All of their married life, Andrew and Bridget Olsen have dreamed of having four kids. They envisioned for themselves a family of both adopted and biological children.

Now, 15 years into their marriage, they are closing in on their goal. The couple adopted at birth their daughters Halley, 11, and Mady, 9, and have their biological son, Layne, 7. The Mankato area couple has been on an adoption waiting list for their fourth child for 2½ years.

“Our vision was to have a beautiful family, and that’s what we have,” Andrew said.

The couple went through Catholic Charities of Southern Minnesota for Halley’s and Mady’s adoptions, and are using the agency again for their fourth child. They are one of 10 families on a waiting list for adoption, with more families wanting to adopt than there are babies to adopt.

Catholic Charities of Southern Minnesota specializes in domestic infant adoptions and also does home studies for international adoptions.

The Mark Gitenstein interview:- "[Putin] totally underestimated the unity between the two largest democratic systems in the world"

The US ambassador to the EU spoke to The Parliament Magazine about his close friendship with US President Joe Biden, his time as ambassador to Romania and the high level of collaboration between the EU and the US

“There has never been a time in history where there has been this level of collaboration between the European Union and the United States,” Mark Gitenstein, the United States ambassador to the European Union, tells The Parliament Magazine.

“I spent a lot of time talking to previous US ambassadors to the EU [and] other experts on the EU and the United States. And people say it’s never been more united.”

US President Joe Biden has made repairing American ties with Europe a key part of his foreign policy since entering the White House in early 2021, following the tempestuous years of the Donald Trump administration.

When Anouk (42) and her partner think she cannot have children, they decide to adopt. Now her (adopted) daughter is in the middle of puberty. Every puberty is intense, but for Anouk it increasingly evokes feelings of guilt.

“I feel guilty about the adoption.”

My girly dream came true

“Nine years ago, my partner and I adopted our daughter. To be honest, at the time we thought I couldn't have children, so our choice was quickly made. We immersed ourselves in the adoption process and were soon allowed to hold our daughter in our arms. Indra was two years old when we adopted her from India. Later I unexpectedly became pregnant with twins, so suddenly my girlish dream came true. I always wanted to have a big family. Have breakfast together at a large table; I had that loving picture in my head.

That my dream came true was great, and the first years I lived on a pink cloud. Now, nine years later, things are a little less rosy than I had hoped or expected. Indra is very curious by nature. For example, she was still very small when she once heard the church bells ringing. She asked if she could go and see where the sound was coming from. I thought she was going to walk to the garden, so without hesitation said she could go. Moments later, I panicked. She had gotten the garden gate open and was already walking towards the end of the street. 'I was allowed to watch, wasn't I?' was her innocent reply.

The decision came just weeks after a liberal national government took office, replacing the earlier one led by right-wing conservatives.

A top court in Slovenia ruled that bans on same-sex couples getting married and adopting children are unconstitutional and ordered its parliament to amend the law within six months to guarantee they can.

Constitutional Court judges ruled 6-3 on both issues Friday, saying that Slovenia's laws allowing only opposite-sex marriages and adoptions violated a constitutional prohibition against discrimination.

Discrimination against same-sex couples “cannot be justified with the traditional meaning of marriage as a union between a man and a woman, nor with special protection of family,” according to the ruling carried by the Slovenian Press Agency.

The ruling, which the court said has immediate effect, breaks ground for LGBTQ rights in Central and Eastern Europe, where several countries have constitutional bans on same-sex marriage and none before now has allowed couples of the same sex to wed.

NEW DELHI: From promoting family-based non-institutional care for children in difficult situations to creation of “Cradle Baby Reception Centres” for receiving abandoned babies vulnerable to trafficking, the new guidelines of the goverment’s ‘Mission Vatsalya’ lays out a roadmap for child protection for future. That includes the role of the district magistrate who will be responsible for ensuring execution of the “mission” at the district level.

The restructuring of the existing helpline for children ‘1098-Childline’ that has been in the works for long in the WCD ministry appears imminent now. While the guidelines make no mention of the existing helpline number and its future, it states in a section on child helpline that “Mission Vatsalya” in partnership with states and districts will execute a 24x7 helpline service for children and it will be integrated with the Emergency Response Support System 112 (ERSS-112) helpline of MHA.

Also, an Integrated Home Complex of child care institutions called Vatsalya Sadan shall be located within single premises for implementation of the Juvenile Justice Act.

