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European Commissioner Neelie Kroes has had a bit of it with the Netherlands: "It is impossible to explain abroad that we have an animal party or an action group that wants to set up a pedophile party."

An anthracite-gray pencil skirt, a silver-gray jacket, high pumps and a bag full of papers in each hand. There, European Commissioner Neelie Kroes (66) comes up, click clack click clack, half past six in the morning at Zaventem airport near Brussels. The VIP room is not open that early, it will just like the other passengers board the plane from TAP Portugal to Lisbon via gate 43. She has to address a conference there, then have lunch and meet with the Portuguese competition authority. But there is a problem. “I have to get back as soon as possible this afternoon,” she says. "My house in Wassenaar has been broken into."

She talks to Jean-Philippe Monod de Froideville, her personal adviser, a young man in a dashing pinstripe suit. He was already waiting for her and he immediately takes today's schedule, Friday, November 9. "That lunch ..." he says. “Shall we make a cup of coffee with the chairman? The meeting can go to next week, and then um, let's have a look, there is a flight from KLM to Schiphol at a quarter to twelve. Who try? ”

"The police called last night," says Neelie Kroes. “Everything has been turned upside down. There is a lot of road. ”

"I will arrange it as soon as we arrive," says Jean-Philippe.

Romania's Lost Children (Blog Emma Griffith)

November 23, 2007
Romania's Lost Children




Watch the program: Part 1 | Part 2

The little baby boy lay awake in his cot. He was bound in swaddling, as is the tradition in these parts, and I was aching to pick him up. The doctor told me his name: Emanuel Bizgan. He was five months old, the son of a homeless woman, and had been abandoned at the hospital.

Emanuel is one of a new generation of orphans in Romania. These days babies abandoned at hospitals are likely to stay there until their second birthday. New laws banning the institutionalization of children under two have backfired for them. Only when they turn two will they be legally allowed to go to a children's home. Not that that would be much better.

The doctor in charge, Dr. Monica Nicoara, has become a babysitter for dozens of newborns and toddlers. There's nothing medically wrong with the children – they've simply had the misfortune of being given up by their parents.

"They have no affiliation, no stability; 'that’s my mummy, I go to my mummy, I am safe with my mummy. I have many mummies – anyone is okay, but which is mine?,'" she tells me. "It is not a personal relationship here."

We filmed Dr. Nicoara and her charges at the Baia Mare hospital in northern Romania. Some of the older babies who could sit up were rocking – child welfare experts say that's a sign that they’re suffering from a lack of stimulation. I noticed something else odd about the ward – the babies weren’t crying. There were a dozen little ones there and they were all quiet. They'd given up on crying. That above all was hard to learn – the best way babies can communicate their needs and these ones had given up. They had learned that crying didn't get them what they wanted. How could it – when their were 23 of them to care for and just 3 nurses on the ward?

The babies didn't cry but by the end of this shoot I think our entire crew was holding back tears. We knew that this was going to be an emotional story to tell. By the time we finished filming, we'd all had a cuddle of Emanuel and some of his friends in the ward. We really wanted to take them home (wryly joking that they'd fit in our backpacks). But even if we were serious, it would have been impossible: International adoption has been banned in Romania.

The story became personal for me later that same day. I received an e-mail from a dear friend in Australia who was desperately trying to get pregnant and having all sorts of problems. She really wanted a child and it was painful to think that here I was meeting so many unwanted children. It brought home the tragedy of this story and the importance of telling it. Romania has made great strides in its child welfare system since the horrors of the Communist regime – but there are still too many babies here who may never know a mother's love.

-- From Emma Griffiths, Moscow Correspondent, ABC Australia

These Angels Aren't Telling the Whole Story

inter-country adoption

18 Nov 2008

These Angels Aren't Telling the Whole Story

robinson-adoption

Picture appears on the "Orphan Angels" website, courtesy of the Sunday Telegraph

Mail exchange Droge van Drimmelen/RP (after meeting)

Roelie Post

16 Nov 2007, 12:33

to Eiko

Hi Eiko,

Het was mij ook een waar genoegen en heb er nog lang overnagedacht. Want zo'n gesprek brengt altijd weer nieuwe inzichten.

Mrs. Boudault writes to us about the adoption of Malian children: If there is a culprit, it is Rayon de Soleil France *

Following our articles on the wave of adoptions of Malian children in France, initiated by the French NGO "Rayon de soleil", Mrs. Boudault Danielle, Representative of the subsidiary of this NGO in Bamako from 1988 - 1991, addressed to our editorial staff, from Limours (France), a right of reply which we publish in full.

rn

I was assigned to Bamako in Mali on 09/01/1987, seconded by the Finance Administration to the Ministry of Cooperation and lecturer at the National School of Administration in Bamako.

rn

My salary as a Technical Assistant allowed me, at my modest level, to react to painful situations that I could encounter. The house was open, those who wished could find a little help, listening, and hope.

