Legal changes and global events have given rise to new challenges for the Family Justice System in England and Wales. At Children and Families Across Borders (CFAB) we experience these challenges first-hand in our work with lawyers, social workers, other professionals, and individuals who are navigating the complexities of cross-border cases involving children.

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CFAB was formerly known as ISS-UK, that is, the UK Branch of the International Social Service Network. The Network was established after the Second World War in response to the growing refugee crisis and huge numbers of children who were internationally displaced, giving rise to a need for cross-jurisdictional social work services to ensure their protection. CFAB now has partners in over 130 countries. Our partners include other ISS Network members, Central Authorities, statutory agencies, and charities. Importantly, in response to a rising demand for social work assessments from overseas, more and more of CFAB’s partners are independent social workers.

As children’s global connections change and grow, so too do the legal complexities associated with ensuring their protection and promoting their best interests. In response to this growing legal complexity, CFAB has developed a legal advice service. The service provides support and a range of resources to assist with child protection cases with an international dimension, as well as expert opinions on family law across the globe from our overseas legal partners. Arising out of this expansion, I will outline here some reflections on the legal and practice challenges we encounter at CFAB.

Hanna and Ismael have three children via surrogate mothers: "Very happy"

This is the fifth and final report in a series of five country-specific briefings. It looks at intercountry adoptions from Ethiopia into Ireland between 1987 and 2013.

“How do I tell my daughter that her stepbrother is actually her father?” No, this is not a preview of the season finale of Thuis. It's a question an American woman really asks herself. She asked the 'therapist' of The Atlantic magazine for advice.

Every family has its secrets, but that of this anonymous woman from the United States is very special. In the column 'Dear therapist' she wonders how to tell her now 30-year-old daughter that the man she thinks is her father is actually her grandfather, and that the man she thinks is her stepbrother is, in reality, her real father. Can you still follow?

Actually it is less complex than it seems. When the woman met her husband more than thirty years ago, it quickly became clear that they wanted a child together. The only problem was that the man, who already had two children from a previous relationship, had already had a vasectomy performed. Too long ago to be reversible. And so the couple had to look for a sperm donor.

“We didn't want to use a sperm bank, so we asked my husband's son to be the donor,” the woman writes in her reader's letter. “It seemed like the best solution to us: our child would have my husband's genes and we knew my stepson's health, personality and intelligence. He agreed to help.”

“Our daughter is now 30. My husband and I are anxious, confused and worried about telling her,” she adds. “This is especially difficult for my husband, because he wants our daughter to know that he will always be her father.”

LONDON, United Kingdom — The past few decades have seen an upsurge in the phenomenon of “paper orphaning.” Children are taken illicitly from their birthparents and are falsely presented as orphans by means of fraudulent documentation, rendering the children “legally” adoptable to satisfy the demand for intercountry adoptions. This demand, mainly from couples in developed countries wanting to adopt from the Global South, combined with the adoption fees associated, results in recruiters in sending nations using illicit means to generate a sufficient supply of “adoptable” children, or illegal orphans. According to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, illegal intercountry adoption is a human rights issue as the act violates several human rights and has “devastating consequences on the lives and rights of victims.” Intercountry adoption processes must at all times consider the best interests of the child. The Borgen Project spoke to Professor David Smolin, director of Cumberland School of Law’s Center for Children, Law and Ethics on the topic of illegal intercountry adoptions.

False Promises and Financial Incentives

Through coercive tactics such as deception, bribery or even abduction, wily recruiters obtain children from impoverished, vulnerable families and sometimes even pregnant women, a research article by Griffith University law lecturer Kathryn E. van Doore discusses. These recruiters promise better opportunities for the children, such as a good education, and tell parents that they can see them during the holidays. There are further incentives such as financial or other rewards. Many parents, therefore, do not give consent freely but under psychological pressure and/or deception. Sometimes, recruiters take children by force and, in some cases, parents actually pay to relinquish their child.

These children are then legally “adoptable” through the falsification of identities and papers, including falsified birth certificates and death certificates of the parents, and they become “paper orphans.” These incidents have occurred in Nepal, Cambodia, Uganda and Ghana, among others, says Van Doore on a Griffiths University news page.

