NEWS

A plan to phase out intercountry adoption within five years was scrapped at the last minute, according to research by the Nederlands Dagblad. Tjibbe Joustra, chairman of the committee that investigated abuses in adoption practice, is surprised about this.

A committee led by Tjibbe Joustra conducted more than a year and a half of research into the practice of intercountry adoption. The conclusions that the former top official presented in February 2021 were clear. Serious abuses occurred in all countries surveyed, such as forgery of documents, child trafficking and child theft. Then-Minister Sander Dekker of Legal Protection immediately pulled the emergency brakes and announced a temporary halt to adoption. A year later, his successor Franc Weerwind decided that adoptions could be resumed, but in a new system and from a limited number of countries.

Joustra and his committee were no longer asked for advice when drawing up this new policy. “No, there has been no contact with us,” he responds. 'I thought that was remarkable. If you have done long research into something, you can also ask such a committee for ideas when making decisions. That is of course not necessary, but from an efficiency point of view it is a good course of action.'

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Network meeting 17 June 2023

Meet & Greet for Haitian adoptees (17+)

Meeting, connecting and sharing Haitian roots

Date : June 17, 2023

Room open : 3:00 pm – 8:00 pm

While denying custody to Ariha’s parents or the Indian Welfare Services, the court relied on two injuries that she had suffered — a head and back injury in April 2021 and a genital injury in September 2021

A district court in Pankow, Germany, has in two judgments dated June 13  denied the custody of Ariha Shah — the 28-month-old — to her biological parents and handed her over to Jugendamt, the German youth services.

Rejecting the application of Dhara and Bhavesh Shah to return the child to them directly or at least hand her over to a third party, the Indian Welfare Services, the court awarded Ariha’s custody to Jugendamt and ruled that “the parents are no longer authorised to decide on the whereabouts of their child”.

On June 3, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi urged the German authorities “to do all that is necessary to send Ariha to India at the earliest, which is also her inalienable right as an Indian national”. Earlier in June, 59 MPs from 19 political parties, including the BJP, Congress, the Left and the Trinamool Congress, had written a joint letter to German Ambassador to India Philipp Ackermann and asked him to do everything possible to ensure that Ariha was repatriated to India at the earliest.

With the Central Youth Welfare Office of Berlin being appointed Ariha’s provisional guardian by the court, it said the authority shall decide on her whereabouts. The parents had initially sought Ariha’s custody but had withdrawn the request. They had then requested that the child be given to the Indian Welfare Services and to restore parental custody in full, with the understanding that she would be moved to the foster home run by Ashok Jain in Ahmedabad. The parents also planned to move back to India with her.

BACKGROUND

Adoption was really no longer possible and would be phased out within five years. There was discussion about it within the Ministry of Justice and Security for months and the lobby was at high speed. The decision to stop was made, but was canceled at the last minute. A reconstruction.

It is March 7, 2022. Minister Franc Weerwind has prepared a draft letter to Parliament about intercountry adoption and is sharing it with other ministries. It states that every intercountry adoption system is more or less susceptible to abuses. Adoption is not a sustainable instrument to protect the interests of children, Weerwind believes. It is a firm decision and will mean that the practice of intercountry adoption will end within five years.

Weerwind (D66) will then be Minister for Legal Protection in the Rutte IV cabinet for just two months. During those months, officials, who have been on this file for much longer, are heading for a definitive freeze on adoption. Although these officials certainly do not all agree on this among themselves and they email back and forth furiously, according to documents that the Nederlands Dagblad has requested.

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Minister Franc Weerwind was determined to stop adoption, but changed course at the last minute after consultation with his own party D66. This is evident from research by the Nederlands Dagblad.

The devastating final report of the committee that investigated intercountry adoption. It now appears that Minister Weerwind wanted to stop adoption, but ultimately did not. image Robin Utrecht

More than a year ago it was a great relief for prospective parents: intercountry adoption became possible again. Minister Franc Weerwind wrote to the House of Representatives about his decision on April 11, 2022: 'For adopted children, growing up in a Dutch family offers an opportunity that they would not otherwise have had.' However, the number of countries from which adoption is allowed has been severely limited.

