Thousands of Georgians are coming to terms with a black-market adoption scandal in which children were stolen from maternity hospitals from the 1970s to the mid-2000s.

Irina always thought that the suitcase buried underneath a tree in her backyard contained the remains of her twin sons who had died shortly after birth, in 1978.
"When I gave birth, the doctor said to me: 'Do you have the means to raise these children?" she recalled decades later.
Three days after they were born, Irina was told the babies didn't survive. As instructed by the doctors, her husband brought a cloth and a suitcase to bury them in.
Since they couldn't find a cemetery plot, they buried the suitcase in their garden, unopened.
For more than 40 years, the suitcase and its contents laid untouched, until Irina's daughter Nino came across a Facebook group filled with stories of children searching for parents and parents searching for children.
Black-market adoptions and child trafficking had thrived in Georgia for decades from the Soviet era in the 1970s until the mid-2000s, when tougher laws were introduced.
Experts who have spoken to those affected by the scandal said a culture of shame surrounding adoption was one of the reasons the practice lasted so long underground.
Others believed high-level government officials were complicit and some of those involved might still be working in Georgian hospitals today.
"I read a few [Facebook] posts and then I couldn't read any more," Nino said.
Parents said in the posts they had been told their children had died but never saw the bodies — something that sounded familiar to Nino.
She asked her sister Nana: "Did our brothers really die?"
The family grew suspicious of the twins' fate and decided to dig up the suitcase in the backyard.
For more than 40 years, a suitcase was buried in Irina's garden believed to contain her twin sons' remains. Source: BBC

Inside, they found a couple of twigs, which the police later said were from a grape vine.
"We were completely shocked," Nino said. "There’s nothing inside. They’re probably alive."
 

Searching for answers

In 2016, Georgian journalist Tamuna Museridze was cleaning out her mother's house after she unexpectedly died. She found a birth certificate with her name but with a different birthdate.
In Georgia, every woman receives an official document after giving birth. But when Museridze went to the archives, she found no such document existed for her mother.
She concluded that her mother didn't give birth to her, so she must have been adopted. When her family refused to talk about it, Museridze set out to find answers.
She and her friend set up a Facebook group called "I'm searching". It quickly exploded. In post after post, people shared how they too, were looking for their biological parents and siblings.
Museridze's research found that the trafficking of babies was happening in at least 20 hospitals across Georgia. Many were in rural areas, like Kvareli, a small town in east Georgia, where Irina and her family lived.
Georgian journalist Tamuna Museridze accidentally found out she wasn't her mother's biological child. When she set out to find answers, she uncovered an old illegal adoption scheme that had thrived across Georgia. Source: BBC

Aid Pamela Keesee's Medical Journey

My mom, Pamela Keesee, age 69, had a major stroke on January 14, 2025. She was rushed to the ER in Brenham, TX, and later moved to Memorial Hermann Hospital for treatment and physical therapy. She was then moved to Katy Encompass Rehab facility where they would evaluate and help her recover. Finally, she was moved to Katy Silvercrest Memory and Assisted Living until she heals.

This would be her 6th stroke with 2 major and 4 minor. This would be the first time she has experienced cognition problems leading to longer stays. However, all the medical bills came at once and are too much for me and my mom to pay, and would love help in our times of need.

0 Catholic adoption agencies pressured unmarried mothers to give up their newborn child. In three episodes, investigative journalist David Van Turnhout examines these practices, but he also looks at the consequences and the current situation. Today he speaks with Benoît Vermeerbergen of Binnenlands Geadoptteerd.

From 1945 to 1980, Catholic adoption agencies such as Thérèse Wante organised thousands of forced adoptions. Unmarried pregnant girls were usually put in touch with centres through clergy or Christian organisations where they had to hide during their pregnancy, because becoming pregnant without being married was a mortal sin. Those who had enough money to spare could give birth anonymously in France, after which the child was smuggled back across the border and placed with a Catholic adoptive family. In this way, they wanted to prevent the pregnancy from ever coming out and society from speaking shame about the girl's family. Those who were less well-off were often sent to Belgian centres, such as De kleine vos in Borgerhout or Tamar in Lommel. The birth was discreet, but not anonymous, as the mother's name was then mentioned on the birth certificate. In France, the mother's name was not mentioned on the birth certificate.

A total of 30 to 40,000 girls and young women are estimated to have given birth in domestic and French centres and hospitals. The number of adopted children still alive today may therefore be in the tens of thousands. Almost all adopted children have questions about their origins and identity. Their search prompted them to unite. In the meantime, there are Facebook groups in which thousands of members try to help each other find their biological mothers. Their cry for attention led to the first recognition in 2015. Both the Belgian state and the Church apologized for the practices they had organised and made possible for decades.

Mother known for 2.5 hoursApologies do not answer the many questions. To help adoptees and birth mothers, Benoît Vermeerbergen De Coninck and Debby Mattys founded the website and support group Binnenlands Geadopteerd around the same time. “With our platform, we primarily offer a listening ear, but we also stand up for the rights of domestic adoptees. We also include people who were brought to Belgium via an anonymous birth in France,” says Vermeerbergen De Coninck. “There were already a few initiatives for adoptees from far abroad, but not for our group.”Vermeerbergen himself was born via an anonymous birth in France and ended up with an Antwerp adoptive family. Although he grew up in a warm nest, the search for his identity and his birth mother dominated his adult life. It was only a few years ago that he met his birth mother for the first time, who was terminally ill. It was just one meeting. “Her husband didn’t allow any further contact. I didn’t know my birth mother for more than two and a half hours.”Benoit Vermeerbergen De Coninck.Benoit Vermeerbergen De Coninck. © Patrick De Roo

David Van Turnhout

Woensdag 6 maart 2025

om 03:00

Vanaf de jaren 50 tot begin de jaren 80 zetten katholieke adoptiebureaus ongehuwde moeders onder druk om hun pasgeboren kind af te staan. In drie afleveringen neemt onderzoeksjournalist David Van Turnhout die activiteiten onder de loep.

