After an adoption stop of a year, children from abroad will soon be allowed to be adopted again under strict conditions. A great relief for Dirk Jan and his husband Christiaan, who have been working on adoption for years. "A lot is still unclear about the new rules, but we hope that we can decorate our children's room soon."

The attic of Dirk Jan (33) and Christiaan (35) has been waiting for years to be transformed into a children's room. "We have already completed the courses and medical examination. Last year we were about to get the green light so that we can be considered for adoption," says Dirk Jan (full name is known to the editors).

But then came that damning report on the adoption system. Due to the abuses, an adoption stop for foreign adoptions was immediately introduced.

Stricter conditions

The procedures for adoptions from abroad will resume in the coming months. However, stricter conditions will be introduced and mediation will be in the hands of a single government organisation. Minister Franc Weerwind (Legal Protection) announced this today.

Adoption of children from abroad is possible again. A new mediation organization to be set up must ensure that corruption, child trafficking and fraud are eradicated. Moreover, it is always necessary to first look for suitable reception in the country of origin.

Franc Weerwind, Minister for Legal Protection, writes this in a letter to the House. As long as care in one's own environment is not possible, adoption to the Netherlands will remain an option if this is beneficial to the child. Weerwind has decided this after discussions with those involved. The minister is going to flesh out the system even more specifically.

After the damning report of the Joustra Commission, an investigation into abuses in adoptions from 1967 to 1998, all intercountry adoptions were suspended in February 2021. The committee doubted whether an alternative system was possible. Now that a new, centralized system is being set up, experts are wondering: how will the government ensure that abuses are eradicated?

“Adoptees are told to just be grateful that we were chosen. And yet so many of us are struggling.”

When Alé Cardinalle first met her biological mother and siblings, she was surprised by how familiar their love felt. Born in Brazil, Cardinalle was adopted by a New Jersey couple when she was an infant. On the eve of her 28th birthday, Cardinalle found and contacted her birth mother on Facebook, and the two women arranged a reunion in Brazil.

The flight to Brazil tested Cardinalle’s nerves. She was traveling thousands of miles to visit a home full of strangers in a country she did not remember. “But my mother pulled me into her house and pulled me onto her couch and into her lap, even though I was probably almost twice her size,” Cardinalle tells Teen Vogue, laughing. “She looked at my fingers and looked at my toes and, like, it was just so primal to me. Like how you would look at your baby.”

More family members poured into the living room, half-siblings, and a stepfather who all greeted Cardinalle breathlessly between hugs. “It was just such an abundance of love,” she recalls.

Later, Cardinalle asked the question that had burdened her for entire adult life: Why did her birth mother choose adoption?

On April 11, the Dutch government published its position and decision memorandum with various annexes ( more information here ). On April 12, Stichting Wereldkinderen, together with the other permit holders, spoke with the Ministry of Justice and Security. Stichting Wereldkinderen is happy and relieved that the Dutch government indicates in these documents that intercountry adoption will remain possible in the Netherlands in the future.

In the interest of the child, it is the hope of the World Children's Foundation that the Dutch government will quickly provide clarity regarding the resumption of granting permissions in principle, as indicated in the letter to the House of Representatives. That there will soon be more clarity with regard to the various proposals to change the current system. Without further details and planning, there remains a great deal of uncertainty for all involved.

The minister states in his letter that one thing is certain: 'the past does not equal the present and the system of intercountry adoption has improved in recent decades.' Stichting Wereldkinderen is happy to contribute to possible further improvements. The proposals in the letter and accompanying documents are a possible first step in the right direction. Whether the direction as now set out by the minister will lead to improvements compared to the current system will have to be shown from the as yet unknown details.

Stichting Wereldkinderen is pleased that there is more clarity and we would like to thank the minister for this. For questions, the Ministry of Justice and Security has compiled a 'FAQ' with telephone numbers. The official press release can be found here .

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“Adoptees are told to just be grateful that we were chosen. And yet so many of us are struggling.”

When Alé Cardinalle first met her biological mother and siblings, she was surprised by how familiar their love felt. Born in Brazil, Cardinalle was adopted by a New Jersey couple when she was an infant. On the eve of her 28th birthday, Cardinalle found and contacted her birth mother on Facebook, and the two women arranged a reunion in Brazil.

The flight to Brazil tested Cardinalle’s nerves. She was traveling thousands of miles to visit a home full of strangers in a country she did not remember. “But my mother pulled me into her house and pulled me onto her couch and into her lap, even though I was probably almost twice her size,” Cardinalle tells Teen Vogue, laughing. “She looked at my fingers and looked at my toes and, like, it was just so primal to me. Like how you would look at your baby.”

