Building Bridges

“Building Bridges between Belgium & India for Adoptees - A final call”

Lieve mensen, Het heeft me wat tijd gekost om na de terugkeer deze tekst te kunnen schrijven. Zoveel indrukken en emoties, het doet een mens toch wel wat. Het was voor mij de tweede keer dat ik India bezocht. Deze keer met een doel dat ook meer was dan reizen en verkennen. Het project “Building Bridges” ligt me na aan het hart, natuurlijk in de eerste plaats door mijn persoonlijk verhaal. Maar zeker ook door de ervaring van de laatste 2 jaar dat mijn verhaal met zovele anderen gedeeld wordt en ook deze anderen op muren botsen als ze naar hun roots op zoek gaan. Ik was dan ook erg blij dat Pia, onze adoptiecoach haar schouders met hart en ziel onder dit project heeft gezet, waarvoor mijn dank.

Ik hoop dat mijn verhaal kan helpen bij jullie eigen zoektocht, op welke manier dan ook: praktische tips, modelbrieven, persoonlijke ervaring,.. Door de meetings in Mumbai is alvast een eerste steen gelegd. Er is al een goed bewustzijn, beleid en methodiek om geadopteerden te helpen bij hun zoektocht. Veel hangt af van de adoptiediensten. Mijn persoonlijke zoektocht leverden enkele belangrijke antwoorden op, maar er zijn minstens evenveel vraagtegens bijgekomen. Stap voor stap komen we toch dichter bij ons doel: de weg is iets meer geopend, ook al is die nog zeer lang.

Ik schrijf mijn verhaal in dagboekstijl. Voor de formele en praktische elementen verwijs ik naar de bijlagen. Er volgt in de nabije toekomst een officieel rapport dat aan betrokken diensten en overheden zal worden bezorgd. Ik benadruk dat dit mijn persoonlijk verhaal rond deze reis. Voor iedereen zal dit anders zijn.

"The time has come for a change in the childcare system. It is necessary to invest resources, firstly, to help families with children in crisis, and secondly, to create a sufficient number of foster families of different types. Children should live in families, not in institutional care, and the state is obliged to provide this."

- Z henya Ershova, Speech given at the Celebrating 30 Years of the Convention on the Rights of the Child Workshop

Introduction to this Special Issue

November 20th 2019 marked two important anniversaries- 30 years since the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and a decade since the Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children were ‘welcomed’ by the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in 2009. To mark the occasion, Better Care Network asked several key actors to write brief reflections on different topics and aspects of children's care for this special issue of the BCN newsletter, focusing on the last 10 years of progress in the care reform movement, as well as hopes and recommendations for the future.

These partners were asked to consider the following questions: What has been some of the most significant progress on this issue since the Guidelines were adopted? What are the key challenges now? And where do you see things going in the next ten years?

From: Arun Dohle [mailto:arundohle@gmail.com]

Sent: Donnerstag, 28. November 2019 07:49

To: m.vnispen@tweedekamer.nl

Subject: FW: newsletter

Dear Michiel van Nispen,

How do we respond to international views on fraudulent adoptions?

In May of this year, an additional hearing took place on intercountry adoption from Ethiopia in the Committee on Welfare, Public Health and Family of the Flemish Parliament. This hearing came after the testimony of Thereza De Wannemaeker who questioned her adoption from Ethiopia in 2009. Several testimonies of Ethiopian adopted children and their parents followed, after which Flemish Member of Parliament Lorin Parys (N-VA) asked for an extra hearing in the Flemish Parliament to hear those involved.

During the hearing, the then Flemish Minister for Welfare, Jo Vandeurzen (CD&V), promised to create an expert panel to conduct in-depth research into past adoptions and to formulate policy recommendations. In July, the former Flemish Government composed this panel. Recently Christof Bex and Miranda N. Aerts, both adopted and familiar with the theme, were also added to the panel. This happened after 23 adoptees in an open letter to current Flemish minister of Welfare, Wouter Beke (CD&V), criticized the fact that none of the adoptees led the investigation. The panel will soon be meeting for the first time to define the content and determine a concrete work approach.

