LEGAL COUNSEL FOR women seeking judicial reviews of the final report of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes report have proposed proceeding with three test cases in the High Court.

Eight women, some of whom cannot be named, are taking legal challenges against the Irish State.

A number of women have claimed that their testimony was misrepresented in the report and have taken issue with the fact they were not given a right to reply before the report was published in January.

A test case is one brought forward that would then set a precedent for future similar cases.

The Journal understands that the three proposed test cases are those being brought by high-profile survivors Philomena Lee, Mary Harney and Mari Steed.

As per data by WDCW, till May this year, around 143 children were orphaned due to COVID-19, of which 30 are from Hyderabad.

HYDERABAD: In a bid to curb illegal adoption taking place after the second COVID wave, the State Women Development and Children Welfare (WDCW) Department launched awareness campaigns and counselling sessions.

Fatalities in the second wave of the COVID pandemic have left several children orphaned. As per data by WDCW, till May this year, around 143 children were orphaned due to COVID-19, of which 30 are from Hyderabad.

Amidst this chaos, many social media platforms were flooded with adoption posts for orphaned children. Experts say that adoption through these ways can not just lead to human trafficking but also have legal repercussions.

Legally, adoptions can be done by a Specialised Adoption Agency (SAA). Regarding this, training will be given to SAA Managers and social workers from July 12 to 17 at the WDCW office.

The issue of child adoption has been a part of the legislation for a long in Nepal. The 1963 Muluki Ain favoured adoptions by closed blood relatives or persons belonging to the same clan. Dharmaputra (adopted son) and dharmaputri (adopted daughter) also have some religious connections in Nepal.

Adoption primarily is viewed as an agreement involving inheritance or care for adoptive parents. However, in terms of law, there have been some shifts since the 1963 legislation. Currently, section 169 of the Civil Code, 2017, defines adoption as a situation in which a person accepts a son or daughter of another person as his or her son or daughter.

Following are some aspects relating to adoption from the perspective of the country’s law. These rules apply to an adoptive person who is a Nepali national. We will discuss the law for foreigners willing to adopt a child in Nepal in the next article.

Conditions for adoption

Section 172 of the Civil Code lays down criteria for anyone to adopt a child. The criteria are mentioned below:

TILBURG - How strange and beautiful life can be at times. Until she found her biological family, Inja Hage-Koelemeijer had nothing to do with Korean cuisine, she will soon open her own permanent place on Willem II Street. A Korean deli where you can also take away meals. And from where they deliver.

She is 'very happy'. Tilburg's Inja Hage-Koelemeijer has come a long way, but in September will open a 'luxury toko' with professional kitchen on Willem II Street, next to Kras2 sandwich shop. Inja's Seoul Kitchen, Korean through and through. Where you can buy Korean ingredients, all kinds of kimchis (fermented cabbage) and kimbap (seaweed rolls).

The story of Inja is not just a catering story. If you want to see the beauty of your own business, you have to take a few steps back in time. In 1974, as a 5-year-old, she and her younger brother moved to the Netherlands after their adoption.

Found family

She hardly stood still for that adoption for years until the telephone rang in 2007. At the other end of the line is the Korean adoption association Arierang. Whether Inja needs contact with her mother? The first meeting follows the next day . Her biological mother has been looking for her for years, not knowing where to look. Finally she finds Inja.

Frontline, The Care Review and the lost decade …..

July 11, 2021UncategorizedChildrens Social Care Review, Frontlinedianegalpin

A decade on from the creation of Frontline and the final conclusions of the Children’s Social Care Review some individuals careers have soared, riches have been enhanced, power, privilege & elite status have been grasped, bright futures are in clear sight… but alas not for those children and families at the centre of this continuing social work saga.

In October 2012 an early career teacher in his mid 20’s decided he was going to change the future of social work with children and families. So Josh MacAlister approached Ark Ventures, a global charity set up in 2002 by hedge fund managers, seeking support to develop a new programme of social work education based on a fast track teacher leadership training programme he himself had qualified through called Teach First.

Ark responded by providing £200,000 in seed capital so a business plan for Government funding could be submitted by MacAlister to start up Frontline. Support in developing the business plan was provided by BCG (Boston Consulting Group the 2nd largest American consultancy in the world). ‘The business plan was submitted in just four months, and used to secure over £15m of government and philanthropic investment to launch the venture’ (Ark Ventures).

A decision by Israel’s supreme court Sunday paved the way for same-sex couples to have children through surrogacy, capping a decade-old legal battle in what activist groups hailed as a major advance for LGBTQ rights in Israel.

Restrictions on surrogacy for same-sex couples and single fathers in Israel must be lifted within six months, the court ruled, giving authorities time to prepare for the change while making clear that it is a definitive one.

“We won! And now it’s final,” the petitioners said in a statement, the Times of Israel reported. “This is a big step toward equality, not only for LGBT in Israel, but for everyone in Israel.”

Surrogacy was already permitted for heterosexual couples and single women. The law excluded same-sex couples, however, and some who couldn’t have kids with surrogate mothers in Israel turned to surrogates overseas.