Vandaag deel 1: de naam Adoptiewerk Thérèse Wante keert in adoptiedossiers steeds terug, wat was haar rol?

Now that Spoorloos is ending, the government must make money available for adoptees who are looking for relatives. That is what experts and people involved say. Former editors of the TV program will be questioned in court on Thursday.

Shortly after the adopted Iris Kolthof had heard from a Spoorloos editor that she would be reunited with biological family members, it turned out that the TV program would be taken off the air immediately. That decision followed more than a week after the news, in the Volkskrant of February 12, that the editors had linked Marthainès de Vries to the wrong relatives in Colombia .

After a great deal of commotion about De Vries' heartbreaking story, KRO-NCRV decided to stop showing Spoorloos and to throw out the recordings for the coming season. To prevent De Vries and other victims of a mismatch - officially there are eight - from being confronted with the program again.

Kolthof (32) was informed five minutes before the press release. 'I was shocked. I was supposed to travel to Brazil with a team from Spoorloos in mid-March . I knew they had a DNA match. I would hear the rest there.' To her relief, it turned out that the trip would go ahead as planned, because it had already been set in motion. 'But the reunion will not be filmed or broadcast.'

Top guidance

The Kerala High Court has ruled that adoption by step-parent cannot be permitted unless the biological parent of the child gives consent for adoption. The Court further clarified that CARA (Central Adoption Resource Agency) cannot relax the requirement of obtaining biological parent's consent for adoption under the Adoption Regulations due to the legal implications of an adoption.Justice...

Only after several adoptees spoke out did the Minister of Employment say that she would change the rules.

Minister of Employment Ane Halsboe-Jørgensen (S) has been in the middle of a storm for a few weeks.

Because it has turned out that the new law on work obligations in connection with cash benefits, which was intended to affect immigrants in particular, would also affect adoptees. This meant that adoptees would not have the same rights as their Danish-born family.

This stirred up emotions among several adoptees and their families, who, among other things, made it clear under #ErJegStadigDanish? that they felt alienated. They were placed in the "immigrant" category in the legislation.

This subsequently caused several parties to raise their voices. And the question of what the minister knew when has been floating in the wind.

When doctors at Wadia Hospital revealed the baby’s HIV status, the ‘adoptive’ mother disowned the child, said Ramkrishna Reddy, district child protection officer, Thane.

The Mumbai police have booked two women from Thane who allegedly adopted a child illegally after tricking the administration of KEM Hospital. A search is on to locate both the accused who hail from Kalyan (East).

According to police sources, one of the women posed as the other person at the hospital and delivered the child. This allowed the ‘adoptive’ mother to procure a birth certificate which stated that she was the child’s biological mother.

The matter, however, came to light after the baby developed health complications and doctors at Wadia Hospital found out that she was HIV+. A First Information Report in this regard was initially lodged at Thane’s Manpada police station on Saturday and was transferred to Mumbai’s Bhoiwada police station by Sunday.

As per sources with the police, the child’s biological parents come from a poor financial background. The baby’s mother, aged 38, tried to abort the pregnancy as her husband is a drunkard and they were struggling to run the family. During this time, she came in contact with another woman, aged 37, who was looking to adopt a child as she was unable to have a baby due to some health complications.

Meerut: A court in Bijnor sentenced two brothers to life imprisonment for the 2016 murder of their adopted cousin amid a long-standing family dispute over inheritance. 

The additional sessions judge, Prakash Chand Shukla, on Thursday also imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on each convict, with Rs 90,000 set aside as compensation for Rahul's (20) father, Ramratan, said ADGC Mukesh Chauhan.Chauhan said, 

"Rohit's elder brother, Somnath, lodged a complaint. Rohit was adopted by his uncle Raju, a confectioner who had no children. 

However, Raju's nephews—Surdeep Kumar (35) and Gautam Kumar (33)—opposed the adoption, fearing it would jeopardise their claim to his property.

"The resentment led to escalating tensions, ultimately forcing the brothers to leave the family home and move to a rented house in Ram Colony, Chandpur. 

Experts point out that because of the loopholes in the time-consuming CARA procedures, many childless couples prefer the illegal method and are willing to shell down the amounts that are demanded by the likes of Krishnaveni and Vandana.



Hyderabad: Chaitanyapuri police, probing child trafficking cases in the city, arrested and remanded three more persons under the Juvenile Act for their role in illegally selling abandoned or orphaned kids in the name of adoption. The three Umarani, Jayasree and Soni Keerthi are the mediators for the prime accused Kola Krishnaveni and Vandana, who sell infants to desperate childless couples. The mediators identify couples craving to adopt as they are easy targets. Vandana remains elusive.
 

It can be recalled that in a similar case in Medipally last May, 15 kids were rescued and the parents were sent notices, though they were not arrested. In this case, the parents, who adopted infants through illegal means, have been arrested and charged under the Juvenile Act. Meanwhile, a source said they will seek judicial intervention, which could be a setback to the children currently housed in CWC Shelter.
 

Most of the parents in the Medipally case approached the court for custody of the kids they had adopted. The case remains stuck in court and it may take quite a while for the adoption process to be legalised. Experts point out that because of the loopholes in the time-consuming CARA procedures, many childless couples prefer the illegal method and are willing to shell down the amounts that are demanded by the likes of Krishnaveni and Vandana.