From the director of acclaimed independent films "Gook" and "Ms. Purple," "Blue Bayou," tells the story of a uniquely American family, faced with a devastating dilemma. Justin Chon directs, wrote and stars in the project, set in a vibrant and diverse Louisiana community.

Chon portrays Antonio LeBlanc, a Korean American man who was adopted and came to the U.S. at age 3, and has lived a life of struggle and tragedy. He finds purpose and joy in his family, including his pregnant wife Kathy (Alicia Vikander), and his young stepdaughter Jessie (Sydney Kowalske). But Antonio stands to lose everything when an incident with a racist local cop leads to his detainment by ICE, which threatens to deport Antonio over a complex loophole in immigration policy despite the U.S. being the only country he's ever known.

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Through the many challenges and heartbreaking moments of "Blue Bayou," Antonio's loving relationship with stepdaughter Jessie, and his deep connection with a local Vietnamese woman named Parker (Linh Dan Pham), who is struggling to come to terms with her own fate, radiate comfort and warmth. Antonio's is a fundamentally human story, shining light on the real families that suffer from rigid and dehumanizing immigration policies, on the vibrant and expansive Asian communities in the South, and the diverse faces and stories of adoptees.

"I wanted to do justice to the adoptee community and their experience," Chon told Salon. His movie is dedicated to them, and with the guidance of real adoptees, it's meant to shatter myths and honor their struggles and experiences.

Last week, the Flemish Government concluded a political agreement that should lay the foundation for an ambitious reform of the Flemish legislation on intercountry adoption. The Flemish Government has decided today that it will accept the expert panel's proposal to draw up a concrete action plan to guarantee that future intercountry adoptions take place correctly and ethically. Minister responsible Wouter Beke: 'This plan will be drawn up in close consultation with the stakeholders. The Growing Up Agency has already made the first contacts for this. Hearings in parliament will also start next week. I'm looking forward to the debate.'

The action plan will contain the following guidelines:

There is still a future for intercountry adoption in Flanders , always in the interest of the child;

' Multi-parenting ' is an important basic idea in adoption, which means, among other things, that 'first parents' remain involved as much as possible;

We are strengthening cooperation with the countries of origin ;

Rick Holtzapple, a career member of the Foreign Service with the rank of Minister-Counselor, arrived in Brussels in September 2021 to serve as Deputy Permanent Representative and Deputy Chief of Mission of the U.S. Mission to NATO. Mr. Holtzapple has previously served as Director of the State Department’s Office for NATO and OSCE Affairs in Washington from 2012 to 2014, culminating with the 2014 NATO Summit in Wales. He also served as Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy to Benin and, on two separate occasions, in the National Security Council’s European Directorate at the White House, from 1998 to 2000 and from 2010 to 2012.

Before arriving in Brussels, Mr. Holtzapple was on the faculty of the National Defense University in Washington, DC for three years, and spent one year as a Senior Advisor at the State Department’s Foreign Service Institute. Other assignments with the State Department were as Political Minister-Counselor in Paris, as Director of the State Department’s Office of EU Affairs, as Chief of the Political and Economic Section in Zagreb, at the U.S. Mission to the EU, in the Bureau of Intelligence and Research, and at the U.S. Embassies in Kinshasa and Djibouti.

On detail from the State Department, Rick has served on assignments with a UN peacekeeping mission in Croatia, at the National Democratic Institute in Washington, and with the European Commission in Brussels.

Mr. Holtzapple holds a B.A. in International Relations from Stanford University and an M.A. in International Relations from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). He speaks French and Croatian.

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The second wave of COVID-19 ruptured families across India. Despite widespread media coverage, the conversation overlooked a demographic worst affected by it, namely children.

According to a Lancet study, 1.13 million children across the globe lost their primary caregivers to COVID-19 last year. This figure includes at least one parent or a custodial grandparent.

The National Commission for Child Rights recorded over 3,500 children who lost both their parents during the pandemic in India. However, The Lancet study documents a much higher number of children orphaned, reporting 1.16 lakh minors who lost their parents just between March 2020 and April 2021 in the country. In contrast, the number of children who lost their primary or secondary caregivers was 1.86 lakh. This trend led to a new sub-category of bereaved children, referred to as the ‘COVID orphans’.

Consequently, social media platforms were flooded with unwarranted pictures of children accompanied by requests for their adoption. However, legalities surrounding adoption in India are complex and do not provide for the direct adoption of a child without first being routed through a statutory body – thus, likening social media adoptions to child trafficking. Such viral messages have not only misinformed prospective parents looking for opportunities to jump the long queue but potentially exposed unregistered children to illegal flesh trade, human trafficking rackets and forced labour.