A month earlier, he had a completely different letter ready, according to documents that the Nederlands Dagblad requested through an appeal to the Open Government Act (WOO). The draft letter actually states that he wants to quit within five years, because the adoption system is prone to abuses. 'Adoption is no longer a sustainable instrument to protect the interests of children.' The risk of abuse simply cannot be removed, Weerwind thought.

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The Bombay High Court clarified on Friday that it hadn’t stalled any adoptions and all procedures should continue as they were before the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Amendment 2021.A division bench of Justice GS Patel and Neela Gokhale made the clarification in view of news reports that adoptions had come to a standstill following its order in January 2023.“We...

Srinagar, June 16: Child Welfare Committee (CWC) today rescued 13 children from an orphanage at Bypass here.

CWC Srinagar chairperson Dr Khair-un-Nissa said acting on a tip off, she raided an orphanage at Bypass and rescued the children.

“An inmate has died under mysterious circumstances in the orphanage and police has lodged a case. I have during my earlier visit to the orphanage given notice to the owner as he was running the orphanage illegally. We will be taking action against him for mistreating the inmates,” she added.

“The role of child care institutions is to provide a safe, secure and family environment to the children. Abandoned, surrendered, orphan, victim of abuse, conflict children are registered in these orphanages. We have certain provisions for these enrolled children like sponsorship in which we can sponsor, adoption or foster care, “she said.

Adoption in the country has, for a long time, remained an emotive issue.

It has often been steeped in suspicion and matters have not been helped by a moratorium on inter-country adoptions (adoption of a Kenyan child by foreigners who live outside the country) placed by the government.

The objective of the moratorium effected on November 26, 2014, was to enable the government to intervene and conduct a comprehensive audit of the policy and legal frameworks, processes, procedures and players involved in the practice of adoption.

However, concerns raised include lack of public participation before the moratorium was enforced. Several laws targeted at regulating adoption have also raised concerns with some parties claiming there are efforts to lock them out.

Suba North MP Millie Odhiambo argues that, though it is possible to abuse the rights of children when the laws are weak, and that there is need to have better regulations, the same should not be used to muzzle those who want to adopt.

They’re sick of hearing “You should be grateful.”

During the 90s and early aughts, you probably knew of a family who adopted a baby girl from China. At the time, the One Child Policy limited the number of children in Chinese families, and many Chinese kids were adopted by Western families as a result. (According to the State Department, American families adopted about 81,600 Chinese children from 1999 to 2018). The media narrative around this focused on adoptive families saving babies and young children from bad circumstances. 

Content creator Taylor Shennett was one of these babies — she was adopted from China at nine months old by American parents: “[My parents] chose to do international adoption because my aunt saw a video about the One Child Policy and the overflow of girls in China,” she tells Katie Couric Media.  

But adult adoptees like Shennett say that the narrative around adoption focuses too much on gestures toward an infant in need. She’s turned to an unexpected platform to speak out on how you probably use the wrong words when you describe the experience of adoption. And there’s also a chance you’re not really hearing adult adoptees when they discuss some of their less-than-pretty experiences.

By now, you’re familiar with the silly trends (like funny filters, songs, and dances) that TikTok has popularized. But adult international adoptees use TikTok for serious advocacy — and they’re reaching a real audience. The hashtag “adoptiontrauma” on TikTok currently has 92.8 million views while “adoptionstory” has a whopping 836.2 million views. 

Andrea's birthday is always fraught with despair.

Key points:

• Andrea found out she was adopted when she was five
• She's struggled with the trauma ever since
• She wants to make sure other adoptees are better supported

Even when she was a child, Andrea struggled to enjoy the day of her birth.

"Yes, of course I enjoyed the presents and got excited, but I could not take this blackness off me every time it came to my birthday," she said.