For 60 years, Norway has patted itself on the shoulder and carried out more than 20,000 adoptions across continents. The adoptees' cultural heritage and emphasis on genetics are usually left at the airport in the country of birth. As they land in Norway, they are Norwegian-born.

The whole adoption system is colored by this attitude.

The complexity of raising children without belonging to their country of birth and cultural heritage, and at the same time asking them questions about whether they want to return is unlike anything else. If you look closely at the adoption industry and life as an adoptee, you no longer wonder if trauma and dissociations occur.

The assimilated conception of reality, which in the technical language is referred to as an "adoption fog", requires concrete measures and a great deal against breaking out.

Openness about feelings related to one's own adoption and thoughts about the industry is an important factor in this process.

PANJIM: Last month, the police machinery led an unstoppable hunt amidst a heavy downpour to trace a toddler, abducted by an unidentified woman from the government-run Goa Medical College and Hospital.

The case was cracked but what unfolded the serious crime of separating a breastfeeding mother from her child shook the conscience of the State. Obsession with a son, usually unheard of in a State with 87.40 per cent literacy rate, was the sole reason why the woman took the crime route. This has triggered a debate across various platforms.

We, however, look at how in Goa there is alleged illegal adoption amidst instances of unwed mothers or financially-poor families handing over their newborns – irrespective of the gender – to wealthy couples.

About four years ago, the Goa Police was shown the real side of illegal adoption following a complaint lodged by Victim Assistance Unit (VAU). A Goan couple living in the UK had illegally adopted a girl child from a daily-wage earning couple hailing from Karnataka.

Ironically, the couple who illegally adopted the child did not take her with them to UK but instead handed over her custody to the sister of one of the accused living in Goa. The child, excellent in academics and sports, was ill-treated and physically abused. An investigation unearthed the dark side of what can also be termed as smuggling of innocent children. Unfortunately, the child’s biological parents refused to take her back and she was later given in the custody of the Child Welfare Committee.

Guam could benefit from the streamlining the adoption process here, especially foster children who need homes and people who want to bring these children into their homes and families.

Department of Youth Affairs Director Melanie Brennan, who currently has oversight of Child protective Services, has said just a few foster children go up for adoption. There are 432 children in different types of foster care placement, most with relatives.

Bill 108 and Bill 109, introduced by Sen. Mary Torres, would involve independent adoption agencies in the Bureau of Social Services Administration's process for finding children homes. The aim is “easing the burden of Guam’s already-strained foster care system."

Adoptive parents holding the feet of their baby.

Bill 108 would allow adoption agencies to help in the screening and placement of children available for adoption. Bill 109 would give adoption agencies involvement in the placement of newborns given up through the Newborn Infant Safe Haven Act.

There are many abuses around foreign adoption. A look at history reveals how things could go so wrong. A National Center of Expertise can prevent many problems in the future.

The adopted Dilani Butink last year took the Dutch State to court over her adoption from Sri Lanka. According to her, the Dutch government has done too little to prevent adoption fraud. (image anp / Phil Nijhuis)

In February of this year, the Intercountry Adoption Investigation Committee led by Tjibbe Joustra published a report on abuses surrounding adoption. The report contains striking recommendations: The government must recognize that it has failed to combat adoption abuses and must temporarily suspend intercountry adoption. Only the procedures that have already started may be completed. According to the committee, intercountry adoption is very susceptible to fraud, both because of the system of private intermediaries and because of the often naive trust in foreign intermediaries. We have known for a long time what incorrect practices are involved: inaccurate background and age data of the adopted child, biological parents who did not know that their child is going abroad, so-called twins who are not twins, child trafficking, and more. Now that many adoptees have reached adulthood, complaints about the manner of departure from their homeland are coming from them. The committee was set up because of these complaints.

In addition to the critical recommendations, the Joustra Commission came up with an important positive proposal. She advocates the establishment of a National Center of Expertise. This center must ensure that knowledge in the field of identity questions, searches of adoptees and aftercare for the entire adoptive family is bundled in one large organization. This will help adoptees in their search for their files, their birth family and in finding the right psychosocial help.

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Guam could benefit from the streamlining the adoption process here, especially foster children who need homes and people who want to bring these children into their homes and families.

Department of Youth Affairs Director Melanie Brennan, who currently has oversight of Child protective Services, has said just a few foster children go up for adoption. There are 432 children in different types of foster care placement, most with relatives.

Bill 108 and Bill 109, introduced by Sen. Mary Torres, would involve independent adoption agencies in the Bureau of Social Services Administration’s process for finding children homes. The aim is “easing the burden of Guam’s already-strained foster care system.”

Bill 108 would allow adoption agencies to help in the screening and placement of children available for adoption. Bill 109 would give adoption agencies involvement in the placement of newborns given up through the Newborn Infant Safe Haven Act.

Sens. Joanne Brown and Telo Taitague are concerned with the lack of regulations for adoption agencies. Department of Public Health and Social Services Deputy Director Terry Aguon also raised concerns.

Justice Manisha Pitale of the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court held that adoption cannot be restricted to children who have been orphaned, abandoned or those in conflict with law. The Juvenile Justice Act permits adoption of children of relatives, she said.

The Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court has held that as per the provisions of the Juvenile Justice (JJ) Act, adoption of children cannot be restricted only to orphaned, abandoned, surrendered children or those in conflict with the law, adding the law also permits adoption of children of relatives.

