Barnardo's children recall hard times

Independent, The (London),  Jun 27, 1995  by GLENDA COOPER

By Glenda Cooper

A FIFTY-ONE-YEAR-OLD man was charged last night with buggery, indecent assault and actual bodily harm following an inquiry into abuse at a Barnardo's home in Yorkshire.

The man, who will appear at Harrogate magistrates' court this morning, was a house-parent at Springhill residential school, in Ripon, North Yorkshire. He had been interviewed by police who were investigating a series of allegations of physical and sexual abuse at the school in the Sixties and Seventies.

The inquiry is the latest in a series of scandals where former residents of children's homes around the country have made extensive allegations of abuse, particularly in North Wales and Cheshire, where Britain's biggest investigation into the abuse of children in care was launched four years ago.

The Yorkshire investigation began last September after a former resident at the school, which looked after children with learning difficulties and challenging behaviour, made a complaint to the charity Barnardo's which was passed on to the police.

Police have now spoken to 60 former residents of the school, which was responsible for boys and girls between the ages of 5 and 16, and 10 complaints of abuse have been made against former members of staff. These allegations are being investigated.

"Since receiving the initial complaint we have spoken to a number of former residents, some of whom have made allegations of physical and sexual abuse," said Detective Inspector Phil Metcalfe, who is leading the inquiry. "We are continuing our inquiries and it is vital we hear from people who lived at the Springhill school in order to substantiate these allegations."

Twelve officers and two social workers from North Yorkshire County Council have been drafted in to help with the investigation, codenamed Operation Pudsey.

During the Sixties and Seventies, the Barnardo's Springhill School was based in an old Church Commission building called the Bishop's Palace. It included 82 acres of land, and had a chapel, a coach house and a gate lodge.

Between 1940, when the school was established, and 1949, it was an all- girls school, but in 1950 it became mixed and was known as a school for the "educationally subnormal". In 1989 pounds 2m was invested in constructing four new buildings for the school. There were on average 40 children cared for by the school each year, although this went up to 56 in 1979.

A spokeswoman for the police said that she was not aware of any previous investigation into Springhill. None of the current staff is under suspicion.

A spokesman for Barnardo's said: "We are saddened and distressed by any claims relating to the protection of children entrusted to our care. This matter was brought to our attention in 1997, we immediately investigated and passed the matter over to the police.

More than 100 homes and schools in Cheshire and Merseyside have been or are being investigated amid allegations that children in care have been abused. And for the past two years, police have been investigating claims of abuse in the North-west.

Despite this a national conference on child abuse, organised by social services in the North-west, had to be cancelled because not enough social workers wanted to attend.

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Paul Wellman

Orson Mozes

The False Prophet of Adoption

Using Babies as Bait, Montecito’s Orson Mozes’s Led 17 Families on Global Goose Chases

 Hyderabad: A two-judge panel of the Telangana High Court ordered status quo with regard to custody of a child in a writ appeal challenging the order of the single judge. The single judge while hearing a batch of writ petitions had declared the actions of the women development and child welfare department and others in forcefully taking away custody of minor children from the adoptive parents as illegal. The HC panel, comprising Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice J. Sreenivas Rao, were dealing with a writ appeal filed by the directorate of women development and child welfare department aggrieved by the order of the single judge in a batch of writ petitions. The writ appellant contended that the respondents, who are the adoptive parents of a minor girl, are not entitled to her custody as they have not followed the procedures prescribed under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 and Adoption Regulations, 2022. The panel, after hearing the additional advocate general and the counsel for the respondents, passed a status quo order with regard to the custody of the child with the appellant. Meanwhile, the panel directed the appellant to process the application of the respondent seeking custody of the child expeditiously preferably within two months. The matter was posted for further hearing.

HC refuses to enlarge on bail white-collar crimes accused

Justice J. Sridevi of the Telangana High Court refused to enlarge on bail Vansh Kumar Jangid, who, with his wife, is alleged to have committed various white collar offences. It is further alleged that the modus operandi of the petitioner and his wife was to threaten people with legal consequences if they did not pay up certain amounts. According to the prosecution, the petitioner and the principal accused would open false accounts and swindle money. The petitioner contended that he had no financial gains from the transactions and that the beneficiary accused was already enlarged on bail. The public prosecutor opposed the bail on the ground that the petitioner had earlier escaped from custody while being brought on a PT warrant to Hyderabad. The petitioner’s version, however, was that in a crowded railway station he had lost touch with the police and had surrendered himself in Delhi, when the court found that the remand report was incomplete, the judge adjourned the matter.