Better Care Network Nederland van start

Better Care Network Nederland van start

ingevoerd op 30-11-2007

Afgelopen 8 november vond in Den Haag de officiële oprichtingsbijeenkomst plaats van de Nederlandse afdeling van BCN. Tal van vertegenwoordigers van professionele organisaties en particuliere initiatieven voor kinderopvang in ontwikkelingslanden, in Oost-Europa en in Nederland kwamen naar de Haagse Lobby van het Stadhuis om de bijeenkomst bij te wonen. Daar werd druk uitgewisseld in rondetafelgesprekken, discussies en een-op-eengesprekken. Sander Dekker, wethouder Onderwijs, Jeugdzaken en Sport van de gemeente Den Haag lanceerde de kersverse website van het netwerk: www.bettercarenetwork.nl.

Daarmee was de eerste landelijke afdeling van het internationale secretariaat van BCN een feit. Het volledige verslag van de bijeenkomst kunt u dowloaden vanaf deze site bij nieuws.

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Sacked EU whistleblower loses claim (Andreasen)

Sacked EU whistleblower loses claim

Marta Andreasen. Sacked EU whistleblower loses claim

Marta Andreasen was sacked after alleging that the EU was riddled with fraud

By Bruno Waterfield in Brussels12:01AM GMT 09 Nov 2007

A Brussels whistleblower sacked for alleging that EU book-keeping was riddled with "slush funds and fraud" vowed to fight on after she lost her battle against wrongful dismissal.

Focussing on children in need of care and protection

Focussing on children in need of care and protection

Staff Reporter

The handbook is useful for people working in the area of child rights

BANGALORE: There is still a long way to go for all children in India to dream of living a healthy, happy childhood free from abuse and exploitation. The protection and promotion of child rights in India vis-À-vis the juvenile justice system is an issue that needs to be addressed with much seriousness and concern.

“Justice for Children,” – a Handbook on Implementing The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act 2000 and the Juvenile Justice Care and Protection of Children) Amendment Act 2006, is an attempt to guide the statutory body under the Juvenile justice system, the child welfare committees while dealing with the web of legal maze of procedural and substantive laws.

MOGILINO SOCIAL CARE HOME FOR DISABLED CHILDREN TO BE CLOSED AFTER BBC DOCUMENTARY AIRED

MOGILINO SOCIAL CARE HOME FOR DISABLED CHILDREN TO BE CLOSED AFTER BBC DOCUMENTARY AIRED

Tue, Nov 06 2007 11:49 CET bySpasena Baramova 2202 Views 2 Comments The social care home for physically and mentally disabled children in the village of Mogilino would be closed, Standart daily reported. This became clear on November 5 after a visit by Labour and Social Policy Minister Emilia Maslarova, European Integration Minister Gergana Grancharova and Justice Minister Miglena Tacheva to the home.

The home in Mogilino became infamous after the BBC documentary Bulgaria's Abandoned Children aired, portraying the living conditions there.

The reason to close the home was not the bad conditions, but the children's need to receive specialised help, minister Maslarova said. According to her the personnel took good care of the 65 physically and mentally disabled children.

Maslarova added that a day-care centre could be created in the Mogilino home building if any of the people working there or the people from the village decided to raise some of the children in their families. Since there was hardly any interest in adopting them, the Justice Ministry was considering facilitating foreign adoption procedures as well as the disabled children adoption procedure.

In the meantime the Agency for Social Support drew up a plan to accommodate the Mogilino children in alternative specialised homes and protected homes and to provide specialised care for them, a press release by the Council of ministers said. Out of 65 children 4 are already accommodated in specialised institutions in Brestnik and Ruse, 4 are being prepared to be transferred and 3 are sent to specialised kindergartens.

By November 10, 2007 each child should have its own expert profile. The parents of 21 of the children had already given their consent for adoption, Maslarova said.

Minister Grancharova said 10 per cent of the EU citizens were disabled and 51 per cent of Europeans thought efforts to socialise disabled people were not sufficient. She commented that the issue needed to be discussed in order for society to become involved.

Bulgaria's Abandoned Children will be screened on November 6 at the Red House Centre for culture and debate in Sofia. The screening will be followed by a debate on the institutional care for children with disabilities in Bulgaria, Bulgarian News Agency BTA reported.