A single-judge bench of Justice Manisha Pitale was hearing a petition filed by the biological parents of a girl child from Wardha who wanted their daughter to be adopted by a family from Yavatmal in Maharashtra. The Yawatmal lower court had rejected their plea under the provisions of the JJ Act and Adoption Regulations framed under this Act.

The ground that the lower court had taken that since the child, in this case, is neither a child in conflict with the law, nor a child in need of care and protection, nor an orphan, nor a surrendered/abandoned child, the provisions of the JJ Act are not applicable.

Since there were no respondents in the case, Justice Pitale appointed Advocate FT Mirza as amicus curiae to assist the court for proper disposal. Advocate Mirza also supported the prayer made on behalf of the parents.

The Avaniyapuram police booked seven persons, including three couples, in connection with the illegal adoption of a two-and-a-half-year-old girl child on Saturday.

MADURAI: The Avaniyapuram police booked seven persons, including three couples, in connection with the illegal adoption of a two-and-a-half-year-old girl child on Saturday. Of the seven, five were arrested and two were on the run.

According to sources, the suspects were identified as G Suganya, her husband P Ganesh Kumar, S Selvi, her husband P Samayasanjeevi, Kalanithi and her husband M Balachandar, and one Saravanan. The child belonged to one Chithra, a relative of Suganya, who allegedly took her and illegally gave it to Kalanithi and Balachandar for adoption. The couple had also forged birth certificates with the help of Saravanan.

The child was rescued and based on a complaint by Child Welfare Committee Chairperson Vijayasaravanan, all seven were booked. Except for Samayasanjeevi and Saravanan, the rest were arrested.

A CWC member B Pandiaraja told TNIE that Chithra had four more children; the first child was reported stolen, a baby boy died during the birth and two baby girls, who were twins, were taken by Suganya. While Suganya kept one of the girls, she gave the other twin to her friend Selvi of Sellur, he added. “It is not yet certain whether the adoption involved money or Chithra played a role in it,” Pandiaraja said.

Madurai: Madurai city police on Saturday rescued three daughters of a woman, given away in illegal adoption to three separate couples in the last three years. Five people including two couples have been arrested while two others are absconding.

The incident came to light after an unidentified person alerted the district child welfare committee (CWC) about the illegal adoption of a two-and-a-half-year-old girl by a couple in Thiruvalluvar Nagar in Palanganatham.

When a CWC team and police visited the couple, Balachandran and Kalanidhi, they produced a birth certificate and Aadhaar card for the child identified as Varnika Pandi. For a moment the police thought that the girl was the couple’s own child and the alert could have been a hoax. However, a check with the Madurai corporation found that the certificate was taken using fake documents. One Saravanan had helped the couple secure the certificate to show as if the child was born in a private hospital though it was born in Government Rajaji Hospital. Inquiries revealed that the childless couple adopted the baby when it was just three days old and that they had paid Rs 20,000 to get the certificate.

Further inquiries revealed that the actual mother of the child was M Chithra, 38, a homeless woman living in Avaniyapuram. She told the police that she had given birth to five children including a boy which however died during delivery. Her husband Murugan died three years ago. The first baby was stolen by someone soon after her birth and a complaint in this connection was lodged with the city police. The boy was born next, but he died during delivery. Thereafter, she gave birth to twin girls four years ago and christened them Harisri and Sanjanasri while a fifth girl child was named Varnika Pandi.

Chithra’s relative G Suganya gave away Harisri and Varnika Pandi and kept Sanjanasri for herself. Police said there is no information yet on whether Suganya has received any money from the couples for the illegal adoption. Suganya told the police that she gave away the child since the mother was not in a position to raise them.

On 1 July, I was asked to speak as part of a webinar panel for the Transforming Children’s Care Webinar Series #4: Child’s Right to Identity in Alternative Care. We had an amazing panel of experts, moderated by Maud de Boer-Buquicchio, President of Child Identity Protection (CHIP), and hosted by the Better Care Network in partnership with CHIP.

TAG: MAUD DE BOER-BUQUICCHIO

POSTED ONJULY 4, 2021

Lifelong Impacts of Identity Loss

On 1 July, I was asked to speak as part of a webinar panel for the Transforming Children’s Care Webinar Series #4: Child’s Right to Identity in Alternative Care. We had an amazing panel of experts, moderated by Maud de Boer-Buquicchio, President of Child Identity Protection (CHIP), and hosted by the Better Care Network in partnership with CHIP.was asked to speak about the lifelong impacts of identity loss. So I shared my story and some statements from fellow adoptees to highlight our experience.

Athlone woman Jacinta O’Connell has written movingly of her time as a pregnant fifteen-year-old in the Mother and Baby Home in Bessborough in Cork.

‘Girls Like You – The Long Road Back from Bessborough’, published by Red Stripe Press, an imprint of Orpen Press, charts the journey from an Athlone childhood to a seven-month stay in Bessborough House Mother and Baby Home and the ramifications and impact of the time on herself and her immediate family.

Jacinta, who was assigned the name 'Margaret' in Bessborough, gave birth to a baby girl in September 1973. The following year, finding herself pregnant again, she made her way to England where her son was born in Guy’s Hospital, London.

Against all the odds she brought her daughter home from Cork. Her son was given up for adoption in London.

Her story, written in memoir form, shines a light on family and society in twentieth-century Ireland and through the prism of one woman’s experiences focuses on the power wielded by Church and State over the personal lives of women.