In the pantheon of stories of disappearances, the story of Izabel Lopez Raymundo is that of a collateral victim.

It was June 13, 1982, when the military regime of Efrain Rios Mont surrounded the village of Nebaj, where she lived in Guatemala. The military enforced a scorched earth policy and destroyed everything they saw. They set houses on fire, shot a man who was protesting the fires in front of his house; the son stood in front of his family to protect them and was also shot. The mother was taken to the back of the house with a baby on her back and was shot at close range. The bullet killed the mother, but lodged in the baby's body. A soldier took the baby, under the guise of saving him, and placed him in an orphanage. The baby was then adopted and transferred to Belgium, where he grew up.

The baby, now an adult, is called Lopez. She has a scar on her chest where the bullet entered, "as if to say never forget", Ms Lopez said. It was this scar that allowed his family who stayed behind to identify him.

Ms. Lopez told her story during the recent session of the Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED). The Committee regularly hears or reads testimonies from families and other survivors of enforced disappearances.

“I testify today in tribute to my family, who were massacred in cold blood, and also in tribute to the victims of war who were made to disappear,” said Ms. Lopez. “These families who have to rebuild themselves and live with the physical and psychological pain caused by the massacres but also the disappearance of their loved ones. I testify in the hope that things will change and that this will not happen again. »

The Constitutional Court has ruled in a new judgment that it should still be possible for prospective parents to have their child recognized when they appeal to a married surrogate mother. This was not possible until now due to a provision in the Old Civil Code.

The concrete case revolves around a gay couple who wanted to have a child together. They appealed to a surrogate mother, the sister of one of the men, for their wish to have children. The other man of the couple donated sperm cells, and is therefore the biological father of the child. The eggs came from an anonymous donor.

After the birth of the child, the biological father also wanted to legally recognize his paternity. He filed a claim for this with the court of first instance in Liège, but that court encountered a problem.

Presumption of paternity

There is such a thing as the presumption of paternity: when a married mother gives birth to a child, her husband is legally the father. That presumption of paternity can be contested, for example by the person claiming to be the biological father.

Chief Justice says inertia with regard to legislating area of surrogacy ‘not a viable option even in the near term’

There is no existing public policy barrier to recognising a Northern Irish man’s overseas stepparent adoption of his husband’s genetic twins born through a commercial surrogacy arrangement, the Supreme Court has ruled.

A woman donated an egg, while another woman in the US carried and gave birth to the children pursuant to a lawful commercial arrangement that agreed the couple were the intended parents.

On Thursday, the seven judges unanimously held that, even though aspects of the gestational carrier agreement would or could prove unenforceable in this State on public policy grounds, this would not necessarily dictate that children born under such agreements should not be recognised here.

There were also no issues of enforceability arising from the fact the birth mother’s consent to the adoption was given prior to the births, they ruled. Significantly, the surrogate mother reiterated long after the birth of the children her consent to surrender all parental rights, the court said.

During the committee debate that took place in the House of Representatives last week, Minister for Legal Protection Franc Weerwind said that he wanted to 'ideally reduce the number of intercountry adoptions to zero'. Despite pressure from the COC, prospective adoptive parents and several MPs, he also insisted on phasing out intercountry adoptions from the US. Although Defense for Children believes that intercountry adoption should end as soon as possible, we are pleased that the minister spoke out loud and clear during the debate and emphatically put the best interests of the child (and no other interests) first.

US adoptions

The minister agrees with the Central Authority that the adoption relationship with the US should be terminated. He emphasizes the strict application of the principle of subsidiarity from the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Hague Adoption Convention. The core of this principle is that it is in the best interests of the child to be cared for and raised as much as possible in its own country and culture. This means, says the minister, that a child is only eligible for intercountry adoption if the country of origin does not see any possibilities to safely take the child in itself.

The US, which has not ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, has a different adoption system and also interprets the principle of subsidiarity differently. There is no question of a last resort: the US has ample opportunities to safely care for children itself. This is evident from, among other things, the country analysis. The US has long waiting lists for prospective adoptive parents and young children are the most sought after domestically. That is why the country is adopting (more) children from abroad. At the same time, the US is giving (fewer) children, especially babies, up for adoption. This cannot be reconciled with the principle of subsidiarity and the difference in interpretation is, as the minister rightly points out, unbridgeable. In addition, according to international publications, abuses have been reported in the American adoption system.

