When I found out I had a different name to the one I grew up with, my life story began to change.

As an adopted person I had only ever seen my amended birth certificate which was written 'as if I was born to' my adoptive parents.

But when I was 18 years old the laws around closed adoptions changed and allowed me to apply for my original birth certificate.

So I did.

It was like reading a front page news story about myself that I had no idea about.

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- A firefighter experiences a happy ending when he met his biological mother for the first time in Chile.

Eyewitness News first told you about Odessa firefighter David Avary several months ago when he found out he was one of thousands of children stolen as babies and adopted out illegally under the Augusto Pinochet regime in Chile.

It was a trafficking of children that experts say was the Chilean government's way to reduce poverty and control the population.

A Houston organization called Connecting Roots, founded by a Houston firefighter who was also stolen at birth, was able to track down Avary's biological family.

He met his family for the first time this past weekend. A hug and reunion that were once just a dream became a reality nearly four decades later.

A child should not be lost in its search for paternity, said the court, directing family courts adjudicating between warring parents to order DNA tests only as a last resort

The Supreme Court has held in a judgment that children cannot be mechanically subjected to DNA tests in each and every case between warring parents as a short-cut to establish proof of infidelity.

“Genetic information is personal and intimate,” a Bench of Justices V. Ramasubramanian and B.V. Nagarathna observed in a judgment. “It sheds light on a person’s very essence... The information goes to the very heart of who she or he is,” the judgment added, emphasising that “a child’s genetic information is part of his fundamental right to privacy.”

“Children have the right not to have their legitimacy questioned frivolously before a court of law. This is an essential attribute of the right to privacy. Courts are therefore required to acknowledge that children are not to be regarded like material objects, and be subjected to forensic/DNA testing, particularly when they are not parties to the divorce proceeding. It is imperative that children do not become the focal point of the battle between spouses,” Justice Nagarathna, who authored the judgment, underscored.

‘Psychological trauma’

As of 1 May 2023, Lonneke Kapoen will become Director of Advice, Direction and Central Authority at the Directorate-General for Punishment and Protection of the Ministry of Justice and Security.

The Directorate for Advice, Direction and Central Authority (ARC) provides expertise to the Directorate-General for Punishment and Protection (DGSenB) by advising, facilitating and testing (solicited and unsolicited) on policy issues in the areas of finance, business operations and legal affairs , information provision and subsidies. In addition, the management supports the DGSenB in the implementation of work processes, but above all in cooperation with all organizations, such as DJI, Child Protection Board, probation organizations, CJIB, OM, ZM, Police. In addition, the director is responsible for the Central Authority for International Children's Affairs (CA) and has an important liaison function in international child abduction, child protection and adoption.

Eric Bezem: “I am very pleased that Lonneke will join the DG with her energy, broad experience and clout. Lonneke is collaborative and with her open and curious attitude she will be appreciated both within and outside the DG.”

Lonneke Kapoen: “Let policy work, that is my motto. No impact without good policy. How wonderful to be able to bridge the gap between policy and implementation within the chain of punishment and protection in this position. I look forward to contributing to a safe and just society. In this position I can create the conditions and fulfill the connecting role for a good translation of politics and policy into implementation and vice versa. I look forward to working with colleagues in the department as well as with all partners outside it."

Lonneke Kapoen has been working at the Netherlands Enterprise Agency of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate since 2017. Currently as department manager Implementation Policy where she is responsible for easily implementable policy for enterprising Netherlands. Previously, she worked at the Ministry of Justice in Security in various (management) positions in implementation, staff and policy and at the European Union. Her areas of work have always been at the intersection of policy and implementation and the proper translation of these to society. Lonneke brings a lot of (implementation) knowledge in the areas of finance, legal frameworks, data-driven working, subsidy schemes and process design. She has also earned her spurs several times within the international playing field.

Those who ordered or contributed to the deportation of thousands of Ukrainian children to Russia to be "deprogrammed", adopted and still contribute to the repopulation will have to answer for this war crime for decades and decades beyond the end of the war.

We call on France to work to help investigate this case and to see judges identified to punish those responsible.

Everything must be done now to allow these children to return as soon as possible to their loved ones or to their country.

