In a significant ruling, the Gujarat High Court has held that a registered adoption deed is legally binding and cannot be questioned by the Regional Passport Office, directing the authorities to process a minor girl’s passport application filed through petitioner on the basis of the deed.

The single judge bench of the high court, while allowing a petition filed by a UAE-based woman, observed, “Once the deed of adoption is registered, the same cannot be called in question by the Regional Passport Office. The passport authority is bound by law to take cognisance of the registered adoption deed.”

The court directed the passport authority to decide the fresh application on its own merits, in light of the registered adoption deed dated July 20, 2016 and the Ministry of External Affairs’ Office Memorandum dated November 14, 2024, preferably within six weeks.

The petitioner and her husband, residents of the United Arab Emirates, had adopted the minor girl. The passport authority closed the fresh application seeking issuance of minor passport through petitioner on the ground that the adoption was invalid under the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act (HAMA) since the adoptive parents belonged to different religions and therefore insisted on production of a proper court adoption order.

Wadapalli police said investigations are underway into both cases.

NALGONDA: Wadapalli police on Wednesday booked seven individuals in two separate cases for allegedly being involved in the illegal adoption of two infants in Damaracharla and Miryalaguda.

In the first incident, police registered a case against Vankudothu Seva and his wife, Bujji of Manthanda in Damaracharla mandal, for illegally adopting a baby girl. A case was also filed against Deepavath Srinivas and his wife Srivani of Munugothu Thanda, who allegedly gave the baby for adoption on November 2 near Uma General Hospital in Miryalaguda.

In the second incident, involving the illegal adoption of a baby boy on September 3, police booked Lavuri Sanjeeva and his wife, Urmila of Manthanda, who received the infant, and Radha of Yadagarapalli in Miryalaguda mandal, who allegedly gave the baby for adoption near Veena Hospital in Miryalaguda.

Wadapalli police said investigations are underway into both cases. District Integrated Child Development Services project director K Krishnaveni told TNIE that both infants were produced before the Child Welfare Committee and have since been shifted to Shishu Gruha in Nalgonda.

1

Department of Cultural Anthropology and Development Studies, Radboud University, 6500 HC Nijmegen, The Netherlands

2

Independent Researcher, 2023 SK Haarlem, The Netherlands

3

Utahn Ashley Mitchell placed her son up for adoption 20 years ago.

“I think it's very scary with a lot of unknowns,” she said. “When people step in and claim to care about you and your best interests and the best interest of your baby, they are going to offer solutions that are very permanent solutions to this temporary issue.”

She sat in the second row of a packed committee room at the Utah State Capitol and listened intently to the proposed amendments to Utah’s adoption code. She works for Utah Adoption Rights, an advocacy group that lobbies for better laws for birth mothers and adoptive parents.

Utah is known for having some of the loosest adoption laws in the country. But that could change with draft legislation being discussed in the lead-up to the 2026 legislative session.

One of the leading issues Rep. Katy Hall wants to change is the restriction on birth mothers’ consent.

Evaluation of partner organizations in the context of investigation of adoption files

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The Danish sperm bank ESB has also supplied donor sperm to private individuals in Belgium, even though this is not permitted under Belgian law. In Parliament on Tuesday afternoon, the Federal Agency for Medicines and Health (FAMHP) stated that it is aware of "a limited number" of private individuals receiving donor sperm directly from the Danish sperm bank. The bank came under fire after it emerged that a single donor had fathered more than 50 children with 39 women in Belgium.

The donor scandal broke in May. It then emerged that 53 children in Belgium, born to 39 women involved, were born with sperm from a Danish woman carrying a cancer-causing gene. Furthermore, the rule that only six women can be treated with sperm from a single donor was violated. 

On Tuesday afternoon, the House Health Committee heard from representatives of the FAMHP and the Federal Internal Audit Service (FIA). The agenda included the inspection reports prepared by the FAMHP on fertility centers, as well as the FIA's report on the FAMHP itself. 

For two and a half hours, officials at the FAMHP answered a long series of questions from members of parliament in detail. Open VLD wanted to know whether the Danish sperm bank in question had also delivered sperm directly to Belgian prospective parents at home. "The FAMHP is indeed aware of a limited number of private individuals receiving donor sperm directly from the Danish sperm bank in the past," said Ethel Mertens, Director General of the FAMHP's DG Inspection, who emphasized that this practice is illegal in Belgium. 

Mertens also said that the identities of the individuals could not be determined, despite requests to the Danish sperm bank and the Danish authorities. "Therefore, it cannot be determined whether the individuals were informed of the problems with the donor."

25.4415The Council of States' Committee on Legal Affairs (RK-S) unanimously adopted a committee motion (25.4415) instructing the Federal Council to develop appropriate adjustments to the legal basis for the enforcement of sanctions.

