CDU demands clarity from Verheugen

Hamburg (RPO). The CDU increases the pressure on the Vice President of the European Commission, Günter Verheugen (SPD). The Chairman of the European Committee in the Bundestag, Gunther Krichbaum, asked Verheugen to "finally explain in all its depth to his alleged affair with his cabinet boss Petra Erler.

If the statements of the SPD politician Katrin Fuchs about Verheugen are correct, "the suspicion of favoritism is confirmed," said Krichbaum of the "Bild am Sonntag". If Verheugen does not explain himself, he will continue to damage himself and the office. If Verheugen can not clear the suspicion, "it will be tight," said Krichbaum.

The former SPD member of parliament Fuchs had contradicted Verheugen in the magazine "Bunte", he had no more than a personal friendship relationship with his cabinet boss Petra Erler - neither today nor at the time of Erler's appointment in April 2006. Fuchs said, citing Gabriele Verheugen Her husband has had a relationship with Erler since spring 2005. Gabriele Verheugen had recently separated from her husband.

Verheugen himself rejected the allegations against him. "Politically relevant is a question: when my colleague Ms. Erler was promoted to my cabinet chief, was there a relationship of friendship beyond ours, and does it exist today?" The answer is no, that's the truth, "Verheugen said News magazine "Der Spiegel".

Anand 2005

India. Door het noemen van de naam krijg ik al heimwee.

Na de Kiranreis in 2004 wilde ik graag wéér naar India.

Tijdens een gesprek geven Stella en Gertjan Poortman aan dat ze graag weer naar India willen. Tja, ik ben makkelijk over te halen. Op een middag zijn de tickets geregeld.

Op maandag 18 juli is het zo ver. Stella, Gertjan en Annemarie (een goede vriendin van Stella) komen mij ophalen. Na een vlucht van 7½ uur (met weinig beenruimte) landen we in Delhi. Het hotel is prima! We hebben de kamers op het dakterras.

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2007

The Orphanage

I promised to write about the orphanage so here it is, despite the fact that I've been back home in the states for almost two months now. Well, actually, I'm not in the US right now, I'm in Canada! But that's another story for another blog post (hopefully soon).

Mindy got connected to the orphanage by meeting the orphanage director, Almaz, at church. Almaz is an amazing woman, worth telling about in her own right. She is Ethiopian but left the country when she was young, fleeing famine with her family. She lost some family members in the arduous journey, which ended in a refugee camp in Sudan (the direction of refugees movement is exactly opposite now). From there she came to America, was educated here and eventually became a social worker. She was with an adoption agency, and was saddened by how often a child that was already promised to an adoptive couple died. As she grieved with these couples, she became interested in working on the other end, where the orphans were originating. She returned to Ethiopia to run an orphanage

We visited the orphanage every Saturday during my visit to bring treats and read books to the orphans to help them learn English. The English learning is with the very tangible goal of being able to talk with their adoptive families. The kids were already quite impressive, with some of the older kids able to sound out printed English words. What words did they know best? Down to the toddlers it was: "Father" "Mother" "Brother" and "Sister".

Dear President Berger,

As Members of the United States Congress we are committed to eliminating the barriers - that hinder all children from their basic right to a permanent loving family. We are aware that the Guatemalan Solicitor General’s Office {PGN) recently took control of the Casa Quivira childrern's center near Antigua under the authority of a court order. We are writing to express our concerns in regard to this action and the potential for other similar raids on children‘s homes in Guatemala.

We support Guatemala`s efforts to protect the well—being of children through reform of the current system and implementation of the standards set by the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoptions through pending legislation.

Certainly, it is the government’s duty to protect the welfare of children in Guatemala if the care provided by its children’s homes is found to be negligent or detrimental. However, if the care in such homes, including that of Casa Quivira, is found to be suitable to the needs of children, we do not believe that seizing control as a means of preventing suspected corrupt adoption practices elsewhere is in the best interest of these Guatemalan children or the adoption process in general. During the reform process, we strongly urge Guatemalan authorities to avoid sudden unwarranted interruptions of established procedures because such changes can seriously and irrevocably disrupt the welfare of the children as well as the stability of the institutions caring for the children.