Russia is violating the International Convention on the Rights of the Child, a treaty that binds almost all States in the world. It must be accountable to the international community. The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has the right to call it out more firmly than ever.

We, the signatories, will remain mobilized to ensure that justice is done for what international law calls genocide.

THANE: A newborn found abandoned in a drain in Ulhasnagar in Maharashtra’s Thane district in 2018 has been adopted by an Italian couple, said a functionary of a local organisation that rescued him and registered a police complaint at the time.

The child, with severe injuries to his head and illness due to consumption of contaminated water, was found in a drain in Vadol village on December 30 that year by Shivaji Ragade and his wife Jayshree.

They filed a complaint with police to find out who had thrown the child in the drain, though that search is yet to yield results.

An appeal for money for his treatment at Wadia Hospital in Mumbai post the trauma yielded Rs 10.42 lakh in 24 hours, Shivaji Ragade said.

“We wanted to adopt the child but could not do so due to some legal issues, so he was given in the care of Vishwa Balak Ashram. He was named Tiger due to the resolve with which the child survived despite being thrown into a drain,” Ragade said.

Kochi: Ernakulam Child Welfare Committee has decided to cancel the procedures to declare the baby, who was illegally adopted by a couple from Tripunithura, as free for adoption. The committee has made the decision after the biological parents of the six-months-old baby turned up before CWC and requested to keep the baby with the committee for some time, expressing their helplessness to take the baby home now.

"We haven't asked about their inability to take the baby home now. Since they have expressed the willingness to take back the baby but requested more time, we have cancelled the procedure for legally declaring the baby as ready for adoption," said a CWC official.

The baby is currently under care in a childcare home functioning with the government's approval. The illegal adoption of the baby, born at Kalamassery medical college, came to light after a municipality staff filed a complaint against a staff in the hospital for allegedly making a fake birth certificate.

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The newborn was rescued from the drain by a couple—Shivaji and Jayashree Ragade—on December 30, 2018. Till the time of his adoption, the Ragade couple looked after all his requirements

Ambernath: Tiger, now four-year-old, who was abandoned in a drain in Ambernath hours after his birth, on Friday got a new home and set of parents after he was adopted by an Italian couple.

The couple visited Vishwa Balak Kendra in Nerul and flew back with Tiger.

The newborn was rescued from the drain by a couple—Shivaji and Jayashree Ragade—on December 30, 2018. Till the time of his adoption, the Ragade couple looked after all his requirements.

“After an eight-month-long process Tiger finally got his parents. It is not that we did not try to adopt him, but one cannot adopt a child by choice. Hence, we had to wait for another family to adopt him and look after his future,” Ragade said.

The newborn was rescued from the drain by a couple—Shivaji and Jayashree Ragade—on December 30, 2018. Till the time of his adoption, the Ragade couple looked after all his requirements

Ambernath: Tiger, now four-year-old, who was abandoned in a drain in Ambernath hours after his birth, on Friday got a new home and set of parents after he was adopted by an Italian couple.

The couple visited Vishwa Balak Kendra in Nerul and flew back with Tiger.

The newborn was rescued from the drain by a couple—Shivaji and Jayashree Ragade—on December 30, 2018. Till the time of his adoption, the Ragade couple looked after all his requirements.

The Gujarat High Court on Friday held that a registered deed of adoption is enough to prove the validity of adoption of a child under Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956, and that there is no requirement to have a civil court decree asserting such deed, for change in birth records.

The court was hearing a bunch of petitions in which the question before the court was whether the competent authorities can refuse to change the birth records in the absence of a decree of a competent court.

While allowing the petitions, the single judge bench of Justice Biren Vaishnav held:

“The parties to the Registration Deed have consented to take the child in adoption. No objections have come from the biological father with regard to the mode and the manner of adoption and therefore as held that the presumption though being rebuttable no roadblock or dispute has been raised for the adoption of the child, relegating the parties then to undertake the rigmarole of approaching the Court when the deed of adoption is filed before the Registrar would not render the Registrar powerless to make the corrections.”

Kaushal Pandya, the counsel appearing for Surat Municipal Corporation, contended that unless the parties approach the appropriate court under the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956 and obtain decrees for validating adoption, no request for alterations of name in the birth certificates can be entertained.