More family members poured into the living room, half-siblings, and a stepfather who all greeted Cardinalle breathlessly between hugs. “It was just such an abundance of love,” she recalls.

Later, Cardinalle asked the question that had burdened her for entire adult life: Why did her birth mother choose adoption?

By Elvira Loibl

Introduction

The case concerned the decision by the Norwegian authorities to allow the adoption of a child by a ‘Norwegian Christian’ foster family against the wishes of his mother, a Muslim Somali refugee. The judgment seems to reflect the new Zeitgeist regarding adoptions, which came to be viewed more critically within the past couple of years. This is due to the serious abuses and human rights violations that have been uncovered in past adoptions as well as the fact that adoptions are highly invasive as they cut the child off from his family and culture of origin. The judgment of the ECtHR’s Grand Chamber in Abdi Ibrahim v. Norway strengthens the position of parents, whose children have been removed, and whose interests traditionally played a minor role in the welfare systems. It further emphasises the importance of the child to maintain ties with their family and their cultural and religious origins.

Facts

The case concerns a Somali woman who immigrated to Norway in 2010 as a single underage mother with her one-year old son where she was granted asylum status. In order to be assisted in caring for her child, the applicant had stayed at a parent-child-centre, which notified the child welfare services that it considered the applicant’s child to be at risk. The child welfare services issued a care order regarding the applicant’s son, arguing that the case clearly involved gross physical and emotional neglect. The child was subsequently placed with ethnically Norwegian foster parents, who were active Christians, even though the applicant had requested that her child should be cared for by her cousin or a Somali or a Muslim family. The Country Social Welfare Board, however, had claimed that it could not find a foster family with a more similar cultural background and that it considered it more important that a placement was chosen on the basis of the child’s need for stability. For three and a half years, the applicant was allowed very limited contact with her son.

Statement Adoption Association Reformed Gezindte (AVGG) in response to the Standpoint on the future of intercountry adoption of the Minister for Legal Protection, dated April 11, 2022.

On Monday 11 April 2022, the Minister for Legal Protection, FM Weerwind, sent a letter to the House of Representatives containing his position on the future of intercountry adoption. This was in response to the critical report of the Joustra Committee of 8 February 2021.

Our -short- response is as follows:

We are happy and grateful with the choices the minister has made;

The letter has a good tone, the right balance and it's nice that adoption has been clearly chosen as a child protection measure;

A bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Justice Dr Dhananjaya Yashwant Chandrachud issued notice to the Centre on the petition filed by the The Temple of Healing through its secretary Piyush Saxena.

The Supreme Court today issued notice to the Centre after hearing a petition seeking leniency in the adoption modalities in the country.

A bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Justice Dr Dhananjaya Yashwant Chandrachud issued notice to the Centre on the petition filed by the The Temple of Healing through its secretary Piyush Saxena.

The Supreme Court issued notice to the Centre, after hearing q plea filed by The Temple of Healing seeking preparation of an Adoption scheme by Ministry of Women and Child development.

“The petition has merits and thereby we issue notice to the Central government in the issue. We will see and wait for the replies of the Centre,” the Supreme Court said.

On the dark web, men fantasize about private brothels with Ukrainian women or wait at the borders with minibuses and dubious job offers. The NGO International Justice Mission fights against human traffickers.

They distribute flyers, research the dark web and campaign for announcements on trains: The NGO International Justice Mission (IJM) fights modern slavery and forced prostitution worldwide. The organization is currently providing emergency aid and education at the Eastern European borders, where women fleeing Ukraine arrive. Dietmar Roller, Germany chairman of IJM eV, fears that human traffickers will massively exploit the plight of women and children.

SPIEGEL: Mr. Roller, what are your employees currently observing on site at the borders?

Roller: You report on men who drive minibuses to the borders or bus stations and specifically address women. These men offer Ukrainian women great jobs in London, Madrid or Germany. A volunteer recently observed a man trying to convince the grandmother of a 16-year-old to give him the girl. He doesn't have room for everyone in the car, but the girl is safe and can work in Berlin. Our employee prevented this; the man disappeared.

SPIEGEL : Do these problems only exist at the borders or also at German train stations?

Ieder kind heeft het recht om te weten van wie het afstamt. Dit staat in het internationale kinderrechtenverdrag. Soms weet een kind niet van wie het afstamt, bijvoorbeeld na adoptie of draagmoederschap. Kinderen die meer willen weten over hun identiteit en afkomst, kunnen terecht bij de Raad voor de Kinderbescherming.

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