We are super proud to have had our CEO, Katinka, as a hosted guest speaker at the #euradopt2022 conference in #Denmark last week. The theme of the conference was the Sustainability of Intercountry adoptions from an ethical and practice perspective as well as the importance of post-adoption support.

There were also opportunities for meetings and re-connections with our other partners in the region.

Our CEO was joined by our COO Rene.

Crystal Theron

Given the lengthy, uncertain process and decline in adoption, care facilities often have to transition their wards to life without adoption.

Extreme poverty, single parenthood and abuse are some top factors that push parents to give up their children.

At a children’s care facility in Cubao, north of Manila, 18-year-old Mel and her four younger siblings wait to be adopted.

Mel, whose name has been changed to protect her identity, is already too old to be adopted. Her only option to join a family is to be adopted along with any, or all, of her four siblings.

It has been five years since Mel and her siblings joined the Gentle Hands children’s home, which also houses many children who have experienced trauma.

Given the lengthy, uncertain process and decline in adoption, care facilities often have to transition their wards to life without adoption.

Extreme poverty, single parenthood and abuse are some top factors that push parents to give up their children.

At a children’s care facility in Cubao, north of Manila, 18-year-old Mel and her four younger siblings wait to be adopted.

Mel, whose name has been changed to protect her identity, is already too old to be adopted. Her only option to join a family is to be adopted along with any, or all, of her four siblings.

It has been five years since Mel and her siblings joined the Gentle Hands children’s home, which also houses many children who have experienced trauma.

Haryana human trafficking case: Police have arrested three people, including two women for trying to sell a nine-day-old baby to a couple. The accused had got the baby from her mother on the promise that they would ensure that she had a bright future. One of the arrested women is part of the Delhi based NGO run by her family.

Faridabad: The Haryana chief minister's flying squad busted a human trafficking racket in Faridabad and arrested three people, including two women in this regard. One of the women arrested is associated with an NGO based in Delhi, which is run by her family.

The arrests were made after the CMs flying squad received intelligence inputs about three people allegedly trying to sell an infant in Badarpur area of Faridabad.

According to the police the intelligence input in this regard was received by the CMs flying squad on September 8. After which two of the squad members posing as a couple got in touch with the accused. After negotiating with them a deal was finalised for Rs 4.5 lakh and they decided to meet in a hotel in Badarpur, Times of India reported.

As per the agreement one of the women arrived at the hotel where the "couple" was waiting. Soon the other woman arrived with the nine-day-old girl. After exchanging sweets, the "couple" handed over the cash to the accused containing marked currency notes.

JANET OGUNDEPO writes about the cartels trafficking in babies

After 31-year-old Chineye Odoh allegedly agreed to sell her newborn twins for about N3m, sadly Odoh was allegedly killed by some women collaborators who purportedly facilitated the process.

The Enugu State Police Command said that the suspects, after selling the twins, gave the mother an amount lesser than what was agreed. They were said to have later poisoned Odoh’s food when she resisted their action.

Upon the arrest of the suspected women by the police in Enugu in August, the women were arraigned in court and the case was adjourned to October 5 for trial.

The Lagos State Police Command on the same day, August 26, reportedly arrested a man for allegedly conspiring with his doctor and a nurse to sell his three-month-old baby for N400,000.

MHB police personnel have been caring for a day-old infant found in a garbage dump, plan for her future as they try to trace parents

A call from the Control Room in the morning of September 5 led MHB Colony police to Shivaji Nagar, Borivli West to find an abandoned newborn at an auto stand, whom they now refer to as “MHB ki beti”. The girl is currently undergoing treatment at Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Hospital, Kandivli. The cops, apart from filing a case against unknown people for abandoning the child, have also taken it on themselves to ensure their “beti” gets education and financial support.

A bakery owner near an auto rickshaw stand at Shivaji Nagar had heard the cries of a baby and called the police control room, which in turn relayed the information to MHB police. When cops reached the spot they found the crying newborn wrapped in a white towel. The baby had blood all over and her umbilical cord was also intact.

Assistant Sub-Inspector Shobha Yadav and PSI Vanita Katbane who were deputed on mobile van rushed the baby to Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Hospital in Kandivli where she underwent a medical check up which concluded that she was in good health. Police officers now take turns to visit the hospital to check up on her every day.

Looking at the baby, Assistant Inspector Suryakant Pawar decided to take responsibility for the baby’s future education. Other cops have started crowdfunding and the amount will be kept as a fixed deposit in a bank so that she won’t have to suffer in future for money.

In May 2022, Minister Ernst Kuipers (Public Health) wrote to the House of Representatives that he wanted to make IVF surrogacy part of the basic insurance. But that wouldn't apply to everyone.

Ten patient organizations and interest groups are therefore calling on the minister to make IVF surrogacy part of the basic insurance for all family types.

IVF SURROGACY

In his proposal, Kuipers wrote that he wanted to adopt the advice of the National Health Care Institute on the reimbursement of IVF surrogacy. The Zorginstituut recommended expanding the basic package of the Health Insurance Act with IVF surrogacy 'in case the intended mother has a medical indication that means she cannot bear fruit herself, but does have her own eggs'.

The ten organizations, including the Royal Dutch Organization of Midwives (KNOV), Patient Federation Netherlands, COC Netherlands and the Transgender Network Netherlands, believe that this advice does not take into account 'the diversity of family forms in 2022', “because the reimbursement does not apply for everyone".

The United Nations said that accusations that Moscow's forces had taken children from Ukraine to Russia for adoption were "credible". Ilze Brands Kehris, the assistant UN secretary-general for human rights, expressed concern that the Russian authorities had adopted a simplified procedure to grant Russian citizenship to children without parental care and these children would be eligible for adoption by Russian families.

Geneva: The United Nations on Wednesday said that accusations that Moscow's forces had taken children from Ukraine to Russia for adoption were "credible", reported AFP. Russia allegedly took children from Ukraine for adoption as part of larger-scale forced relocations and deportations.

"There have been credible allegations of forced transfers of unaccompanied children to Russian occupied territory, or to the Russian Federation itself," Ilze Brands Kehris, the assistant UN secretary-general for human rights, told the Security Council, as quoted by the news agency.

Brands Kehris expressed concern that the Russian authorities had adopted a simplified procedure to grant Russian citizenship to children without parental care and these children would be eligible for adoption by Russian families. She also accused Russia of running a "filtration" operation as Ukrainians living in Russian-occupied territories were subjected to human rights violations.

The UN assistant secretary-general for human rights told a Security Council meeting that during filtration, Russian forces subjected people to body searches and sometimes even forced nudity. Brands Kehris further alleged that during filtration procedures, their mobile devices were searched and their fingerprints were taken.

Our Leadership

Michelle Bernier-Toth

Special Advisor for Children’s Issues
U.S. Department of State
Bureau of Consular Affairs

Sold as a baby, Jessi Fraud is now on a mission to expose the truth about the market in Romanian babies.

Jessi, a vibrant young Canadian journalist, is travelling the world to expose the post-communism practice of selling Romanian babies to adoptive parents by exploring the fate of Romanian children born to families too poor to care for them.

According to the vision of former President Nicolae Ceau?escu, babies should be born to boost the communist state’s decrepit economy.

As we become absorbed in Jessi’s journalistic quest, we slowly come to realise that it is more than a professional investigation. Jessi herself was sold as a child to an adoptive family in Canada.

An estimated 30,000 children were sold to adoption brokers in post-communist Romania. International buyers and local sellers met in hotel lobbies around Romania and negotiated prices that ranged from $5,000 to $10,000 for new-born Romanians.