodramatic article in Jutarnji list reopened the issue of adoption of siblings, which apparently in some cases was already taking place contrary to the recommendations of the Ministry of Labour, Pension System, Family and Social Policy. We bring several stories about the adoption of brothers and sisters from Africa, who ended up in different families in Croatia.

The case of Azra Imamovi? Suboši? from the Zambia affair

"Azra was ecstatic when they told her that they had informed her that two girls, sisters and a brother, were ready for adoption in the orphanage. She tried for months to find adoptive parents for her daughter's brother and sister and she succeeded. Now, of course, that has been stopped", it was learned a few days ago in an article by Jelena Velja?a for Jutarnji list. We are talking about Azra Imamovi? Suboši?, known from the Zambia affair, in which eight Croats were accused of human trafficking.

>Austrian media: 'The child trafficking scandal shakes Croatia, officials part of a criminal network?'

"Azra heard about the possibility of adopting children from DR Congo from a friend who has a friend who adopted a child that way. Azra mediated the arrangements for the adoption of children from the DR Congo - namely, she also found adopters for the sister and brother of the girl she was going to adopt," Utikate announced on Twitter.

The stars of HGTV's Fixer to Fabulous open up to PEOPLE about the harrowing three-year process of bringing their daughter Sylvie home

Dave and Jenny Marrs' adoption story was "100 percent a miracle," according to the Fixer to Fabulous stars.

What should have been a six-month process to bring their daughter Sylvie, now 11, home from the Democratic Republic of Congo turned into a harrowing three-year ordeal for the new co-hosts of Home Town Takeover (premiering April 23).

The couple always knew they wanted to adopt, so when they were struggling to start a family of their own, it was an easy decision to start the paperwork. That journey hit its first bump when Jenny unexpectedly got pregnant with twins. It was a high-risk pregnancy, she tells PEOPLE in this week's issue, and when she went into labor prematurely, she had to be airlifted to a hospital in Little Rock from their home in Bentonville, Ark.

"We were given every worst-case scenario for when the boys were born," she says. Thankfully, Nathan and Ben, now 12, arrived "perfectly healthy and awesome."

Family Action’s PAC-UK reveals new insights and experiences of adoptees and birth parents with the launch of The Big Consult.

Adoption Support Agency, Family Action PAC-UK, reveals the findings of The Big Consult, the largest piece of research into birth parents and adopted people’s experiences and feelings around the adoption process, in over 20 years.

Adopted people and birth parents launching The Big Consult with PAC-UK and the National Adoption Strategy Team in Leeds in April 2023

The Big Consult was funded by the National Adoption Strategy Team and is a major consultation of birth parents whose children have been adopted, and of people adopted from the 1950s to the present day.

PAC-UK, part of national charity Family Action, is the country’s largest independent Adoption Support Agency, and launched The Big Consult to gain an understanding of birth parents and adopted people’s feelings and experiences around the adoption process, the services they received before and after, their thoughts on how these can be improved, and their suggestions for the future of adoption.

A KNAPHILL mother of twins is more determined than ever to bring her nine-year-old boys back to the UK after their father abducted them from her and took them to his native Croatia.

Nataly Anderson has fought a seven-year battle with her former husband and in courts across Europe to secure custody of the twins, but the children remain in Croatia, where they were born in 2013.

She is now seeking to build wider support for her cause by asking for “concerned citizens” to sign her petition addressed to the Governments of Croatia, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, the European Union and even His Holiness Pope Francis.

The breadth of the petition reflects the tangled complexity of Nataly’s case and what she sees as the need to appeal to ever higher reaches of authority to secure what she believes would be a satisfactory resolution for her and the twins.

The family moved back to London from Croatia in early 2016, Nataly having secured a job in the UK, and in June of that year her husband and father of the twins, Zvonimir Marinovic, told Nataly that he was taking the twins on holiday to Croatia.