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MADURAI: As of July 8, 295 children are missing in the State. The number would have been 297 had the two toddlers sold into illegal adoption by an NGO in Madurai not been rescued. The incident raises several questions over the effectiveness of existing systems to ensure the safety of abandoned women and children in the State.

The Madurai incident came to light after a one-year-old boy, who was under the care of one Idhayam Trust, was claimed to have died of Covid at the Government Rajaji Hospital (GRH). An investigation, however, revealed that he, along with another toddler, was sold to illegal adoption by the chief executive director of the trust, GR Sivakumar, and his accomplices.

It turned out that the NGO, which had been recognised with several State awards and worked closely with the police for over ten years, used the ‘trust’ of the public to pursue unscrupulous activities. Notably, the same NGO had been allocated a building by the Madurai Corporation less than a year ago to look after the destitute rescued during the lockdown. Soon after the aforementioned incident, three more children were rescued in similar cases of illegal adoption near Jaihindpuram in Madurai.

Subsequently, all NGO-run Homes in the district were inspected by the District Social Welfare Department following an order by Collector S Aneesh Sekhar. Madurai also has two Central government-aided Homes and one State government-aided Home.

According to District Social Welfare Officer, Helen Rose, around 20 of the 39 Homes in Madurai were functioning without registration. “They have been told to register with the department soon. This apart, registration process is underway for 5 Homes. Eleven have renewed their licenses. While one Home was shut down by the district administration, two others did so themselves,” she said.

Adopted children commonly face mental trauma with new families. Adjusting to a new environment, being surrounded by strangers and so many questions lashed out on them about families or past experiences place them into a difficult situation. Besides a happy beginning, a safe and secure grounding with a healthy caregiver is needed most. Their brains won’t stop thinking with one time comfort been provided by you. They’ll test you so many times in various ways. And this can cause big trouble to the adoptive families too.

An open-minded family, along with more group support, can help reduce such problems by acknowledging and addressing them without passing judgment on the child.

The adoption process in general is a tiresome journey. Parents go through many troubles to adopt a child. Hence, their openness and resilience can accommodate the mental issues being faced by the adopted children.

Psychiatrists suggest parents to pay attention to the behavioural part of their children. They say parents often ignore such incidents and on a later course regret not addressing them at the right moment. But mostly they never understand what was the area of focusing. In most cases, adoptive parents do not notice such events until a specialist points them out.

Seeking expert help to nurture a healthy relationship with your child is no shame. When you see anything different in your kid’s behaviour you can always visit a doctor. Explain your areas of concern and changes you’ve noticed so far. The first place is always the family doctor, and seek help from a paediatrician if they are not sure of the condition. He will assess your children and if needed refer you to specialists like a psychiatrist.

MADURAI: The recent incident of child trafficking and illegal adoption through a city-based NGO, Idhayam Trust, has put the highlight on the need to educate society against stigmatising childless couples and sensitise it to the nitty-gritty of legal adoption system.

“A family is not complete without a child,” *Rani and *Rajan are told repeatedly by those around them. Having been childless for over a decade, the couple found themselves at the receiving end of heartless stigmatisation, isolation, and humiliation, most of it directed at Rani.

“We were treated a failure by our family members. We were ridiculed during social gatherings and ostracised from family functions. My in-laws called me maladi and said they would get rid of me and make my husband marry a ‘fertile’ woman. My husband was supportive, but I lived with the insecurity for years until we moved out and cut ties with our families,” said Rani.

For Rajan, the harassment was centred on social status. “My colleagues and elders from the family told me that I would need a child to look after us in our old age and to perform my last rites. When others discussed schools and future plans of their children, I would be ridiculed and ignored,” said Rajan.

The case of Rani and Rajan is not an isolated one; almost all childless couples come across such situations. Many of these couples have already applied for adoption. As for Rani and Rajan, they are waiting for a call from the government for the past three and a half year now.

OPINION: There’s an unfathomable quality about TV programmes such as Long Lost Family, or its antipodean cousin, David Lomas’ Lost and Found. The narratives are heartbreakingly familiar: a child adopted out to loving parents enjoys a happy childhood, only to discover in later life that a piece of the “who am I” puzzle is missing. There’s a void in their identity, which the programme naturally manages to fill.

Redemption makes for top-rating telly that’s guaranteed to shed a tear among the voyeuristic like you and me. What these programmes blithely ignore is that, for the approximately 80,000 people who’ve been adopted between 1955-85, the state has engaged in sanctioned child-trafficking that redistributed children from single mothers to couples who couldn’t have children, claiming the birth mothers had a choice – when they didn’t.

Now finally, the most antiquated of the three pieces of legislation surrounding adoption, the 1955 Adoption Act, is under review.

The Ministry of Justice has released a discussion paper “Adoption in Aotearoa New Zealand”, reviewing the act. It’s seeking submissions on six key issues: what is adoption and who is involved; cultural aspects of adoption, including wh?ngai? or atawhai; how the adoption process works in New Zealand and offshore; the impacts of adoption; and the adoption process for a surrogate child.

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