The project aims at giving underprivileged children separated from their parents the experience of being part of a family. Children aged between six and 18 years are considered for the programme

M.P. Praveen

The District Child Protection Unit (DCPU) has initiated steps for sending selected children from childcare institutes on two month-long vacation foster care (VFC) this summer.

The programme aims at giving underprivileged children separated from their parents the experience of being part of a family even if only for two months. The DCPU has invited applications from interested families, including single parents.

Last year, out of the 15 applications received for VFC, 12 children were assigned to families. While one child was sent back by a family owing to adjustment problems on part of the child, the other two families were not able to find children in their preferred age group. Children aged between six and 18 years are considered for VFC with families often preferring younger children.

In the search for biological family, the field workers play a very important role. Due to the geographical distance, the different language/culture and the number of cases we work on, it is practically impossible to follow all leads without help.

That is why we use local people for this. They come from the region, speak the language/dialect and can therefore more easily generate the much-needed trust.

Shapla has partnered with Lef4Life in Bangladesh, and their students will follow leads, conduct interviews and hopefully solve many cases successfully, under our coordination.

On November 21st, the time had come. The first part of the training. It was a very interesting day with a lively discussion about adoption and its history in Bangladesh.
Part two was about Shapla. Who are we, what do we do, what services do we offer. What was important here was what processes do we have; accuracy and reliability are very important in searches (we want to prevent things like a well-known TV program).

After the theoretical part was completed, it was time for practical exercises.

A woman adopted from Bangladesh in the 1970s filed a lawsuit in 2019 against Wereldkinderen, Terre des Hommes Netherlands and the Dutch State. The woman accuses these parties of having acted unlawfully in her adoption. Like the court ruling in 2021, the court of appeal today concluded that the case has expired.

The court of appeal upholds the court's ruling

After the court ruling in 2021, the woman lodged an appeal. The court of appeal today confirmed the ruling of the court that the case has expired.

The court took into account, among other things, that Terre des Hommes was not an adoption organisation, that it has not been established that employees of Terre des Hommes would have induced the woman's biological mother to give her up under false pretences, and that the woman waited too long to hold Terre des Hommes liable.

Like the court, the court of appeal was therefore unable to establish that Terre des Hommes was involved in or responsible for the course of events surrounding the adoptions from Bangladesh.

PANAJI

A joint team of the North Goa Child Welfare Committee (CWC) and the District Child Protection Unit inspected a Child Care Institution (CCI) in Assagao, operated by El-Shaddai, following directions of the Bombay High Court at Goa.

During a hearing of a suo motu Public Interest Litigation (SMPIL) on Wednesday, the Bench ordered an immediate inspection of the institution at 3:30 pm and a report to be submitted by Friday. Following this directive, a team was formed to hold the inspection.

Advocate General Devidas Pangam informed that the CCI is not registered and is allegedly housing children without orders from the CWC.

“We proposed to the High Court to conduct an inspection of the CCI, which was accepted. The team visited the premises to assess the situation, including the conditions in which the children are kept. An inspection report will be submitted on Friday,” Pangam told the media, after the hearing.

The future of the sponsorship program is thus secured in light of the DIA's board's decision on a controlled winding down of its activities.

After thorough discussions, it has been decided to transfer the sponsorship activities to Terre des Hommes .  The transfer is expected to be completed during July 2024.

Terre des Hommes, a voluntary humanitarian association approved by the Collection Board under the Ministry of Justice, will continue the activities for the benefit of vulnerable children and families.

All sponsors will be contacted directly by Terre des Hommes, who will inform about the practical conditions and the future communication between sponsor, projects and sponsors. Terre des Hommes welcomes all sponsors and looks forward to presenting their activities and membership offers. Additional information will be shared in early July.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us or Terre des Hommes.

Age can prevent adoption in Poland 0 that's the conclusion drawn from the story described by Karolina Kijek of "Gazeta Wyborcza." Today, 50-year-old Edyta is trying to adopt 2-year-old Malwina, whom she has been raising as a foster family since the girl was one month old. So far, without success.

Edyta met Malwina* when the girl was a month old. The child was in an incubator. Edyta had gone through three unsuccessful attempts to become a foster parent, as reported in Karolina Kijek's article in "Gazeta Wyborcza" titled "Edyta Has Been Malwina's Mom for Two Years. Officials Want to Take Her Child Away Because She Is Too Old". The woman had completed foster parent training at the Municipal Social Welfare Center. "I openly said I was 48 years old and wanted to pursue adoption. No one objected" - she said in an interview with the journalist.

