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Kids from another country, with a past

Kids from another country, with a past

International adoption is never easy, and can cause pain that lasts a lifetime.

Irina's surname may be Spanish, but that's little more than a legal nicety. She has no home, and no family. She did for a while, but it didn't work out. Hers is one of the untold stories of failed adoption. In this case, Irina rejected her new family, although she insists she is not to blame. She was just 11 when she was brought to Spain with her sister from a Russian orphanage.

"I didn't know that I was coming to stay forever. I thought I could go home, where my mother lives," she explains, adding: "The authorities had taken us away from her because she drank too much, but we used to see her every now and then." Her first words in Spanish were "I want to go back to Russia." They would be the start of a long, sad story that would end in a Spanish children's home, surrounded by other children like her.

Over the last decade, Spanish families have adopted some 35,000 children from Eastern Europe, China, Nepal, Ethiopia, Congo, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru. Most of the time, the children make a new life for themselves in a caring, safe home. But not always. While the number of adoptions that actually fail is only around 1.5 percent, Ana Berástegui, who teaches at the University of Comillas, and is one of the few academics to have carried out a study of the problem, estimates that one in five families with adopted children "faces very difficult situations" that will bring them close to returning the child to the authorities.

Haiti Orphan Adoption: Ensuring a Successful Transition

Haiti Orphan Adoption:

Ensuring a Successful Transition

Haiti adoption interest has spiked after the disastrous earthquake and aftershocks in Haiti. The U.S. State Department is helping to expedite the placement of children into their adoptive homes.

While this is a victory for the children of Haiti, it is also vitally important that these adoptive families be given the resources, knowledge, and support they need in order to ensure a successful transition for these doubly traumatized children.

In response to the crisis, you are invited to listen in on this discussion regarding the orphans being adopted out of this country: http://www.beyondconsequences.com/asktheexpert/haiti/

3500 VN-militairen in Haïti

3500 VN-militairen in Haïti

Dit artikel komt voor in dossier: Aardbeving Haïti

Geplaatst: 19 januari 2010 14:11, laatste wijziging: 19 januari 2010 16:49

ANP

De Verenigde Naties verspreiden deze foto op 19 januari 2010 die laat zien dat er water uitgedeeld wordt aan Haïtianen vanaf een truck in Canape Vert. |foto EPA/VN/Marco Dormino

Deutsche im 24-Stunden-Einsatz - 50 Kinder

Deutsche im 24-Stunden-Einsatz

Port-au-Prince/Rheinland-Pfalz Die Zahl ist schier unvorstellbar: 100?000, vielleicht sogar 200?000 Menschenleben hat das verheerende Erdbeben in Haiti gekostet.

Doch wenn die vielen Helfer aus aller Welt nicht schnell sind, wird die Zahl der Opfer noch weiter nach oben schnellen.

Die Wasserversorgung in der weitgehend zerstörten haitianischen Hauptstadt Port-au-Prince ist zusammengebrochen – und das bei hohen Temperaturen. Zudem fehlen Medikamente und Verbandszeug für die Verletzten. „Wenn wir jetzt nicht sofort handeln, wird die Katastrophe noch viel schlimmer“, befürchtet Werner Vogt, Landeskoordinator beim Technischen Hilfswerk (THW) in Mainz. Ein Team von 20 Mann, drei davon aus Rheinland-Pfalz, versucht, die Erdbebenopfer in Haiti mit sauberem Trinkwasser zu versorgen. „Im Moment schaffen wir 10?000 Liter die Stunde“, so Vogt. Der Nachschub an weiteren Aufbereitungsanlagen steht schon zum Abflug in die Karibik bereit.

„Für die Menschen, die unter den Trümmern begraben liegen, besteht kaum noch Hoffnung“, sagt Vogt. „Für die Überlebenden hingegen sind die zerstörten Wasserleitungen und Brunnen das größte Problem. Die THW-Leute, aber auch all die anderen Helfer versuchen, einen Wettlauf mit dem Tod zu gewinnen. Ähnlich dramatisch sieht es bei der medizinischen Versorgung aus. Das Erdbeben hat in der Millionenstadt Port-au-Prince nur ein Krankenhaus unversehrt gelassen. Improvisierte Notkliniken werden auf Straßen und Plätzen errichtet. Viele Opfer können außerhalb der Hauptstadt nur aus der Luft erreicht werden. Der Malteser-Hilfsdienst hat eine der zerstörten Kliniken in der Hauptstadt übernommen. Neun Mediziner arbeiten rund um die Uhr. „Nur der OP-Saal ist in der Klinik halbwegs intakt geblieben“, berichtet Claudia Kaminski, die Sprecherin der deutschen Zentrale. Die Patienten liegen im Freien oder unter Zeltdächern. Operiert wird nur, wenn das Krankenhaus Strom hat. Der einzige Generator der Klinik funktioniert zwar noch, aber es gibt kaum Diesel. Wer in Haiti hilft, muss das Unmögliche möglich machen. Zumal „die medizinische Versorgung insgesamt miserabel ist“, so Claudia Kaminski. Überall fehlen die Ärzte. Schlaf findet nur, wer nicht mehr stehen kann.