Unfortunately, malpractice within adoption remains a reality, despite efforts made worldwide to prevent it. In March 2016, the ISS1 published "Responding to Illegal Adoptions: a professional handbook". This international publication was the first attempt to provide a comprehensive overview of possible remedial and preventative measures. Stakeholders and experts from various countries contributed to the manual and highlighted action points from a legal, psychosocial, social and political framework. In summary, David M Smolin² formulated four perspectives and four recommendations that we present below at the end of the handbook.

Four perspectives to look at adoption fraud

---------- Forwarded message ---------

From: ACT

Date: Mon, 2 Dec 2019 at 2:05 PM

Subject: File National Archive

To:

International views on fraudulent adoptions, how do we respond to this?

In May of this year, an additional hearing was held on intercountry adoption from Ethiopia in the Commission for Welfare, Public Health and Family of the Flemish Parliament. This hearing came after the testimony of Thereza De Wannemaeker who questioned her adoption from Ethiopia in 2009. Various testimonies from Ethiopian adoptive children and their parents followed, after which Flemish Parliament member Lorin Parys (N-VA) requested an additional hearing in the Flemish Parliament to hear the people involved.

During the hearing, then Flemish Minister for Welfare, Jo Vandeurzen (CD&V), promised to set up an expert panel to conduct in-depth research into past adoptions and to formulate policy recommendations. The former Flemish Government assembled this panel in July. Recently Christof Bex and Miranda N. Aerts, both adopted and familiar with the theme, were added to the panel. This happened after 23 adopters in an open letter to the current Flemish Minister for Welfare, Wouter Beke (CD&V), had criticized the fact that none of the adopted persons co-led the investigation. Soon the panel will meet for the first time to define the content and to determine a concrete work approach.

Unfortunately, malpractice within adoption remains a reality, despite the efforts being made worldwide to prevent it. In March 2016, ISS1 published "Responding to Illegal Adoptions: a professional handbook". This international publication was the first attempt to provide a comprehensive overview of possible remedial and prevention measures. Stakeholders and experts from various countries participated in the handbook and highlighted action points from a legal, psychosocial, social and political framework. In summary, at the end of the handbook, David M Smolin² formulated four perspectives and four recommendations that we present below.

Four perspectives for looking at adoption fraud

---------- Forwarded message ---------

From: Nigel Cantwell

Date: Tue, 3 Dec 2019 at 7:28 PM

Subject: Re: Reminder, newsletter

To: Arun Dohle

Fiom informs Minister Dekker about the importance of information and guidance before and after adoption

Justice and Security Minister Sander Dekker paid a working visit to Fiom on 2 December. The minister and policy staff were received by Ellen Giepmans (director-director of Fiom) and Sandra de Vries (manager Relationship affairs program at Fiom) with Bossche Bollen of which 1 in 5 had a pink filling. This referred to the launch of our campaign that 1 in 5 women inadvertently becomes pregnant.

In addition, we have provided an explanation of the importance of information and guidance before and after adoption, as well as surrogacy and donor conception. We look back on a good conversation in which we once again experience that we can be proud of the work that we do.

Dutch:

Op 2 december is minister Sander Dekker van Justitie en Veiligheid op werkbezoek geweest bij Fiom. De minister en de beleidsmedewerkers zijn ontvangen door Ellen Giepmans (directeur-bestuurder van Fiom) en Sandra de Vries (manager programma Verwantschapsvragen bij Fiom) met Bossche Bollen waarvan 1 op de 5 een roze vulling had. Dit verwees naar de lancering van onze campagne dat 1 op de 5 vrouwen onbedoeld zwanger wordt.

Shareable link to Voice Recording: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B1nfYsdmHq7eRjItUWNYaGk2VHJOTGNKLVl0Nlo1WDhOYzVn

For over 15 years we’re working with the International Social Service, we started as a collaborator and then we went to being a correspondent for Romania.

Through the programs developed with the International Social Service we primarily try to help the unaccompanied minors found in various Western European countries and beyond.

We try to bring them home, when possible, mediate a reconciliation with his family and to offer alternatives to study or work here in Romania. It seems simple, but actually is really not in reality. It’s very much work. Only until now we had hundreds of cases of children who reached adulthood returned to Romania that once here felt like strangers in their own country.

Also through SSI we managed to successfully answer to children who reached adulthood now looking for their Romanian parents who have given them for international adoption decades ago.

.