TitleAdoption can be revoked, even if application is submitted too late

PubDate18/04/2023

CategoriesPerson-and familyright

AgencyCourt of Rotterdam

charactercase law

ISS is delighted to support and partner with the Alliance of Foundations for the Strengthening of Foster Care (FAE Alliance) in Chile.

The FAE Alliance, in close collaboration with Chilean child welfare authorities, Servicio Mejor Niñez, will support residential facilities seeking to transition to foster care support and community-based care in different regions of the country.

A first field mission will take place in mid-May to participate in different meetings, capacity building and awareness raising sessions with key stakeholders.

We would like to warmly thank the FAE Alliance for its strong commitment and collaboration with ISS.

Together we are one step closer to transforming children’s lives!

They went through a series of artificial insemination procedures • They started adoption • When they hugged their adopted daughter for the first time, everything fell into place. Now they are waiting for the trial to start and hope to return home with the little girl

After five years of relationship, Azra and Zoki decided that they needed help in having a child, and then started artificial insemination. After two operations and seven embryo transfers, great disappointments and emotional and physical exhaustion, they decided to give up. It was a very difficult period for them, their whole life revolved only around that, hormones had a strong effect on Azra's physical and mental state, it was impossible for her not to feel guilty whenever the pregnancy test came out negative, even though she rationally knew that the fault is not theirs. While they were still in the process of medically assisted fertilization, they started talking about how adoption might be a better option. They really wanted to start a family, they were thinking all the time about how they would raise the child, where they would take him, how they would enjoy together. At that time, all of Azra's closest friends had children, with whom she and Zoki spent a lot of time. I will never forget the moment when they definitely decided - they were sitting by the sea and Zoki said to Azra: 'If we adopt a child, little feet could be running around here already next summer', exclusively in 24 hours she began the story of her daughter and son-in-law's difficult journey to child Ivana, mother of Azra Imamovi? Suboši?, who together with her husband Zoran and three other couples were arrested in Zambia on suspicion of child trafficking.

'They were ready to adopt a child with health problems'

Her daughter and son-in-law are not allowed to appear in the media, but she wanted the public to know what they went through in order to have a child and how they were looking forward to the little girl they adopted from the DR Congo, whom Ivana has been calling her granddaughter for a long time, and how much it is difficult for her because of her daughter and son-in-law, she also suffers so much for her granddaughter, who is somewhere in Zambia, about whom she knows nothing.

He continues the story by saying how Azra and Zoki decided to adopt a child after returning from the sea.

Al veertig jaar hopen Braziliaanse moeders op vergiffenis na schimmige adoptieprocedures - NRC (For 40 years, Brazilian mothers have been hoping for forgiveness after shady adoption procedures - NRC)

Foreign adoption Brazil For years, foreign adoptions took place in Brazil under shadowy and illegal circumstances. The Brazilian-Dutch foundation PDBH uses DNA testing to help Brazilian mothers and adopted children in the Netherlands find each other.

With a cotton swab, Liza da Silva-Alijaj carefully scrapes some mucus from the inside of Raimunda Aparecida Vieira da Silva's (54) mouth. She hands the DNA swab to her colleague, who carefully puts it away. “Parabens mamae! Congratulations mom!” exclaims Alijaj. There is loud applause and cheering and Raimunda sighs deeply. “I suddenly feel much lighter, like a weight has been lifted off my shoulder,” she says. "This DNA test is my last hope to find my son."

The next mom sits down, opens her mouth, and gets the swab pressed against the inside of her cheeks.

In the auditorium of the parliament building of the state of São Paulo, Brazilian women who gave their child for adoption in the 1980s and 1990s come and go these days. They were often underage, poor and had unwanted pregnancies. Abortion is forbidden in religious Brazil. Under pressure from family or authorities, they renounced their child – sometimes without realizing it themselves. There are also cases in Brazil of children being stolen from hospitals. For years, foreign adoptions took place under shadowy and illegal circumstances where shady organizations and individuals earned a lot of money, as a subsequent investigation has shown.