Maggio 2006 STATI UNITI: inizio di stretti contatti con LINDA ROBAK, fondatrice e presidente di “For the children SOS”, per iniziare mobilitazione mondiale a favore dei bambini di Romania. Robak è in stretto contatto con Dipartimento di Stato USA e con molti membri del Congresso e del Senato. I contatti sono tuttora in corso

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Visakhapatnam: Several districts of the state, particularly the newly constituted ones, do not have functional specialised adoption agencies (SAAs). The agencies are tasked with the care and well-being of every orphan, abandoned, and surrendered child and aid in the process of adoption.

Even though structures/buildings for these agencies were developed long ago, delays in recruitment have made them non-operational. For example, staff recruitment at Paderu centre has been delayed due to local demands for allocating all posts to a particular community. Similarly, all 12 posts remain vacant in Nandyal, and 11 out of 12 posts are yet to be filled in Konaseema district. Of the 156 posts sanctioned for the 13 newly formed districts, 72 posts are currently vacant.

Traditionally, unmarried pregnant women were a vulnerable group. Premarital sex was taboo, but it happened, voluntarily or not. A 'fallen woman' was a disgrace to the family. She was rejected by her family and anyone who worked was fired (unmarried pregnancies were common among servants). She stood on the street with her child: the just reward for her 'whoreish behaviour'.

Around 1850, wealthy citizens began to care about these 'fallen' women. In 1848, Rev. Ottho Gerhard Heldring and deaconess Petronella Voûte founded the Asyl Steenbeek in Zetten, intended for unmarried mothers, prostitutes who wanted to leave the profession and ex-prisoners who would otherwise end up in prostitution. The assistance went hand in hand with combating prostitution. Young mothers were subjected to a strict resocialisation programme in which the cultivation of a sense of sin was central, combined with education and childcare. Such a paternalistic civilising offensive would be unthinkable today, but for the girls at the time it was perhaps the only acceptable way out of their predicament. The initiative was followed, initially mainly in Protestant circles, later also among Catholics. The homes were mainly financed by donations via the church. Government support was rare.

The latter changed with the establishment of the FIOM in 1930. After the Sickness Benefits Act was passed in 1913, a heated debate broke out over the question of whether unmarried pregnant women were entitled to benefits just like married women (pregnancy was considered an illness by law). The proponents of equality drew the short straw; it was believed to promote debauchery. Unmarried motherhood therefore remained a private matter. The aid organisations joined forces and in 1930 united in the national, cross-pillar Federation of Institutions for Unmarried Mothers and their Child (FIOM), which aimed to create conditions for better care. At the founding meeting, 25 institutions were already affiliated. FIOM received subsidies from the government.

The focus of aid began to shift at that time. The idea gained ground that an unmarried mother could best give up her child. This was good for the child, because it would grow up in a loving environment. Adoptive parents benefited from this, because adoption was the only way to combat unwanted childlessness at the time. It was also good for the mother herself, the reasoning went, because she could start with a clean slate. The emotional implications of being separated for mother and child were not discussed.

However, the number of unmarried pregnancies did not decrease. Despite all the help, it still happened that children were abandoned or offered to childless couples without the intervention of third parties. In 1940, the FIOM set up a committee that advocated the prevention of 'unorganised' relinquishment of children and a better selection of foster parents. In 1956, the Adoption Act came into force. Since then, the FIOM has focused on the guidance of relinquishment and adoption. Between 1956 and the end of the seventies, approximately 25,000 mothers in the Netherlands relinquished their babies. Relinquishment was now almost completely accepted. Later, this attitude was criticised. Today, it is difficult to imagine the moral compulsion that emanated from it.

Under the influence of the democratisation movement of the sixties, with the emancipation of women and a more open morality with regard to sexuality in its wake, the paternalistic approach of the FIOM came under fire. Unmarried motherhood was no longer a 'punishment' for 'sin' and relinquishment was no longer promoted. FIOM faced competition from the new, radically oriented shelters for abused women . In addition, the introduction of 'the pill' had led to a drastic decrease in the number of unwanted pregnancies. All this forced FIOM to reconsider its course.