Adoptions from Portugal and Bulgaria

On Thursday, the Danish Korean Rights Group and the 35-year-old Mia Lee from Ringsted questioned the Danish Appeals Board's investigations into adoption cases from South Korea and are now calling on the Danish Parliament to initiate an impartial investigation.

In Mia Lee's official adoption documents, she has written false from almost every line.

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Italian parties are divided on same-sex couples adopting children as the decision to ban the automatic registration of same-sex couple’s children in the civil registry has polarised the debate, with the Italian Left standing firm in support of civil rights.

Milan Mayor Beppe Sala (Democratic Party-PD/S&D) has denounced legislative gaps on the issue and called for a same-sex marriage law to simplify the adoption process for same-sex couples.

There is a need for a “very broad axis” between leftist parties to achieve greater protections for same-sex couples and their children, Sala said Wednesday at an event on the issue that the Greens organised at the European Parliament.

The event was attended by Greens co-chair Therry Reintke, PD (S&D) European Parliament delegation leader in the European Parliament Brando Benifei and Henriette Catharina Rinzema (Renew).

PD’s lower House group leader Chiara Braga announced that the party is ready to participate in this “battle of civilisation”.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to entertain the batch of petitions filed by

Advocate Ashwini Upadhyay seeking gender neutral and religion neutral legislations

in matters governing divorce, adoption, guardianship, succession/inheritance, and

maintenance across the country. The bench comprising CJI DY Chandrachud, Justice

PS Narasimha, and Justice JB Pardiwala held that the...

Some adoptees do not have a birth certificate. This can cause difficulties, for example when a copy of the birth certificate of both partners is requested with the marriage registration. What can you do if you cannot provide a birth certificate? In this article we list all the information.

Difficulties with the marriage registration

When An Sheela wanted to get married in 2004, she was unable to provide a birth certificate. “The problem was that we had already planned everything: the date, the room, the catering… The invitations had already been sent.” When An Sheela learned at the council that a birth certificate was required, she blocked. “I was disappointed and angry at the same time. There was a procedure through the court to obtain a birth certificate, but within the timing I would not have managed to get that sorted out administratively.”

Karen also encountered difficulties with her marriage registration in 1999. “I took my adoption certificate with me, but that was not enough. I had to provide a birth certificate. I had a Philippine birth certificate stamped in the year 1977, but that was not enough either, because it had to be a recent date.”

Mandatory registration in the registers since 2019

Dear , We wish to express our unreserved support for those impacted by forced adoptions in Australia, and our recognition of the immense courage, determination, energy, and grief entailed in coming forward and sharing their experiences. We commend the Australian Government’s recognition of past harms and abuses, and the offerings of formal apologies to communities who bear the lifelong impacts of forced family separation. Gillard’s formal apology in 2013 and Australia’s commitment to increased openness of records and provision of support services was closely watched by adoptee communities overseas and in Australia and is viewed by many as an example to which governments around the world should aspire

Romanian president Klaus Iohannis recently promulgated a law increasing the duration of parental leave for parents who have adopted a child from one year, which is currently the case, to two years.

The project provides that the adopter or, optionally, either of the spouses of the adopting family who earn income subject to income tax, either from salary and related activities or from independent activities, copyright, or agricultural activities, may benefit from a so-called accommodation leave with a maximum duration of two years, as well as a monthly allowance.

The project's initiator, Liberal (PNL) deputy Alin Ignat, said after the parliamentary vote that the initiative is as simple as it is essential for people who decide to adopt a child in Romania, but especially for children who are given the chance of a life in a family through adoption.

"Today, these people benefit, upon request, from a paid leave with a maximum duration of one year. Unfortunately, reality shows us that many of the adopted children who have ended up in the social protection system following abandonment or the death of their parents have severe traumas to overcome, and the process of adapting to the new family is complex and full of challenges, a process that often involves psycho-emotional, medical, and behavioral recovery through integration into various specialized programs. We started from such cases when we devised and initiated the project that helps adoptive parents by granting the possibility of an accommodation leave of up to two years," Ignat said, cited by News.ro.

The Liberal deputy also stated that this project addresses the problem not only financially, but also addresses time, a resource that is often more precious. "In this case, it is about the time spent together by families where adoption truly creates parents and children, time translated into trust in each other, in oneself, and in the future, time translated into secure attachment, needs that receive responses, and steps towards emotional balance," he said.