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South Korea’s dark past as West’s ‘baby farm’ laid bare by adopted ‘children for sale’ who grew up far from home

  • More than 170,000 South Korean children were adopted by Western families in the turbulent post-war period – nearly 9,000 a year at times in the 1980s
  • Many were labelled orphans, despite their birth parents still being alive, and say their documents were falsified, making them question their identity

It was late spring and Uma Feed had just dropped her son off at a kindergarten in Oslo when her phone rang unexpectedly, bringing news she’d been searching for her whole life: the true identities of her birth parents.

Adopted as a baby from South Korea in 1983, Feed grew up in Norway being told she’d been abandoned – a story she refused to believe but could only disprove in May this year, when at age 40 she was finally reconnected with her biological mother thanks to DNA testing.

A long letter and video message followed, revealing that Um Sul-yung – the name given on Feed’s adoption documents – was actually given up for adoption by her grandparents without the consent of her mother, who was hospitalised with tuberculosis at the time.

“Every evening, my mum and my older brother had gone out to look for me. They were just wandering the streets,” she said.

Adoptions in Burkina Faso have been suspended by France

France has issued a decree suspending all international adoption procedures concerning children habitually resident in Burkina Faso by any person habitually residing in France.

The Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs issued an order on September 13, 2023 relating to the suspension of international adoption procedures concerning children residing in Burkina Faso.

 

All international adoption procedures concerning children habitually resident in Burkina Faso by any person habitually residing in France are suspended ,” it is written in a decree dated September 13, 2023. This measure does not apply " to the procedures which gave rise, on the date of publication of this decree, to an agreement by the Burkinabe Central Authority for the implementation of the Hague Convention of May 29, 1993", it is specified .

Degraded relations between France and Burkina Faso

Hindu Succession | Is Child From Void/Voidable Marriage Entitled To Coparcenary Share Inherited By Father? Supreme Court Discusses

In the matter pertaining to the issue of whether children born out of a void or voidable marriage had a right in parents' ancestral property as per the Hindu law, the Supreme Court discussed whether in case of a notional partition before the death of a father, a child born to the said father from a void or voidable marriage would be entitled to the property inherited by the father in the...

In search of the truth: Sri Lankan adoptee Sebastian Jensen’s search for his family

Stories of Sri Lankan adoptees in far-flung lands searching for their biological families always tug at our heartstrings. Their quest to find out their biological parents and possible siblings is an innate desire some of these adoptees have as they long to know more details about their origins. Perhaps they want to feel their mother’s hug or just ask them why they were given up for adoption. Whilst many have experienced love and stability thanks to their adopted families, there are a fair few who have ended up facing a lifetime of “what ifs” because they have had negative adoption experiences.

Recently Sebastian Jensen an adoptee of Sri Lankan origin who lives in Denmark struck up a conversation on Social Media. He longs to find his birth parents and to be reunited with them.  Adopted at the age of 2 years and 9 months by a Danish family, and named Claus Frank Anderson, he changed his name to Sebastian Jensen in 2007. 

According to the frayed Sri Lankan birth certificate that he has in his possession, Sebastian believes that he is possibly 47 or 48 years old. His name on his Sri Lankan birth certificate is simply listed as Thirukumar and his place of birth is Telpallai. His adoption was processed at the Juvenile Court in Bambalapitiya in 1977 and it states that at the time of his adoption, Sebastian was a resident at the Prajapathi Children’s Home in Panadura. 

Sebastian says his initial adoption went wrong. The first family that adopted him in Sri Lanka, who are named on his adoption papers separated 12 days after returning to Denmark with Sebastian. However, he alleges that this separation was hushed up because one of the people who was instrumental in his adoption did not want any negative stories to affect the adoptions that were taking place between the two countries. 