Paper Orphaning and Poverty

Intern Lorianne looks back

In recent months, intern Lorianne has strengthened our team. Now that her internship at Adoption Support Center is behind her, she looks back on the past period and cautiously looks ahead to the future.

Hi there! I am Lorianne Deketelaere, an enthusiastic student of Applied Psychology at Howest in Bruges. With my teaching diploma already in hand, I decided last academic year to start the Applied Psychology course. Towards the end of my teacher training I did not feel completely satiated. It was during an elective course that focused on psychological well-being that my interest in psychology really started to grow. That subject stirred something in me that made me know that I wanted to continue with this.

For my second-year internship in Applied Psychology, I was given the opportunity to do an internship at Adoption Support Center. As an adoptee, this organization immediately captured my imagination and I was extremely curious about what I could learn there.

During my internship I gained a broad insight into what exactly adoption in Belgium entails. I had the opportunity to interview fascinating people and write articles about their experiences, operations and organizations. Furthermore, I was able to participate in numerous informative sessions, preparation meetings and training that enriched my knowledge about the adoption landscape and related themes (such as attachment and trauma).

The people of the General Secretariat work across and for the continued success of the entire ISS global network

Jean Ayoub - Secretary General & CEO

With a beginning in the Red Cross as a volunteer, Jean Ayoub became operations director during the Lebanese civil war. He then served on several field missions for the International Red Cross before relocating to Geneva to re-design and supervise Red Cross Red Crescent response to worldwide natural disasters as Director of Operations and IFRC Director of Cooperation and Development.

Jean went off then to Paris as the Director General for the French Telethon to refocus systems and teams on the main vision and mission of the Telethon umbrella association (AFM). Starting 2005 he worked several years as an independent advisor, consulting mainly on turnaround management situations and leadership coaching.

Jean is currently and since 2008 the Secretary General and CEO of International Social Service (ISS) driving with a dream team the full transformation of the organisation ahead of its 100th anniversary in 2024.

Author(s):

Collective of French Adoptees from Mali (AFM Collective)

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Recipient(s):

Emmanuel Macron (President of the Republic)

LUCKNOW: A cradle was installed at Queen Mary’s Hospital of King George’s Medical University (KGMU) on Wednesday where parents, who choose to abandon their child due to either medical abnormality or social reasons, can leave the infant for better care.
Inaugurated by deputy chief minister Brajesh Pathak, the cradle has been installed near the main gate of the hospital. Parents can leave their child in the cradle without revealing their identity.
 

A sensor system has also been put up which will alert the staff within two minutes about the baby.
The infant will then be adopted by the state.

The staff will run medical tests to check the overall well-being of the child and then send the child to the Childline for completion of adoption formalities and allotment of a shelter home. The move is expected to deter people from abandoning unwanted infants in the open, which endangers their lives.
On the occasion, Pathak appealed to parents to leave babies in the cradle so that they can be sent for foster care rather than abandoning them if they fail to take care of them for any reason.

He also said that no obstruction will be allowed in the operation of the shelter and the government will provide everything possible.

Head of the gynaecology and obstetrics department, Prof SP Jaiswar and officiating vice-chancellor Prof Vineet Sharma were present on the occasion.
 

The Uniform Civil Code is back in the news again after Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a strong push for it. If it comes into force, separate personal laws governing marriages, divorce, and inheritance of Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Parsis, and other communities will be subsumed. India Today takes a deep dive into the complications and vast issues of UCC.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday called for the creation of a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) and criticised opposition parties for inciting minority communities against reform. Following this, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board said they would oppose the UCC, while political parties accused the BJP of trying to "distract" and "divert attention from real issues".

The UCC is the proposal to have one law for the entire country, which will apply to all religious communities in personal matters such as marriage, divorce, inheritance, succession, custody and adoption. The implementation of the UCC is likely to subsume personal laws in the country.

India Today takes a deep dive into the complications and questions that would be involved if UCC is implemented.

WHAT IS LIKELY TO BE COVERED UNDER UCC?