When Agnes (56) was seven, she learned that she had been adopted. She always kept quiet about that. Only last year did she bring it out.

“I grew up in an ordinary middle class family. My parents worked hard and were busy, but they loved my little brother and me very much. I was seven when my mom said, 'I need to tell you something. You and your brother have been adopted. ' Strangely enough, that didn't shock me at all. Somehow I had always known. I felt different, like I didn't belong anywhere. And those freckles of mine, nobody in our family had them, that was crazy, wasn't it? ”

"My mother didn't know much about my origins, only that I had been in the Mother Health Monastery in Breda until I was five months old and that my young biological mother had given me up because she couldn't take care of me."

Adopted

The next day I told my neighbor. She didn't believe me. I just left it that way; actually I was ashamed of my adoption. I didn't want to be seen as 'different' from now on. And I was just a cheese head, so no one would guess. If I was somewhere with my dad and they said, 'Gosh, you don't look like your dad at all', I would quickly say, 'No, I look like my mother, she's at home.' ”

When Xueli was a baby her parents left her on the ground outside an orphanage. In China, albinism is seen by some as a curse.

The rare genetic condition causes a lack of pigment which makes Xueli's skin and hair very pale and also makes her extremely sensitive to sunlight.

But looking different led Xueli to her modelling career. Now aged 16, she has graced the pages of Vogue and fronted campaigns for top designers.

This is her story as told to Jennifer Meierhans.

Xueli

They left for India a fortnight ago. The mission of Simonetta Filippini and her husband Enzo Galli was a mission of love: to take their two-year-old daughter, just adopted and, after having completed the procedures for adoption, to return to Italy. That love mission has turned into a nightmare for the Florentine couple. Left for India 15 days ago with the International Adoption association of Florence for an international adoption together with 70 other Italians, the couple who lives in the province of Florence, in Campi Bisenzio, asks for help to be able to return from New Delhi . The woman tested positive for Covid, which is why she was first taken to the hospital and is now in a health hotel while her husband is in a hotel with the 2-year-old child she had up for adoption. The story is told by The Nation to which wife and husband, Simonetta Filippini and her husband Enzo Galli, explained what is happening.

The adoption process took place in a very short time. No boarding, however, then on the plane that should have brought them home : «Wednesday morning - says Enzo - Simonetta tested positive at Covid while I» and the child «were negative. At that point the situation precipitated ». Simonetta was taken to the hospital and then transferred to a Covid hotel, returning reachable by phone. «I was in a room of two meters by two meters with seven people - his words reported in the newspaper - and some died before my eyes. Our policy provides for the possibility of a quota flight and the embassy and the government must help us ».

Then, reached on the phone by Corriere Fiorentino , Mrs. Simonetta added: "I saw dead people lying on the floor in the corridors of the hospital, I saw panting bodies on makeshift stretchers, I saw corpses burning on the sidewalks and in the parks of New Delhi, I stayed in a two-by-two-meter hospital room with other people with Covid. Here is the apocalypse, horror movie scenes are experienced every day, please help us get back to Italy ».

«From the hotel windows - says Enzo - we see that the corpses of the dead of Covid are burning in the street. It is impressive and we are concerned. We have all been separated, with us there are couples from various areas of Italy and also have children in need of care in Italy. We have the permit exit from the Indian state to get out but they don't let us leave: staying here waiting for a negative buffer means making us die. Outside there is the smell of death and it is indescribable ». The Italian embassy in India took action by identifying the hypothesis of the Air France New Delhi Paris flight but the Indian authorities would not decide to take positive foreign people on board.

"Currently, the situation of the lady and her husband Enzo Galli is complicated, but under control," says Andrea Zoletto, general manager of International Adoption, the association that followed the couple . "We are constantly in contact with Mr. Galli - explains Zoletto -, he and the child are in a 5-star hotel in absolute safety and are well. The lady is in a health hotel, in a room with another person. This morning, thanks to the doctor of the Italian embassy, ??he was able to do another swab, the result is expected in 48 hours: if it is negative, the ambassador guarantees boarding on a KLM or Air France flight, but if it is positive he will have to stay there at least ten days, the Indian authorities are extremely strict on this ». If it is positive, the next tampon should be done in 8 days, during which time the woman will remain in the facility. To complicate the situation, according to what has been learned, there are also problems of understanding by language and "unfortunately their companion, one of our men - adds Zoletto - was stuck with the lockdown and can only provide remote assistance". However, the situation seems to be calmer thanks to the intervention of the embassy. "The consul hears from her husband several times a day - confirms Zoletto - I must say that the Italian authorities provide maximum assistance". «When the gentlemen left - said Zoletto - the situation in India was not so dramatic:« It is suddenly mentioned and we have blocked everything. The other couples are returning because no one tested positive ».