His adoptive parents were Danish. His adopted father was a dentist (who did some social service with the Lions club in Sri Lanka) and his adopted mother was a homemaker who between the years of 1977 and 1998 was helping children at a place called Evelyn Nursery in Kandy, a nutrition centre in Trincomalee and another centre in Hikkaduwa. 

2 sisters, rescued from Cuttack’s Jagatpur 2 years ago, adopted by Bengaluru couple

One of the adopted girl is 4 year old while the other is 2 and a half year old


Cuttack: A highly educated couple from Bangalore has adopted two minor girls from ‘Basundhara’ of Cuttack in Odisha after executing all the legal formalities. The two girls had been rescued from the Jagatpur Golei Chhaka in the silver city two years ago. They had been abandoned by their parents. The two girls Lipa and Seepa are 4 year old and 2 and half year old respectively. The couple adopted them and took the two girls with them to Bangalore.

A couple from Karnataka adopted these two sisters from Basundhara through the Cuttack District Administration today and took them to Bangalore.

As per reports, the two sisters had been rescued from Golei Chhak on February 24, 2021. Their mother had abandoned them. The Cuttack district administration has not been able to find any trace of their father or anyone else. According to the law, these two sisters were adopted today by a couple from Karnataka, Rahul Isaac and Angeline Kutavilla.

Though 10 years have passed after the marriage, the Bangalore-based couple had no children. After many medical treatments, they failed and thus finally applied for adoption.

Inger-Tone (58) asks King Harald to withdraw the merit medal

https://www.vg.noyheter/innenriks/i/pQkga1/inger-tone-58-ber-kong-harald-trekke-tilbake-fortjenestemedalje?fbclid=IwAR1bh3Rnmb3AG4v5UfpKRDMS3sk61zDPDj-FScF5kok5uS4gfhch_BcFmhg_aem_AUTiWcvM1ds4hHVD1zkEGbLsZit2Wn2aJIQ28V_DJK_4D1GtBEmv0UDGreDw6f6TM_o&mibextid=Zxz2cZ

 

Inger-Tone Ueland Shin did not have too much hope when she wrote a letter to the royal house. Now the 58-year-old has been invited to an audience with King Harald.

Shin was thirteen when she was brought to Norway. Those who would become her adoptive parents themselves came to South Korea in 1978 to take her home.

The only problem was that the couple from Rogaland were not approved as adoptive parents. In fact, the then King Olav had refused in the cabinet that the couple would be allowed to become adoptive parents after they submitted a complaint.

Toddler girl ‘sold for Rs 2,000’ on notary agreement claiming adoption, ‘made to beg’ in Pune; 15 booked

Advocate Shubham Lokhande, who approached the police, said the toddler is the sixth daughter of her parents and they sold her because they were unable to look after her.

The Pune city police have arrested a couple belonging to a nomadic tribe for allegedly “buying” a toddler from their relative and then making her beg. According to the police, the girl was under two years of age when she was allegedly sold for Rs 2,000 and she is now four years old.

The police registered a first information report (FIR) at the Yerwada police station Wednesday based on the complaint by advocate Shubham Lokhande. They booked the arrested couple, the girl’s parents and 11 others, including the “panch” of their community, under sections 363A, 370 (human trafficking), 34 of Indian Penal Code, and provisions of Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act and Maharashtra Prevention of Begging Rules.

When contacted, advocate Lokhande said he received information about the toddler from his friend Sudam Nimbalkar. “Initially, I found it hard to believe that a little girl was sold by her parents for just Rs 2,000. After conducting inquiries, I learned the girl is the sixth daughter of her parents. They were unable to look after her. Hence, they gave her to a married couple just for Rs 2,000,” said Lokhande.

The lawyer further said following “consent” from the “panch” of their community, the nomadic couple took the girl’s custody just by making a “notary” agreement, saying they were adopting her.