The Commission also conducted a preliminary review of two parliamentary initiatives from its sister commission, which address various aspects of the enforcement of sanctions. These include a ban on unaccompanied leave for detainees24,464ffenders undergoing closed inpatient therapeutic measures (24,464), as well as adjustments to ensure that the benefits and costs of in25,435t measures under Article 59 of the Swiss Criminal Code are proportionate (25,435). The Commission acknowledges the fundamental need for action in both initiatives. However, it considers a revision of the enforcement of sanctions to be a project requiring a comprehensive overview and close involvement of the cantons. Against this background, it believes that a motion and a legislative25,435ect led by the Federal Council are the more effective approach. The Commission has acted on initiative 25.435, "Inpatient measures (Art. 59 of the Swiss Criminal Code) only with good prospects of success," assuming that its sister commission will24,464end its work until the Federal Council's message is available. However, by a vote of 5 to 6, it rejected initiative 24,464, “Measures in the enforcement of sanctions”.

Various transactions concerning the right to a parent-child relationship

The Motion Nantermod 19,3597The motion, "Criminal Code. Offenses against the family. Penalty for denying the right to personal contact," was adopted by the National Council and then suspended by both chambers pending the submission of the Federal Council's report, "Family Courts and Family Proceedings: Inventory and Reform Proposals," in response to various parliamentary motions. After the Federal Council submitted its report on June 6, 2025, the committee revisited the motion. It concluded that already fragile family situations would become even more complicated with the introduction of criminal sanctions and that mediation or other civil measures would be appropriate in such cases. Therefore, the committee recommends that the Council reject the motion by a vote of 8 to 2, with 2 abstentions. The minority recommends its adoption. The Council of States will decide during the winter session. Furthermore, the committee has begun the preliminary review of the parliamentary initiative Nantermod.25,425The initiative, entitled "Consequences of an unlawful change of the child's place of residence," has been included in the list. The commission will continue its preliminary review of the initiative at one of its next meetings.

Ban on international adoptions

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: 10 children from the Child Welfare Committee have been placed under the care of single parents. A total of 80 children up for adoption by the Child Welfare Committee this year. Of these, 10 were placed under the care of only a mother or father. 22 children, includi individuals with disabilities, were adopted abroad. 

Parents with up to three children of their own are also coming to adopt. Adoption is granted to a single parent through the Central Adoption Resource Authority(CARA) guidelines of the central government. 

Single paren register with the central digital database, CARA, to adopt children. Female guardians are granted adoptions of both sexes. Male guardians are give 

There are currently 186 children in the Child Welfare Committee. Child returned The child who was adopted by a single parent was returned to the Child Welfare Committee after months. 

The woman, a native of Thiruvanantha registered to adopt the child with her husband, but her husband died in the meantime. The woman adopted the child still. However, as she could reconcile, the child was returned to the committee within months. 

Mumbai: A four-year-old girl, kidnapped from near Mumbai CSMT railway station in May, was traced to a Varanasi orphanage, from where she was taken into custody by police and reunited with her family, an official said on Friday.
 

Investigations revealed the girl was abandoned by the roadside by the kidnapper and a woman, on spotting the child alone, took her to the orphanage in the Uttar Pradesh city, he said.
 

A case was registered at the Mata Ramabai Ambedkar (MRA) Marg police station on May 23 after the girl was kidnapped by a man aged around 25 while her parents, originally hailing from Solapur district in western Maharashtra, were asleep near Mumbai Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) station, the official said.
 

During probe, the police examined CCTV footage from the station premises and spotted a man walking away with the child, he said.
 

It was also revealed the kidnapper boarded a local train to Dadar and alighted at Kurla before proceeding to Lokmanya Tilak Terminus (LTT), from where long-distance trains depart.

Suspecting the girl was taken to Uttar Pradesh, a Mumbai police team later travelled several times to Varanasi, but could not trace the child initially, he said.

One of the US's most wanted sex offenders has been arrested in France after 14 years. A few years ago, he was able to adopt two children from Vietnam under his assumed name. Now, he is also facing charges in France for the rape of minors.

"A sexual predator with an icy stare," is how Arizona media describes him. The United States has already officially requested the extradition of Michael Wiseman, a man in his forties who has multiple convictions for child sexual abuse.

Wiseman was arrested on November 1st in the town of Kilstett, in the French Alsace region, but the news only just broke. He will now face decades behind bars in the US. When he will be deported is not yet certain. As soon as possible, according to the US authorities.

Wiseman was first arrested in Arizona in February 2008 on suspicion of sexual exploitation of a minor, according to a spokesperson for the Scottsdale Police Criminal Intelligence Unit (CIU). He was suspected at the time of raping minors under the age of 15. In November of that year, while under judicial supervision, he cut off his ankle monitor and fled the US. His name then appeared on Interpol's Most Wanted list for the first time.