DOCUMENT

"Many Christians do not understand the complexity of adoptions"

The priest Rebecka Folkesten wants Christian actors to be examined

Documents with children awaiting adoption.

There are approximately 60,000 internationally adopted children in Sweden. Experts that Dagen has spoken to say that a large proportion of these have grown up with Christian adoptive parents. (Moises Castillo, private)

When Xueli was a baby her parents left her on the ground outside an orphanage. In China, albinism is seen by some as a curse.

The rare genetic condition causes a lack of pigment which makes Xueli's skin and hair very pale and also makes her extremely sensitive to sunlight.

But looking different led Xueli to her modelling career. Now aged 16, she has graced the pages of Vogue and fronted campaigns for top designers.

This is her story as told to Jennifer Meierhans.

The staff at the orphanage named me Xue Li. Xue means snow and Li means beautiful. I was adopted when I was three and went to live with my mum and sister in the Netherlands. My mother said she could not think of a more perfect name and she thought it was important to keep a reference to my Chinese roots.

The Maltese health authorities have confirmed that the Maltese national that contracted coronavirus while in India with his partner in the process to adopt a child passed away. Earlier today Prof. Charmaine Gauci refrained from speaking about the man’s condition during the coronavirus weekly brief.

He was expected to return back to Malta today.

Earlier this week

Maltese COVID-19 patient awaits medical experts’ go-ahead to leave India – High Commissioner

Malta High Commissioner for India earlier this week had confirmed with Newsbook.com.mt that the man was awaiting a go-ahead by medical experts. The plan was for the 47-year-old Ivan Barbara, to travel to Malta today.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1W7LTbEs23rnZeRaApCctEicebimhWIbq/view?usp=sharing

At least 5,678 children and adolescents are in different reception centers in the country waiting for a family

The President of the State, Luis Arce Catacora, promulgated this Thursday the modifying law of procedural abbreviation to facilitate the adoption of at least 5,678 children and adolescents who are in different reception centers in Bolivia and that guarantees the restitution of the human right to have a family.

"Our Government supports and executes public policies with priority for the benefit of our children , this is one of them and we are happy to enact this law that will bring institutionalized children closer to the right to have a family," said Arce.

The norm that modifies articles of Law N ° 548 of the Child and Adolescent Girl Code was prepared by the Ministry of Justice and Institutional Transparency to allow fast and safe adoption processes.

The president added that before the new rule an adoption process lasted up to more than four years ; however, with this modification it should only take three months.

Stolen Generations survivors from the Northern Territory are taking their fight for compensation to the courts, with legal firm Shine Lawyers preparing to file a class action against the federal government this morning.

Key points:

Stolen Generations survivors in the NT have never been compensated

Shine Lawyers will file a class action in the NSW Supreme Court this morning

Some survivors say compensation would mean proper recognition

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) — Forty-year-old Maki Takehisa from Springdale was sentenced Tuesday, April 27, to one year of home confinement for aiding and abetting in alien smuggling, according to a U.S. District Court document — Western District of Arkansas, Fayetteville Division.

The charge is a violation of the Compact of Free Association, which is the agreement between the U.S. and the Republic of the Marshall Islands.

Paul Petersen pleads guilty to fraud in adoption scheme

During the one year detention, Takehisa will not leave her residence without permission from her probation officer. Exceptions for leaving her residence, which need to be authorized by her probation officer, include employment, medical appointments, religious purposes.

Takehisa came to the attention of the Federal Bureau of Investigations after they received the information she was helping expectant Marshallese moms to come to Northwest Arkansas and give up their babies for adoption.