Besides this the Mission envisages setting up ‘Cradle Baby Reception Centres’ fully equipped to care for infants in at least one specialised adoption agency (SAA) per district. Their objective shall be to rescue the abandoned children and look after them till they are adopted. Also each SAA shall install one cradle with an alarm bell at the doorstep to receive abandoned babies.

The WCD ministry said the mission seeks to promote family-based non-institutional care of children in difficult circumstances based on the principle of their institutionalisation as a measure of last resort.

The story of Mamina getting separated from her family is equally moving.

The scenes unfolded at Gujapanga village under Raikia block in Kandhamal district after Mamina, who stays in Belgium, met her family members, relatives after long 30 years seem to be straight out of typical Bollywood family reunion scenes.

The story of Mamina getting separated from her family is equally moving.

Cut to 30 years back when Mamina was born as the fifth child to Krushnachandra Rana at Gujapanga village. Unfortunately, she was barely three months old and not even able to recognise her parents when her mother left for her heavenly abode.

As if it was not enough, Mamina’s father had to leave her at Subhadra Mahatab Ashram located at G Udayagiri. He had to take this decision to save her life as then it was an uphill task for him to feed six empty stomachs.

Krushna and his family members could barely recognise Mamina till she narrated, through a lawyer, that she was his biological daughter.

PHULBANI: When 29-year-old Mamina met Krushna Chandra Rana on Tuesday, it seemed like Saroo Brierley's memoir 'A Long Way Home' - later adapted into the heart-warming Hollywood film 'Lion' - had come alive in Kandhamal's remote Gujapanga village.

Krushna and his family members could barely recognise Mamina till she narrated, through a lawyer, that she was his biological daughter. The emotions that followed were a blend of disbelief and ecstasy. The 29-year-old woman had traveled all the way from Belgium to trace her family in the small village under Raikia block. And it took the story 29 years back in time.

She was all of three months when a Belgian couple adopted her in 1993. Krushna had lost his wife and worried about raising the baby, he left her in custody of Subhadra Mahatab Seva Sadan, a childcare centre at G.Udayagiri, hoping she would get a better life.

Destiny had other plans and a couple of Belgium legally adopted Mamina and took her to their country where she grew up to become a software engineer and married a Belgian. Though Mamina cannot speak Odia, she has retained her original name.

PIKE COUNTY (KMOV) -- A Missouri family claims the federal government mishandled and wrongly blocked their son’s adoption, and now they’re suing in what’s become an international adoption nightmare.

Jill and Adam Trower live in Pike County with their 9-year-old daughter. For more than four years ,they’ve been forced to watch through pictures and videos as Luke, the child they’re adopting, grows up in an orphanage thousands of miles away.

“It definitely feels like a betrayal for us, we have tried to do everything correct and it doesn’t matter,” Jill said.

The Trowers wanted to grow their family through adoption and started working with an international adoption agency. The family says in 2018 the agency connected them with Luke, an infant who was abandoned in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

“Luke was found when he was a few months old, he was just abandoned in a trash heap,” Jill explained.

A report by researchers from the Institute of History of the University of Bern was published on Thursday, pointing out the irregularities of the canton.

The canton of St. Gallen has done poorly in the face of irregular adoptions of Sri Lankan children in Switzerland. Its authorities have largely failed in the monitoring and application of the law between 1973 and 2002. The legal provisions have not been respected for any of the 85 children concerned, according to a report published Thursday.

Mandated by the St. Gallen government, researchers from the Institute of History at the University of Bern looked at documents available in the archives and compiled a digital file for each Sri Lankan child adopted in the canton. Their analysis shows that the cantonal and communal authorities of the time did not apply the directives in force.

50% of inconsistent birth certificates

A total of 40 birth certificates show inconsistencies. The children in question – most of them babies under six months old – did not have a legal representative. The nurturing bond with the adoptive parents was insufficiently monitored. Children have even been entrusted to married couples without sufficiently clarifying the reception conditions beforehand.

PIKE COUNTY (KMOV) -- A Missouri family claims the federal government mishandled and wrongly blocked their son’s adoption, and now they’re suing in what’s become an international adoption nightmare.

Jill and Adam Trower live in Pike County with their 9-year-old daughter. For more than four years ,they’ve been forced to watch through pictures and videos as Luke, the child they’re adopting, grows up in an orphanage thousands of miles away.

“It definitely feels like a betrayal for us, we have tried to do everything correct and it doesn’t matter,” Jill said.

The Trowers wanted to grow their family through adoption and started working with an international adoption agency. The family says in 2018 the agency connected them with Luke, an infant who was abandoned in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

“Luke was found when he was a few months old, he was just abandoned in a trash heap,” Jill explained.