2010 Report on Child Abandonment

Tuesday, 15 December 2009 11:48

The "2010 AiBi. Report on Child Abandonment: an Emergency - Life After Institutional Care" is now ready and will be soon published. This is the third report released from Ai.Bi. after the first two issued in 2007 and 2008 on respectively child abandonment and the social protection systems of Out-of-Family Children in five E.U. countries.

The report is one of the two concrete outputs (results) of the EU co-financed project named Life After Institutional Care which Ai.Bi. has carried out over the last two years in Italy, France, Romania, Bulgaria and Latvia to help identify effective social policies for the successful social inclusion of out-of-family youths.

The second output has been a set of guidelines on how to encourage the professional and social inclusion of young boys and girls and it will be published itself.

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".

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2010

Do not use Hope Adoption Agency

I typically keep some of the negative parts of dealing with our agency off my blog, as we have always wanted to remain in good standing and be considerate of our agency director. Well, after today…. That’s all being thrown out the window. The truth needs to be told.

After repeated attempts to reach our adoption agency we finally received a call. It was our agency director Shimeliss Demissie. He basically started the conversation by telling me that we are not being very patient and that he feels like he should not work on our case anymore. He said that we do not understand everything that goes on with Ethiopian adoption and that he never referred our kids to us. That it is our fault for using AWOP in the beginning and not doing our homework. He continued to go on about how he is done with our case and how he can no longer help us.

I was floored. When I was allowed to speak- (he tends to take over the conversation), I asked if he was serious…. And if he is – then we would like to see our money back since we are in the same place now as we were two years ago. This was the point where he inappropriately and very unprofessionally started yelling at me. Truthfully I couldn’t understand a word he was saying, as his Ethiopian accent was getting in the way. When I calmly mentioned taking legal action to get our money he welcomed it, saying that he has spent many hours on the phone and sending emails about/for our case. To the tune of $6000 worth?

No family, no alternative

published in issue 4592 page 4 at 2010-01-07

At the end of last year, the Boc Cabinet flatly rejected a proposal by the Romanian Office for Adoptions (ORA) for a more relaxed legislation on international adoptions, without giving a reason for its decision. The PM only contented himself with saying the government had not approached the issue and the current legislation is in line with international norms.

Other decision-makers in the social protection area declared themselves ‘shocked’ at ORA’s proposal, which they say leaves the impression Romania is unable to give protection to its abandoned children, and therefore has to resort to international adoptions, yet again. This is the truth unfortunately, and the indignation of those paid to make sure child rights are observed in Romania is tantamount to hypocrisy, as far as orphans are offered no alternative to the basic right to have a family, a chance to a normal life.

Statistics of the past 20 years show the majority of abandoned children doesn’t find a family, living their life in ‘the system’, transferred from the behemoth orphanages of the Ceausescu era to family-type houses or, in slightly more fortunate cases, to the care of maternal assistants.

07-01-2010 - Roots Haïti en mailing C. Gabathuler

De afgelopen maand december hebben wij diverse klachten ontvangen van adoptieouders met Haïtiaanse kinderen. Deze klachten betroffen een mailing van Cecile Gabathuler over haar rootsprogramma Fondation Pou Timoun Yo. De mailing bleek de adoptieouders te zijn toegestuurd via H. Luiten uit den Dolder. Betreffende families geven aan het zeer onplezierig te vinden dat hun adresgegevens zonder toestemming zijn gebruikt. Zij waren in de veronderstelling dat de adresgegevens die destijds ten behoeve van de adoptie bij C. Gabathuler terecht zijn gekomen volgens de privacywetgeving zouden worden behandeld. Klachten van adoptieouders betroffen eveneens de inhoud van de maling. Deze suggereert dat Fondation Pou Toumoun Yo actief de contacten met biologische ouders aangaat ook wanneer geadopteerden en adoptieouders hier niet om vragen.

Wereldkinderen distantieert zich van de mailing van Fondation Pou Timoun Yo en betreurt het dat hiervoor tegen de afspraken in de adresgegevens van de adoptieouders gebruikt zijn. Onze visie bij Roots is dat het de geadopteerde behoort te zijn die het moment bepaalt waarop hij/zij meer wenst te weten over de biologische achtergronden. Dit betekent dat wij niet actief werven voor onze rootsprogramma´s.

