ARNHEM - The 29-year-old Carlos Wiltink from Arnhem was severely mistreated in his first years of life, in his native Brazil, and was badly burned. After his adoption, he had to undergo about forty operations because of his mutilations. Now he is participating in an international study, in which his skin must be repaired in a more sustainable way. That can make a big difference to him.

Between zero and three years, I was burned and mutilated in Brazil," says Carlos in the Burn Center in Beverwijk, where the investigation is taking place. In files he has read, there are stories about what might have happened there. "That's pretty intense. Not human."

The large scars on his legs are caused by burns, according to research in Beverwijk. One arm is also longer than the other due to stabbings, Carlos points out. "I have injuries to my head, because knives have also come on it. I also suffered brain damage, which can give me epilepsy."

In the end, young Carlos was found by the side of the road by two children. "They sounded the alarm. Then I was in hospital for a year and a half. My life hung by a thread."

My mother gave me away to the wrong people. She herself did not have enough money

Bengaluru: The Karnataka police have busted a fake surrogacy racket selling children to childless people, by claiming that they are born of surrogate mothers in Bengaluru on Wednesday.

The accused were identified as Devi Shanmuga, Mahesh Kumar, Rajana Deviprasad, Janardhan aka Janarthan and Dhanalakshmi. The kingpin of the racket Ratna died after contracting coronavirus.

The police have traced 11 kids and it is suspected that the accused have sold 18 more children. They allegedly charged Rs 2 to Rs 3 lakh per child and got the money in instalments from the people who were given the child.

DCP (South) Harish Pande explained that the police got a breakthrough in busting the racket after they found out 28 mothers’ cards were issued to pregnant and lactating mothers from the house of one of the accused persons. “At that point, we did not know that the mother’s card was fake or belonged to original mothers. The police department tracked 11 kids one by one. Mother’s card was manipulated to show parents who bought the children as biological parents,” he stated.

A nurse and compounder of a private nursing home were involved in this racket and they issued the mothers’ cards with fake signatures. The accused sold the kids in various districts in Karnataka. The police are also booking the fathers who sold their kids to the accused persons. However, the people who bought the kids are not being booked, the official said.

A Russian court has jailed for 21 years a former Orthodox priest, said to have adopted 70 children, for a string of child abuse offences.

Nikolai Stremsky was convicted of raping several children and other violent acts in his parish in the Urals in south-west Russia.

Stremsky was reputed to have Russia's largest family and was decorated with a national Order of Parental Glory.

Barred from the priesthood he has also been stripped of his honour.

As an abbot in the town of Saraktash, Stremsky and his wife ran a foster home from the early 1990s, adopting children from orphanages in the region. Most of the 70 they adopted have since grown up.

Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas' baby born through surrogacy has restarted debates about the practice. Why do we think there's only one way to be a mother?

“Motherhood is a state of being which has, from time immemorial, been defined by a set of cliched, internalized words that are as powerful as they are evocative. Woman, womb, mother…. In our minds, the creation, sustenance and nurturing of life hinges on the blending of these words into synonymity.” I wrote these words in in the preface to my 2014 book Baby Makers: The Story Of Indian Surrogacy, and went on to ask whether being a “mother” necessarily includes the whole gamut of actions like conceiving, carrying and bearing a child. What if one cannot conceive or bear a child for some biological reasons, or chooses not to for personal reasons? Does that make her less of a woman? Can she not still be a mother?

Thailand is revising surrogacy laws to allow foreigners to hire Thai surrogate mothers without requiring one partner to be Thai. Under the proposed changes, foreigners will also be allowed to bring the eggs and sperm out of Thailand for surrogacy overseas.

Revisions to the law are aimed at promoting Thailand as a medical hub, gaining more income for the country. The authorities share that the revision will take around two months to consider and the revisions will need to be adjusted before submitting to the Cabinet.

Under the present rules and conditions, surrogacy in Thailand is allowed only for Thai couples or foreigners who have a Thai partner. Those in Thailand also cannot send their frozen eggs or sperm overseas. Thailand is losing opportunities over these two restrictions, according to the Director-General of the Department of Health Service Support, Thares Krassanai-Rawiwong.

If the law is revised, there will be a system for Thai women interested in being a surrogate to register to make sure that the children will not be trafficked. During the nine months of pregnancy and after delivery, hospitals will have a tracking system to check on the mother and baby.

There have also been a number of cases in Thailand related to illegal surrogacy. Back in May 2020, a Thai doctor faced charges for human trafficking and involvement in an illegal ring using Thai women to carry babies for people in China.

Suzanne Ferrière, born in 1886 in Geneva, Switzerland, emerged as a prominent figure in the field of humanitarian activism, leaving a permanent mark on organizations like the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the International Social Service (ISS). Coming from a distinguished Genevan family, Ferrière became the third female member of the ICRC’s governing body.