Major human trafficking and baby adoption ring dismantled in Chania, Greece

The nine persons allegedly running a criminal surrogate mother and adoption ring on Crete through an assisted reproduction unit testified on Sunday at the court in Chania, western Crete

 


Officers of the Greek Organised Crime department have successfully dismantled a criminal organisation operating in Chania, Greece, involved in human trafficking and illegal adoptions of babies.

Two prosecutors are involved in the testimonies being collected. The first defendant to testify was a 73-year-old doctor and head of the controversial unit of assisted reproduction. Citizens expressing support for him rallied outside the courts.

On Saturday, Health Minister Michalis Chrysochoidis removed alternate professor of gynaecology (University of Athens) Nikolaos Vrachnis as head of the National Authority on Assisted Reproduction. The Authority is responsible for overseeing all assisted reproduction facilities and approving their licensing.

'Keep all administration regarding intercountry adoption files in one central place'

'What to others appears to be purely administrative paperwork, for adoptees often represents the only potential, tangible link with the first period of their lives, the people from whom they were born, their origins, an important part of who they are, a part of their identity', writes Ae Ra Van Geel. She calls, among other things, for better monitoring and retention of the administration. At Flemish level, it is expected that a decision will be made in September on the list of countries from which Flanders will adopt in the future.

Work is currently underway in Flanders on a new decree on intercountry adoption, as well as on screenings of all countries of origin from which Flanders is currently moving and adopting children, such as Portugal.


Much has been said and written in recent years about what should be important in the policy on transnational adoption, including by myself. The adoption field, that collection of forces, powers, individuals and often conflicting interests, is extremely complex. This field includes parents and their children; people with an unwanted and unfulfilled desire to have children; people who want to do 'good'; adopters; adoption services; governments in both sending and receiving countries; people who had to give up their child due to socio-economic circumstances, for example.
In response to recent current events in Flanders and the Netherlands, I would like to draw attention to a number of considerations that I believe are important in decision-making and policy-making regarding transnational adoption.

This is how I think of the recurring 'interests of the child'. This empty and meaningless phrase has been used to legitimize, condone and frame distance, forced displacement and adoption for decades. However, it has been known for just as long that the interests of the child are merely an excuse for other, less noble-sounding interests such as economic gain or fulfilling a desire to have children in the global North. This was recently demonstrated once again in an article that De Morgen published, based on written documents from the early 1970s.. The image of children as a commodity to be monetized emerges from this. In this way, money was made from deceased children and money was saved by exchanging children. Prospective adopters were also scammed because they were charged non-existent fees. The Belgian ambassador already mentioned such a lack of competence among the adoption services involved at the time. However, thorough investigation was not found necessary.

Whose interests did this serve?

Toddler girl ‘sold for Rs 2,000’ on notary agreement claiming adoption, ‘made to beg’ in Pune; 15 booked

Advocate Shubham Lokhande, who approached the police, said the toddler is the sixth daughter of her parents and they sold her because they were unable to look after her.

The Pune city police have arrested a couple belonging to a nomadic tribe for allegedly “buying” a toddler from their relative and then making her beg. According to the police, the girl was under two years of age when she was allegedly sold for Rs 2,000 and she is now four years old.

The police registered a first information report (FIR) at the Yerwada police station Wednesday based on the complaint by advocate Shubham Lokhande. They booked the arrested couple, the girl’s parents and 11 others, including the “panch” of their community, under sections 363A, 370 (human trafficking), 34 of Indian Penal Code, and provisions of Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act and Maharashtra Prevention of Begging Rules.

When contacted, advocate Lokhande said he received information about the toddler from his friend Sudam Nimbalkar. “Initially, I found it hard to believe that a little girl was sold by her parents for just Rs 2,000. After conducting inquiries, I learned the girl is the sixth daughter of her parents. They were unable to look after her. Hence, they gave her to a married couple just for Rs 2,000,” said Lokhande.

The lawyer further said following “consent” from the “panch” of their community, the nomadic couple took the girl’s custody just by making a “notary” agreement, saying they were adopting her.