Money for Children/Kindergeld

Money for Children/Kindergeld

Date: 2009-01-19

Originally published in Austrian magazine Profil, January 19, 2009 / Translation by Dr. Eric Agstner

Exclusive story. In the case of countless children having been adopted in Ethiopia it is unclear whether they really are orphans. Two of them are certainly not. The documentation of a large number of human tragedies and unparalleled failure of the Austrian authorities.

By Andrea Rexer

Forum: Onderwerp: Even voorstellen-Pondok Pelangi

Geplaatst: Zo jan 18, 2009 13:34 Onderwerp: Even voorstellen-Pondok Pelangi Hallo, ik ben nieuw op dit forum dus wil ik mezelf even voorstellen. Mijn naam is Sofian, geboren op 12 april 1981 en momenteel wonend in Dongen. In Juni 1981 ben ik geadopteerd vanuit het weeshuis Pondok Pelangi. Anderhalve maand voordat ik daar terecht kwam heb ik bij een man (die Jopie Sajetapie heet) in huis gewoont. Tevens heeft Els Wunnink hier ook een rol in gespeelt die destijds werkzaam was voor de stichting die meehielp bij de adoptie. Volgens Jopie kom ik uit Leuwiliang (bij Bogor) en heb daar 4 broers en 2 zussen waarvan 1 overleden. Helaas is er bij mij niet meer bekend. Op forums heb ik gelezen dat Mevr. Wunnink is overleden maar ondertussen heb ik gehoord dat dit niet waar is. Als iemand iets herkend in mijn verhaal zou ik daar graag mee in contact komen..

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Adoption: A Love Story

Adoption: A Love Story

by Deal Hudson - January 17, 2009

Reprinted with permission from our good friends at InsideCatholic.com, the leading online journal of Catholic faith, culture, and politics.

I was relaxing in my favorite armchair and watching golf when my daughter, Hannah, strode into the room. "Dad," she said, "we need to have a serious talk."

"Okay," I replied, turning to her.

'My foster parents treated me like a slave'

'My foster parents treated me like a slave'

 

16 January 2009

Mayura Janwalkar

Mumbai: At just 27, Jennifer Haynes has experienced more than most people her age. In an exclusive interview with DNA, the thoroughbred American talks about being abruptly deported to her place of birth 20 years after she was adopted by an American couple.
A traumatic childhood
Born in Mumbai on July 29, 1981, Haynes was adopted as an eight-year-old by US nationals, Edward and Melissa Hancox, and flown to USA in November 1989.

Italian NGO Reunites Abandoned Mongolian Children With Families

Italian NGO Reunites Abandoned Mongolian Children With Families

Written by Bijani Mizell

Thursday, January 15, 2009.

ABANDONED children have been a huge issue for Mongolia, as its crowded shelters can attest. But several NGOs, including Italy-based Amici dei Bambini, strive to combat this pervasive problem. With 29 centers worldwide, Amici dei Bambini is an international intermediary center that facilitates family placement, and its unique focus is re-integrating abandoned children with their biological families.

In March 2008, Amici dei Bambini started a program at the Infant Clinic Sanatorium, a hospital in Ulaanbaatar, called "The Right to Live in a Family".

She was adopted, assaulted & deported

he was adopted, assaulted & deported

2009-01-15

Mayura Janwalkar

MUMBAI: Nearly 20 years after she was adopted by an American national, 27-year-old Jennifer Haynes is back in Mumbai, seeking action against the Americans for International Aid and Adoption (AIAA), the agency that had processed her adoption papers. 
Speaking to DNA on Wednesday evening, Haynes said, "I was fighting with the immigration authorities in the US. They said that my documentation for US citizenship was unfinished and wanted to deport me. With the Indian government accepting my repatriation, I came back in July last year. Ever since, I have been living in a Chembur hostel."

In her petition, which was mentioned before Bombay High Court on Wednesday, Haynes has sought a court direction to Central Adoption Resources Authority (Cara) to deregister AIAA and other foreign agencies, based in the US and registered with the Indian Government, and stop inter-country adoption until she is sent back to her family.

"For all these years, nobody ever told me that I am not an American citizen. It is because of AIAA that I have landed in this situation," Haynes said. 
She has stated in the petition that her adoption process was carried out in violation of the UN Convention onthe Rights of the Child, 1989 and the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Cooperation in Inter-Country Adoption.

Her advocate, Pradeep Havnur, said that the petition had been filed, but it was yet to get a date for hearing.

Born in India in 1981, Haynes was adopted by Edward Hancox, who flew her to the US in November 1989. It was the beginning of a nightmare for her. "I was sexually abused by my first foster father. I changed nearly 50 foster homes, but everywhere the abuse continued. Nobody was willing to accept me," she told DNA.

She married Justin Haynes in 2002 and lived with him and their two children -- Kadafi, 5 and Kanassa, 4 -- in Michigan. "My husband works in a construction company. I used to be a housewife. I talk to my family in Michigan only once in two weeks," said a frustrated Haynes. "I want to be back with my family. I am going crazy here."

Not having the necessary documents, she is finding it difficult to get a job in the city. "Now, I have no means to sustain myself. I am surviving on the money that my mother-in-law sends me," she added.