Her career in humanitarian service began under the guidance of her uncle, Dr. Frédéric Ferrière, member of the ICRC. She initially worked in the Civilians Section of the Central Prisoners of War Agency from 1914 to 1915 before transitioning to the ICRC Relief Section. Notably, her collaboration with Eglantyne Jebb in 1919 led to the establishment of the International Union for Child Welfare, where Ferrière later assumed the role of Secretary-General.

In 1920, Suzanne Ferrière played a pivotal role in the formation of the International Migration Service (IMS), when the Young Women’s Christian Association initiated it as a network of social work agencies aiding migrant women and children. Serving as the IMS Secretary-General until 1945, Ferrière advocated passionately for an international socio-legal framework for cross-border family maintenance claims. The organization, later renamed the International Social Service (ISS), owed much of its success and global impact to Ferrière’s dedicated leadership.

Ferrière’s commitment extended beyond organizational boundaries, as she undertook missions assigned by the ICRC that took her to various parts of the world, including Russia, South America, and Africa. Her intelligence and courage were evident in overcoming obstacles. In distant countries where conventions offered little protection, Ferrière demonstrated an unwavering determination to assist victims.

During World War II, Suzanne Ferrière emerged as an advocate within the ICRC leadership. Her influence extended to shaping relationships with other international organizations and contributing to the establishment of the maintenance convention. The historian Roxana Banu (2023) emphasized Ferrière’s pivotal role in incorporating research findings into reports presented to the Committee for the protection of children.

Investigations continue to try and discover real parents of couple’s ‘non-related’ baby

PJ police have arrested a couple in their 40s, living in Gondomar, on suspicion of international child trafficking.

The duo walked into a family health unit in their city around a year ago with a baby girl who, they said, they wanted to ‘integrate into their household’ and start on the required round of vaccinations.

The infant had no identity documents: the story being that she was the daughter of a woman who had had an affair with the man, and who did not want her.

He and his wife had decided to bring her up as their own child, said the couple.

South Africans – and the world at large – have been left angered and heartbroken over how a mother could possibly sell her child. But according to Natasha Andrews – the woman who wanted to adopt Joslin Smith – the little girl was loved and wanted in her home.

‘She was loved’: Woman who wanted to adopt Joslin Smith speaks Andrews has revealed that her family wanted to take in the six-yearold as their own. However, they were denied by her mother, Kelly.

This week marks one month since Joslin disappeared from her home in the Middelpos informal settlement in Diazville, Saldanha Bay. Despite extensive searches by police, professionals, and the community, she has yet to be found. 

Four suspects – including her mother and her boyfriend Jacquin Appollis, as well as friends Steveno Van Rhyn and Lourentia Lombaard, have been arrested for kidnapping and human trafficking. They are currently in custody

JOSLIN SMITH ‘OTHER FAMILY’ SPEAKS

MUMBAI: Within 12 hours of being kidnapped, the police rescued a five-year-old girl from Thane and arrested four women, including two of the victim’s neighbours in Bhandup, for planning to sell the girl for ₹1 lakh. The accused were planning to take the girl to Rajasthan on Monday but the police nabbed them before they could flee and rescued the girl around 8.00am on Monday.

The arrested accused are identified as Khusubu Ramashish Gupta, 19, Maina Rajaram Dilor, 39, Divya Kailash Singh, 33, and Payal Hemant Shah, 32. Police said, Gupta and Dilor both live in Bhandup area near the residence of the girl, whereas Singh and Shah live in Balkum area of Thane. 

During the investigation, the police learnt that Singh and Shah knew Dilor for a long time and they had discussed earlier with them that they wanted to adopt a girl and were ready to pay ₹1 lakh for a girl child, said a police officer. Dilor then discussed it with Gupta and they decided to identify the girl. added official. 

According to the police, the girl’s father works as a daily wager and she as a housemaid in Bhandup. Their five-year-old daughter is studying in senior KG. The incident occurred on Sunday around 9:30pm when Gupta, who lives in the same vicinity as the child, saw the girl near her house. She spoke to Maina on the phone and decided to kidnap the girl. Maina also knew the child, and both then called her on the pretext of giving her chocolate and made her sit in an auto, said police sub-inspector Abhijit Tekawade of the Bhandup police station who was part of the probe.

Working Group on illicit practices in adoption: Ms. Mia Dambach and Professor David Smolin both represented ISS General Secretariat. The Working Group referred to a number of resources ISS has developed, including the Grey Zones study, Responding to Illegal Adoptions and a Guide for Prospective Adopters as being extremely valuable for implementing in practice the goals of the working group. Together with UNICEF, ISS emphasized the need to ensure that the environment creating illicit practices was addressed as well as the needs of past victims. ISS looks forward to continue the collaboration with the working group to further develop tools.

HCCH.NET

HCCH | Meeting of the Working Group on illicit practices in adoption

Hague Conference on Private International Law - The World Organisation for Cross-border Co-operation in Civil and Commercial Matters