Curiously, the issue received minimal investigation from civil society gesturing towards the general lack of informed discourse surrounding adoption and lacunae in addressing misinformation about it.

Troubled man, 22, who tried searching for his birth parents after leaving home was found hanged in his adopted family’s garage, inquest hears

Ben Murphy, 22, was found hanged in the garage of his adopted parents

He had previously been asked to leave the home in December 2019

Adopted mother claims their family had been 'walking on eggshells' round him

Ben contacted biological parents almost a year after being asked to move out

THE MINISTRY of Women and Child Development will soon issue a notification to facilitate inter-country adoption under the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act (HAMA). According to the new regulation, families adopting under this Act can receive a no-objection certificate from Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA), the government’s adoption authority, to take the child abroad.

Currently, families have to approach the courts for the no-objection certificates.

Last month, the ministry issued a notification waiving the two-year mandatory period that an adoptive family would have to stay in the country for constant monitoring by CARA and other authorities. According to this new rule, adoptive families can now intimate Indian diplomatic missions two weeks in advance of their intent to travel with the adopted child. The families are to furnish all details, including that of residence. The Indian missions will then monitor the progress and security of the adopted child, instead of CARA and other authorities.

Ministry officials on Tuesday said these measures were being taken to facilitate ease in carrying out adoptions, while at the same time ensure prevention of abuse or child trafficking.

Enacted in 1956, the HAMA is a personal law applicable to Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists and Jains and largely pertains to adoptions within a family. Adoptions under it are simpler as the two parties along with the child only need to approach a court. On the other hand, CARA has strict stipulations prior to and after adoptions, such as Home Study Reports of the prospective parents which are prepared through social workers of selected Specialised Adoption Agency.

The public outcry about the adoption break, which has since been discontinued, diverts attention from what the discussion should really be about. So says Sophie Withaeckx, who was part of the expert panel on intercountry adoption for two years. "The experience of adoptees who have been victims of systematic malpractice is real."

BI was part of the expert panel on intercountry adoption for almost two years. In this I contributed to a thorough reflection on the question of whether and how it is possible to prevent malpractice in intercountry adoption. The final report was drawn up on the basis of intensive research from various scientific disciplines.

The report includes 20 recommendations. On the one hand, they are aimed at a thorough reform of the adoption landscape, and on the other hand, they aim to do justice to adoptees who have become victims of malpractice. The latter can be done, among other things, by expanding aftercare, providing remedial measures and offering public apologies to victims.

The adoption break is necessary for a thoroughly reformed adoption practice that must be free from malpractice.

After the report was published, there was immediate outrage. Unfortunately not because intercountry adoption can still be accompanied by malpractice, but because of the recommendation to take an adoption break pending the reform of the system. That pause is, however, necessary for a thoroughly reformed adoption practice that must be free from malpractice.

Sit for any time in the foyer of the Hilton Hotel in Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa, and you'll see a procession of Americans and Europeans wandering from their rooms across the marble floor to the restaurant or swimming pool with their precious new possessions - babies or infants they've just adopted.

I'd never really thought a great deal about international adoption until I was confronted with the scene as I checked into the hotel in September last year.

I'd arrived to film a story for ABC TV's Foreign Correspondent program about the drought-induced famine.

The longer I stayed, the more I started to think about the adopted children - where they were from and how they must feel to suddenly find themselves alone with someone whose skin colour doesn't match theirs and whose language they don't speak.

They're dressed in alien attire - a brand new Red Sox baseball cap and T-shirt with some cute and cheery foreign slogan plastered across the front - and in an environment like none they've ever seen, when just out on the street is the one they know so well, where their extended family and fellow countrymen reside.

NEW DELHI: In a bid to ease inter-country adoptions, the Central Adoption Resource Authority has framed regulations under

the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act on the direction of the Union government, an official said on Tuesday.

Till now, there were no regulations for the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) for inter-country adoptions under the

Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act (HAMA), which covers Hindu, Sikhs, Buddhists and Jains.

"So, when a Non-Resident Indian (NRI) or Overseas-Citizen of India used to get adoption done under the HAMA, they faced a

NEW DELHI: The priority for adoption may be given to those who are from the same state as that of the child so that the social and cultural milieu is preserved, a senior official said.

At present, people get a choice of three states from where they wish to adopt.

NEW DELHI: The priority for adoption may be given to those who are from the same state as that of the child so that the social and cultural milieu is preserved, a senior official said.

At present, people get a choice of three states from where they wish to adopt.