Tiphaine Scholz was born in South Korea and adopted by a couple from Europe. Years later, this turns out to be completely unsuitable. Scholz goes looking for her biological parents. But on a trip to her native country, she learns things she would have preferred never to have known.

An a day in August, Tiphaine Scholz stands in her kitchen and imagines what she would say to her birth mother if they were to face each other one day. It's a simple, conciliatory sentence: "I'm not mad at you." Tiphaine is preparing Korean ribs, a dish that reminds her of the country of her birth. She is sure that her birth mother is blaming herself hugely.

A few months later, in December, everything is different. Tiphaine sits on the sofa. She has made a trip to South Korea, a journey into her past. She experienced things there that overwhelmed her like a wave that first buries what has been washed up and then pulls it back into the ocean. “I now wonder whether women in South Korea have no heart,” says Tiphaine. If she were to meet her birth mother now, she would only have one question for her: “Why?”

Openly gay Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana bucks coalition position, votes for legislation sponsored by MK Yorai Lahav-Hertzano, who slams government as most LGBTQ-phobic ever

The Knesset rejected on Wednesday an opposition lawmaker’s bill that sought to officially enable same-sex couples and single people to adopt children.

The bill, proposed by Yesh Atid MK Yorai Lahav-Hertzano, was defeated in a preliminary reading by 45 votes against, and 37 in favor.

Current law, dating back to 1981, states that only a “man and his wife” are permitted to adopt children in Israel. However, the courts have the power to enable singles (including a single person in a same-sex relationship) to adopt in exceptional situations. According to the Aguda-The Association for LGBTQ Equality in Israel, adoption agencies give priority to heterosexual couples so that even those singles who are able to apply are pushed down the list to receive a child to the point where their chances of success dwindle to almost nothing. In addition, the partner of a single person who adopts a child is not recognized as also being a parent.

Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana, an openly gay lawmaker for the coalition Likud party, broke ranks from the government’s stance of opposing the bill and voted in favor.

PATNA: An Italian couple on Tuesday, adopted a 7-year-old girl Kristina from Vishisht Dattak Grahan Sansthan, an orphanage, being operated under the aegis of the District Child Protection Unit.

Kristina, who was found wandering at the Patna railway station by a police officer in 2019, was handed over to the couple Christina Margotta and Luna Celestini by assistant director, District Child Protection Unit, Uday Kumar Jha, after getting an order from the Family Court, Patna on Tuesday.

The couple completed all the procedures according to the provisions of the Adoption Guide 2022, issued by the Union ministry of women and child development, Government of India.They applied for the adoption of a child about 3 years ago. Kristina was registered on the adoption site in 2019 after newspaper advertisements failed to locate her biological parents.

Any couple with sound physical and mental health is qualified to adopt a child, if they have been happily married for at least two years and have given their mutual consent for adoption.

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If survivors of forced adoption fighting for a parliamentary inquiry in Western Australia get their way, they believe it will be partly thanks to an Albany woman's traumatic story.

Danae only found out last year, at the age of 50, that she was adopted when, she said, a relative dropped the bombshell by text.

"I cried for I don't know how long … days and weeks," she said.

"It was like this big hole in the ground opened up and swallowed me in.

"It was overwhelming."

The Supreme Court has issued a clarification with respect to the order

passed by it in a petition filed by an unmarried woman seeking termination of

pregnancy. After the AIIMS reported that there was high probability of the

baby coming out alive if the 29-week pregnancy was attempted to be

terminated, the Court had persuaded the woman to opt for delivery. The

Western Australia will follow Victoria in holding an inquiry into forced adoption, following two years of campaigning by people who were adopted out as children and mothers who were forced to give up their babies.

A parliamentary committee this afternoon confirmed an inquiry would be held after both sides of politics indicated support for it in recent days.

Premier Mark McGowan on Tuesday revealed a personal connection to the issue upon backing calls for an inquiry.