FIOM now also focused on finding housing, and the target group was expanded to include all single parents. The shelters were transformed into shelters and support centres for single parents in crisis or emergency situations. In addition, the organisation played an important role in the legalisation of abortion.
In 2012, FIOM is still active. Now as a national outpatient organisation that offers psychosocial help, information and advice to anyone with problems in the areas of desired and unwanted pregnancy, teenage pregnancy or parenthood, miscarriage and abortion, relinquishment, adoption, adoptive parenthood and searches for a parent or child in connection with adoption.

‘People Say, You Sold Your Baby’

How Utah became the most exploitative state in private adoption.

By Gabrielle Glaser

Photo-Illustration: Intelligencer

The police arrested a couple who were planning to adopt a child, two women who orchestrated the child trafficking and the couple’s relative who acted as a mediator in the business.

A team of Delhi Police, after a week-long search, rescued a toddler who was kidnapped and allegedly sold to a childless couple in Vrindavan, 210 kilometres away from Budh Vihar from where he was reported missing.

The police arrested a couple who were planning to adopt a child, three others, including two women who orchestrated the child trafficking and the couple’s relative who acted as a mediator in the business.

“The missing child has been rescued safely. Efforts are being made to nab one more accused,” Jimmy Chiram, DCP Outer District, said.

According to the police, the one-year-old child was abducted from Kanjhawala Road, near Rajni Gupta Hospital, around 10.30 pm on July 6.

The gang is accused of coaxing poor parents to give up their newborns for adoption, after which videos of the children — along with their “prices” — would be shared with prospective buyers

Like clockwork each day, officers at the Begumpur Police Station in New Delhi have been receiving two calls for the past six months from Punjab — one from a farmer in Firozpur district and the other from a wedding photographer in Muktsar district. Both callers ask them the same question: “Test report aaya kya sir (has the test report come)?”

The report of the DNA test they have been enquiring about will determine who would finally take home the six-month-old unnamed girl, living under the care of a West Delhi-based NGO since she was rescued from Rohini’s Begampur colony on February 20 from a gang accused of selling babies. She was barely 10 days old at the time of her rescue.

The gang is accused of coaxing poor parents to give up their newborns for adoption, after which videos of the children — along with their “prices” — would be shared with prospective buyers. According to the chargesheet filed in the case in a Rohini court recently, nine persons, including two Punjab-based ASHA workers and a midwife who ran a clinic there, have been named as accused under Indian Penal Code (IPC) Sections 370 (4) (trafficking), 120B (pertaining to conspiracy) and 34 (pertaining to common intention).

When the police arrested ASHA workers Simranjeet Kaur and Pooja Rani in connection with the racket, they stumbled upon blank stamp papers bearing the signatures of Lek Singh and Amandeep, besides copies of their Aadhaar cards. Lek Singh and Amandeep were then tracked to their villages in Punjab.

DEHRADUN: For once, no one was attached to the police lines. The opposite happened, in fact. The police lines, this one in Pithoragarh, got attached to a young orphan girl. So much so that cops in the Uttarakhand station got together to organise her wedding to a local boy, laying out a grand feast for locals.

The usually austere place — commonly used to accommodate reserve forces or receive cops on punishment posting — turned into a radiant wedding venue on Tuesday, the touching event led by none other than their superintendent.

But then, the story of Pushpa Bhatt, the 21-year-old bride, would melt any heart. Pushpa lost both her parents when she was five years old. Raised by her grandmother, the elderly woman too died just as Pushpa stepped into her 10th year. Left an orphan, she relied on the kindness of strangers to get by in life.

About 25 days ago, Pushpa came to Pithoragarh city from her home in Balwakot in search of work. Reserve inspector Naresh Chandra Jakhmola found her sitting alone by the roadside and, being a cop, asked her a string of questions. By the time Pushpa answered them, Jakhmola had decided that he wanted to adopt her.

Jakhmola told TOI on Friday: “I saw her as a blessing from Ma Durga. I have two sons, and when I met Pushpa, I knew she was the daughter I never had. I told her, ‘You are my daughter now and have nothing to worry about,’ and brought her home. My family welcomed her wholeheartedly.”