Attempts to Adopt in Poland: "Noticeable Bond" Loses to Age Difference

The one-month-old girl came to Edyta two years ago. The court terminated the biological parents' rights at the end of 2022. That's when Edyta could begin the adoption process. She filed her applications with the family court and the Wrocław adoption center DOPS. This office must issue an evaluation and opinion, as emphasized by "Gazeta Wyborcza".

Officials at the center questioned Edyta during a meeting about why she was seeking adoption and observed how the child behaved around her. In the documents, they wrote:

The gang targeted women through closed groups on social media, exploiting those who were struggling to provide and care for their children.

Hanoi:

Police in Vietnam have arrested more than a dozen people in connection with a baby smuggling ring that trafficked 16 newborns across several cities and provinces in the country, state media said Wednesday.

Sixteen men and women have been taken into custody for trading the babies aged between three days and three months old, according to the official newspaper of Ho Chi Minh City Police.

The gang targeted women through closed groups on social media, exploiting those who were struggling to provide and care for their children.

When you have more than two parents

Multi-parenthood is an important basic idea in adoption. It means that more than one or two parents or educational figures are important in the lives of children and young people and it makes it possible to acknowledge all parties involved in adoption, if they so wish and with the nuance that each situation is viewed individually.

What does multi-parenthood in adoption look like in practice? If contact is established between adoptive parents, adopted child and first parents from or shortly after the adoption, how does this take shape? And how does everyone experience this? In this collection of stories, various people involved in adoption testify about their 'open adoption'.

The Story of Eunique

My name is Eunique and I was born in Haiti . I was barely 8 months old when I came to Belgium. My adoptive parents already had a biological son who was 3 years older.

My biological parents gave birth to 5 daughters , of which 1 daughter did not make it. This death made my uncle fear for the lives of his 2 daughters and therefore decided to give them up for adoption .

When I was born, my family was still in the same circumstances and there was no one in the family who had the means to take over the care . Since my uncle had already given up both his children and my parents had already lost 1 child, they wanted to do everything they could to keep me alive . So my parents decided to also give me up for adoption.

Contact with biological family

Enforcement Directorate officials told Press Trust of India that the searches are tied to a cheating case registered against PC Singh, bishop of the CNI's Jabalpur Diocese.

Nagpur, Maharashtra:

The Enforcement Directorate carried out searches at 11 locations across India, including the Nagpur office of the Church of North India (CNI), in connection with a case registered in Bhopal, a probe agency official said on Wednesday.

Enforcement Directorate officials told Press Trust of India that the searches are tied to a cheating case registered against PC Singh, bishop of the CNI's Jabalpur Diocese.

The office of CNI, a Protestant denomination, located in the Sadar area in the city is being searched, an official said.

A Thane couple residing in Germany will be allowed to meet their 3.6-year-old daughter, who was placed in foster care in 2021, once every month. The Indian government is working to ensure she is exposed to her cultural heritage and language, with efforts underway to bring her back to India.

THANE: A Thane couple employed in Germany will be able to meet their 3.6-year-old daughter-who was separated from them and assigned to a foster care by German courts in Sept 2021-once every month, said Shiv Sena MP Naresh Mhaske.

Mhaske said the Indian govt is likely to communicate with their German counterparts to ensure that the girl, who hails from the Jain community, is introduced to her native language and cultural heritage by being taken for temple visits regularly while she remains in foster care in Germany.

Mhaske made the announcement following communication from S Jaishankar, Union minister of external affairs (MEA), informing him about the steps being taken by govt to not only ensure the girl is exposed to her native culture, but also efforts being taken to request their German counterparts to allow her to be brought to India.

It may be recalled that the custody of the then barely six-month-old girl was assigned to the Youth Welfare Authority (YWA) by German courts after local authorities suspected she was assaulted while under the care of her parents, who had shifted to the country for work.

The case was heard in the lower courts that granted custody of the child to the YWA. The Berlin Court of Appeals that later heard the case upheld the custody decision in July 2024, said Mhaske, citing the MEA communication.

"The family is from Mira-Bhayander and belongs to the Jain community, whose representatives have been requesting our govt and also approached me to assist them in bringing the child back... One of their major fears is the girl may lose touch with her native upbringing and get exposed to foreign culture. I raised the issue in the Lok Sabha early this month, following which the MEA interacted with their German counterparts," said Mhaske.