Survivors in Western Australia say little has been done to support them or restore their basic human rights since WA became the first state in the country to apologise for forced adoption in 2010.

Inquiry to probe adoption practices over four decades

When I found out I had a different name to the one I grew up with, my life story began to change.

As an adopted person I had only ever seen my amended birth certificate which was written 'as if I was born to' my adoptive parents.

But when I was 18 years old the laws around closed adoptions changed and allowed me to apply for my original birth certificate.

So I did.

It was like reading a front page news story about myself that I had no idea about.

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- A firefighter experiences a happy ending when he met his biological mother for the first time in Chile.

Eyewitness News first told you about Odessa firefighter David Avary several months ago when he found out he was one of thousands of children stolen as babies and adopted out illegally under the Augusto Pinochet regime in Chile.

It was a trafficking of children that experts say was the Chilean government's way to reduce poverty and control the population.

A Houston organization called Connecting Roots, founded by a Houston firefighter who was also stolen at birth, was able to track down Avary's biological family.

He met his family for the first time this past weekend. A hug and reunion that were once just a dream became a reality nearly four decades later.

A child should not be lost in its search for paternity, said the court, directing family courts adjudicating between warring parents to order DNA tests only as a last resort

The Supreme Court has held in a judgment that children cannot be mechanically subjected to DNA tests in each and every case between warring parents as a short-cut to establish proof of infidelity.

“Genetic information is personal and intimate,” a Bench of Justices V. Ramasubramanian and B.V. Nagarathna observed in a judgment. “It sheds light on a person’s very essence... The information goes to the very heart of who she or he is,” the judgment added, emphasising that “a child’s genetic information is part of his fundamental right to privacy.”

“Children have the right not to have their legitimacy questioned frivolously before a court of law. This is an essential attribute of the right to privacy. Courts are therefore required to acknowledge that children are not to be regarded like material objects, and be subjected to forensic/DNA testing, particularly when they are not parties to the divorce proceeding. It is imperative that children do not become the focal point of the battle between spouses,” Justice Nagarathna, who authored the judgment, underscored.

‘Psychological trauma’

As of 1 May 2023, Lonneke Kapoen will become Director of Advice, Direction and Central Authority at the Directorate-General for Punishment and Protection of the Ministry of Justice and Security.

The Directorate for Advice, Direction and Central Authority (ARC) provides expertise to the Directorate-General for Punishment and Protection (DGSenB) by advising, facilitating and testing (solicited and unsolicited) on policy issues in the areas of finance, business operations and legal affairs , information provision and subsidies. In addition, the management supports the DGSenB in the implementation of work processes, but above all in cooperation with all organizations, such as DJI, Child Protection Board, probation organizations, CJIB, OM, ZM, Police. In addition, the director is responsible for the Central Authority for International Children's Affairs (CA) and has an important liaison function in international child abduction, child protection and adoption.

Eric Bezem: “I am very pleased that Lonneke will join the DG with her energy, broad experience and clout. Lonneke is collaborative and with her open and curious attitude she will be appreciated both within and outside the DG.”

Lonneke Kapoen: “Let policy work, that is my motto. No impact without good policy. How wonderful to be able to bridge the gap between policy and implementation within the chain of punishment and protection in this position. I look forward to contributing to a safe and just society. In this position I can create the conditions and fulfill the connecting role for a good translation of politics and policy into implementation and vice versa. I look forward to working with colleagues in the department as well as with all partners outside it."

Lonneke Kapoen has been working at the Netherlands Enterprise Agency of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate since 2017. Currently as department manager Implementation Policy where she is responsible for easily implementable policy for enterprising Netherlands. Previously, she worked at the Ministry of Justice in Security in various (management) positions in implementation, staff and policy and at the European Union. Her areas of work have always been at the intersection of policy and implementation and the proper translation of these to society. Lonneke brings a lot of (implementation) knowledge in the areas of finance, legal frameworks, data-driven working, subsidy schemes and process design. She has also earned her spurs several times within the international playing field.