Suman TV anchor draws HC flak

Justice B. Vijaysen Reddy of the Telangana High Court was highly critical of the manner in which anchor Roshan of Suman TV was making posts and turning around playing the victim card. The judge was dealing with a specially mentioned petition filed by G.S. Vasa Reddy complaining against the Jubilee Hills police for not acting upon a complaint lodged by him against Girish Daramoni, a YouTuber. According to the petitioner he had interviewed a female ‘aghori’, which had 1.6 million hits. According to the petitioner, the respondent uploaded a video with demeaning content in which he made disparaging remarks targeting the petitioner. It is also alleged that he had incited viewers against Suman TV. According to the petitioner, the respondent was instigating viewers against the petitioner and making hate speeches and the police were not taking any action. The judge directed the petitioners to approach the police with a representation on the basis of which the police would consider the case.

INTER-COUNTRY ADOPTIONS AND CONSULTANCY IN GUARDIANSHIP

Proposals to the Special Commission of September 2005 on thepractical operation of the Hague ConventionMay 29, 1993 on the protection of children and cooperation inmatters of international adoption.

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — A Chilean-American raised in the United States filed a criminal complaint against the Chilean government on Monday, alleging that it engaged in a systematic plan to steal thousands of babies from perceived enemies of the state in the 1970s and 1980s.

The case filed by Jimmy Lippert Thyden González, 43, aims to advance the task of Chilean prosecutors and human rights groups working on accountability for crimes committed under Gen. Augusto Pinochet.

On Sept. 11, 1973, Pinochet led a coup to overthrow Marxist President Salvador Allende, ushering in a period of brutal repression until 1990 during which at least 3,095 people were killed and tens of thousands more were imprisoned and tortured for political reasons.

Little more than a year after learning about his origins as one of thousands of Chilean adoptees taken from their biological parents without consent during Pinochet’s dictatorship, Thyden González lodged his lawsuit in Santiago, Chile’s capital.

He did it at a pivotal moment. On Monday, a new judge assumed control over the judicial investigations into the dictatorship’s child-trafficking operations, the latest action as the left-wing government of President Gabriel Boric seeks to strengthen Chile’s accountability efforts.

Authorities said 57-year-old Orson Mozes was arrested in Miami Beach Monday. Orson Mozes is accused of operating an adoption scam that cost his victims more than a million dollars.

Mozes was captured Monday after an anonymous tip from someone who saw his picture on the 'America's Most Wanted' Web site. He would have been featured on the nationally televised show next month.

Mozes ran a business called adoption international program from his Montecito home. Santa Barbara County investigators issued a warrant for his arrest earlier this year.

The 62 felony counts of fraud represent each victim in this case.

Two of those victims are Dawn De Lorenzo and her husband, who live in New Jersey. Dawn said she and her husband used Mozes' adoption service after unsuccessful fertility treatments.

Court of Appeals denies ex-wife’s claim to back-due spousal and child support

Santa Barbara County District Attorney Joyce Dudley reported Thursday that more than $300,000 in money seized from Orson Mozes, a Montecito man guilty of adoption fraud, would be distributed to the 59 victims of his crimes. 

Only July 2, 2009, Mozes pleaded guilty to 17 counts of theft by false pretenses in bilking clients out of more than $1 million through his Adoption International Program. 

According to investigators, Mozes promised the same child to adoptive parents. Victims also claimed he charged them to “hold” a foreign child for them, only to be told later that the child was not available. 

As part of his sentence, Mozes was sent to prison and released any rights that he had to more than $300,000 that was seized at the time of his arrest, according to the District Attorney’s Office. 

NAC Statement

Nordic Adoption Council, NAC, statement in accordance with the conference in Reykjavik in September 2023

Every second year, the Nordic Adoption Council (NAC) holds Nordic meetings and an open day conference, which is open to anyone who is interested in the field of intercountry adoptions. This year the conference was arranged by the Icelandic Adoption Society in Reykjavik, Iceland, on September 15-16, 2023. The theme of the open day conference was "Adoption - a lifelong process” with a focus on approaching adoption as a continuing process throughout life and highlighting the importance of viewing this process from multiple angles.

Among the speakers were Ólöf Ásta Farestveit, General Director of the National Agency for Children and Families in Iceland, Rut Sigurðardóttir, social worker and family therapist from Iceland, Heiða Þorleifsdóttir, adoptive mother, Bergdís Wilson, a psychologist, David Asplund, cultural anthropologist from Sweden, Kristin Gärtner Askeland, a clinical psychologist and senior researcher at the Regional Centre for Child and Youth Mental Health and Child Welfare, RKBU Vest in Norway, Anna Guwert, case officer at the PAS-department, and Anna Taxell, department head of adoptions, both from Adoptionscentrum in Sweden. A discussion panel with adult adoptees was also part of the program.

NAC open day conference statement below focuses on eight key commitments where the Nordic Adoption Council has played an important role over the years to develop legal certainty in intercountry adoptions.The statement highlights the commitment of Nordic adoption organizations to ensure that intercountry adoptions are carried out with the utmost consideration for the child's well-being and in compliance with ethical and legal standards. It also aims to highlight the risk of not facilitating an international adoption when needed and, thus, limiting the child’s right to the best possible outcome.