Wereldkinderen wordt de afgelopen twee jaar meer en meer benaderd door adoptieouders en Haïtiaans geadopteerden omdat zij vragen hebben over de achtergronden van biologische ouders. In verband hiermee hebben wij ons met name het afgelopen jaar ingespannen om tot een hernieuwde samenwerking te komen met C. Gabathuler, voormalig directrice van Maison de L´Espérance, het kindertehuis waar de meeste geadopteerden voor de adoptie zijn verbleven. Helaas hebben al onze inspanningen niet tot een nieuwe samenwerking kunnen leiden. De verschillen in visie en werkwijze zijn te groot gebleken. Fondation Pou Timoun Yo is derhalve een initiatief van C. Gabathuler, het programma wordt niet door Wereldkinderen ondersteund.

Inmiddels hebben wij zowel C. Gabathuler als de contactpersoon in Den Dolder geïnformeerd dat adresgegevens niet voor dergelijke doeleinden mogen worden gebruikt. Niet door C. Gabathuler, niet door Wereldkinderen en uiteraard evenmin door derden.

SUNDAY, MAY 4, 2008

Kemerovo Closed . . .

The last couple of weeks have been difficult reading/hearing the rumors of "changes". Involuntary thoughts & questions have rolled through my mind until Friday, when my agency officially communicated the “changes”. It has been hard to concentrate! My mind has wondered in & out of thoughts of hope, and then despair.

Part of my heart was hopeful, thinking it would be good news, since my dossier is already in Kemerovo waiting for registration. I thought, “Maybe I’m far enough along, it won’t affect me!” But a bigger, more realistic part of my heart knew that, once again, we were in for more delays & more wait. And, yes, unfortunately, the latter is true. Kemerovo is closed to International Adoptions until further notice. Below is the official update from my agency.

Kemerovo Update:

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 6, 2010

Alyssa's Story

I wish Alyssa was here to tell her own story, but she is languishing in the Edhi Home in Pakistan. I am sure they are doing their best by her, but there was no Christmas tree with presents under it, those are still in her closet, here in what should have been her home. I am sure there is no one laying beside her at night to rub her back and tell her everything will be alright when she wakes up with one of her nightmares. No car rides to get an ice-cream, no puppy to play with ... no Mommy. I am so filled with grief when I think what must she be thinking. Where did that woman go that I called Momma? That played with me, fed me and told me she loved me a hundred times a day.

Alyssa isn't here because she was trafficked, so I will tell her story for her.

There are so many people involved in this story that I have created a list so you will better understand. Those names with * are not their real names, but this isn't their story and it would be unfair of me to name their real names.

>>Dss trading Co. Contact Mr. sadeem shargeel

Company Name: Dss trading Co.

Contact : Mr. sadeem shargeel

Street : Office 58, Rao Liberty Market, Madina Town

City : Faisalabad

Name: Sadeem

Country: Pakistan

City: islamabad

Age: 29

Email: sadeemshargeel@yahoo.com

Translation of original French text

One organization, Global Adoption Services / Sadeem, posing as an adoption agency in Pakistan, is currently circulating an email whose subject is quick Adoption Process in Pakistan "and praised the opportunities to take in 15 to 20 days in Pakistan for children newborn to 8 years.

The General Secretariat of the Central Authority for Intercountry Adoption (GICS) cautioned families against this dubious electronic ad, reported for all purposes to the Department of Justice. In any event, if the Islamic Republic of Pakistan in 1990 ratified the UN Convention of 1989 on the Rights of the Child, the country has made a reservation that the provisions of the Convention must be assessed in the light law and Islamic values, which excluded a priori adoption.

Un organisme, « Global Adoption Services / Sadeem », se présentant comme une agence d’adoption au Pakistan, fait actuellement circuler un mail dont l’objet est « quick Adoption Process In Pakistan » et vante les possibilités d’adopter en 15 à 20 jours au Pakistan des enfants de nouveau-nés jusqu’à 8 ans.

Le secrétariat général de l’Autorité centrale pour l’adoption internationale (SGAI) met en garde les familles contre cette annonce électronique douteuse, signalée à toutes fins utiles au ministère de la Justice. En tout état de cause, si la république islamique du Pakistan a ratifié en 1990 la convention des Nations Unies de 1989 relative aux droits de l’enfant, ce pays a fait une réserve selon laquelle les dispositions de la convention doivent être appréciées à la lumière du droit et des valeurs islamiques, ce qui exclue a priori l’adoption.