As luck would have it, a week later Jakhmola was contacted by his son’s mother-in-law, who was looking for a bride for a relative. Seeing it as a sign, Jakhmola introduced Pushpa to the family. Despite Pushpa’s slight disability in one leg, Bipin Upadhyay, who works at a TV cable office in Dharchula, agreed to marry her. Pushpa happily consented.

Jakhmola informed SP Rekha Yadav about the situation and expressed his desire to get Pushpa married off traditionally and with pomp. “When I heard about it, I thought it was a noble idea and immediately pledged the district police unit’s support. We all contributed voluntarily to organise the wedding at the district police lines. Pushpa is now not just Jakhmola’s daughter, but the daughter of the whole district police unit,” Yadav said.

The Pierhagen family has supported SOS Children's Villages since 1980. When their adopted son, Tico Pierhagen, first returned to his native Colombia in 2008, he had many questions. His family encouraged him to search for answers. In Colombia, Tico met his biological family and visited an SOS Children's Village. This made such an impression on him and his Dutch family that they set up a Named Fund : the Doris Tuapante Children's Fund.  

Tico Pierhagen visited Colombia in 2008 and met his biological family there. ''Before that time, I often felt empty and out of place. The visit to Colombia changed that. You are a more complete person when you know where you come from.'' His family understands this completely: "The principle of letting a child grow up in the country where he was born really appeals to us", says his Dutch mother Andel Pierhagen. That is also the reason why the Pierhagen family supports SOS Children's Villages. If the possibilities are there, the preference is always to let a child grow up in the country where he was born with his own family. That is what the family strengthening programs within SOS Children's Villages stand for. "With these programs you really get to the core. We feel at home with the formula of SOS Children's Villages: the family, the family, that is the basis", explains Mrs. Pierhagen.

'I am a more complete person now that I know where I come from'

Tico Pierhagen

Doris Tuapante Children's Fund

Andel and Wandert Pierhagen, Tico's parents, have been supporting SOS Children's Villages since 1980. After Tico met his Colombian family in 2008 and visited an SOS children's village, his Dutch parents and sister followed him to Colombia in 2009. The family wanted to become more involved with SOS Children's Villages because of this trip. It was clear to them: family is the basis, but this is not self-evident for every child. In order to make an extra contribution, they set up a Named Fund. "With a Named Fund, the involvement is very high. You support specific projects and remain connected for several years." 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jul/14/chiles-stolen-children-a-new-effort-offers-hope-to-pinochet-era-international-adoptees?CMP=share_btn_url&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR2Izo0QvWDBCv-HZZLXxlfnsXtmUkS7_xj1ixA06jbrBDPsdRY3sKkY5k4_aem_fzoWAOCPHJpMTD5isVrhig

Thousands of children were adopted abroad during the Pinochet dictatorship – many in murky circumstances

Mirjam Hunze grew up in the quiet Dutch town of Lunteren, but always felt too loud, too different, too curious in her strict Protestant household. She was 10 years old when she found out she had been adopted from Chile, sparking a lifelong quest to find her biological family. Hunze’s Chilean birth certificate and passport listed her Dutch adoptive name, with the fields for her biological parents and place of birth conspicuously crossed out.

UNICEF pilots innovative approaches aimed at breaking the cycle of child poverty and social exclusion

Poverty and social exclusion can have a profound impact on the lives of children, preventing them from accessing basic services such as healthcare, education, nutritious food, quality housing and childcare. For the poorest families, including those who do not have access to social protection, the situation is dire. Children suffer poverty differently from adults and they are more likely to experience lifelong consequences from it.  Malnutrition can last a lifetime, having long-term consequences on children’s physical, social and emotional development. And losses in learning at a young age can result in children falling behind in school, finding it difficult to ever catch up. Without access to health care, children could miss out on vaccines that could be life-saving in later years and the treatment necessary to grow up healthy and thrive.

The Child Guarantee aims to ensure that vulnerable children have access to these quality services. UNICEF, in partnership with the European Commission, is working with national and sub-national authorities and select civil society organisations, children and young people to design and implement services and interventions that reduce the effects of poverty and social exclusion on children in need of support and protection. This includes the most vulnerable children, such as Roma children, children in institutional care, children with disabilities and refugee and migrant children.