We respectfully request that you open the lines of communication to the prospective adoptive parents of each Casa Quivira child, detailing the status of their specific whereabouts, care and health. We ask for your leadership in pressing for a judicious investigation of each Casa Quivira child’s legal status and the timely processing of their anticipated adoption, should the child still be found to be available for adoption under Guatemala’s current law.

geadopteerd uit Bangladesh - reacties
Onderwerpen | Voeg een reactie toe
Ik ben Saleha en ben in januari 1977 naar Nederland gekomen. Geboren in december 1976, ik ben nieuwschierig of er nog meer mensen uit de zelfde periode naar Nederland zijn gekomen. Mijn geboorteplaats is Mymensingh. Ik weet sinds een paar weken mijn echte achternaam. Omdat ik nu zelf met mijn man bezig ben met kinderen ,krijg je toch meer vragen...het kinderen krijgen gaat helaas niet vanzelf bij ons en hebben we ons ingeschreven voor Adoptie. Ik en mijn man staan er 100% achter. Vooral omdat ik zelf ook geadopteerd ben. We gaan eind augustus beginnen met de cursus, het boek wat je daarvoor krijgt ken ik bijna uit m'n hoofd, er beginnen nu spannende tijden voor ons. Als er meerdere mensen zijn die het leuk lijkt om over hen ervaringen te praten over de adoptie van Bangladesh naar Nederland zou ik het leuk vinden om er mee in contact te komen.
Geplaatst door saleha op 23-08-2007 21:49
Reacties:
13-09-2007 11:25 - jhorna
Hallo,

Ik ben in 1975 vanuit Bangladesh gekomen. Je mag me mailen, als je wil, op j.smidt@home.nl.

Groetjes,

Jhorna
18-10-2007 12:11 - waterman70
hallo Saleha,ik ben geadopteerd op 22juni 1977.ik was toen op papier 7jaar en weet dus nog veel over mijn levens wijze in bangladesh.ben in 1995 na 20 jaar voor het eerst terug geweest met een groeps reizen van wereldkinderen.als je nog meer wil weten,dan kan je me mailen naar (bgriffioen@msn.com) groetjes van babul
06-11-2007 11:55 - banglagirl
Hai Saleha,

Ook ik ben geadopteerd uit Bangladesh en kom ook uit Mymensingh. Ik ben naar nederland gekomen toen ik 9 weken was. Ben in Januari 1978 naar Nederland gekomen. In januari 2003 ben ik voor het eerst terug geweest en ben toen ook in Mymensingh geweest. Je kan me mailen als je het leuk vind op munirih30@hotmail.com.

UNOFFICIAL TRANSLATION OF RWANDAN ADOPTION LAW

RWANDAN ADOPTION LAW

(As of September 2007)

Chapter 4: ADOPTION

Article: 332

Two days ago I posted about an adoption interview/debate on Al Jazeera’s English network. This post is about the second half of that interview with Tom DiFilipo, President and CEO of the Joint Council on International Children’s Services (JCICS), and Louise Melville, a Care and Protection Adviser for Save The Children.

You can watch the clip of the 2nd half of the interview below, and (if you’re interested) you can read my commentary below the interview. If you cannot see the interview below, you can go to the interview on YouTube.

Part 2:

(Click on the play button in the center of the box or at the bottom of the box to watch the video right here. If you click anywhere else in the box, you will be taken to YouTube’s website.)

https://youtu.be/HIHjKEliudQ

The English wing of the Arab news network Al Jazeera produced a piece last month about international adoption on their “Inside Story” program: “Guatemala Adoption Scandal” aired on 13 August 2007. The program featured two interviewees who went head-to-head on inter-country adoption: Tom DiFilipo, President and CEO of the Joint Council on International Children’s Services (JCICS), and Louise Melville, a Care and Protection Adviser for Save The Children.

This piece came to my attention not because I’m a regular Al Jazeera watcher, but because Carolina Hope is a member of JCICS, which advocates for international children’s welfare and supports international adoption as a legitimate option for providing permanency to children in need of homes.

I’m dividing this topic into two posts because the television program is available on the internet in 2 segments (and I only have time to blog about one of those today!) You can watch the first clip below, and (if you’re interested) you can read my commentary below the interview. If you cannot see the interview below, you can go to the interview on YouTube.

Part 1:

(If you click on the main box, you will be taken to the YouTube website. If you simply click on the play button at the bottom of the box, you can watch the video right here.)

Vienna (OTS) -In an open letter, 180 adoptive parents call on lawyer Eric Agstner to end his campaign to criminalize international adoption. In the letter initiated by Bärbel Klepp together with other adoptive parents, lawyer Agstner (lawyer of trust at the Ethiopian embassy and representative of the adoptive family whose girl was adopted under unclear circumstances) is accused of not only defaming all 70 adopted children with his allegations, which he carried in the media, who came to Austria from Ethiopia via "Family For You", but also to put all adoptive parents in a bad light as "accomplices" by making sweeping statements. Quote from the letter: "We and our children will now be associated with exactly this one case by our environment.