Sending unwanted offspring abroad, bringing desired children to Switzerland – since the 1950s, Switzerland has been involved in a systematic child transfer.

Shortly :

• Between the 1970s and the early 2000s, around 2,200 children were adopted from India.
• Reports confirm systematic child trafficking and failures of the Swiss authorities.
• Documented irregularities include missing signatures and contradictory information.
• To make their work easier, officials noted “mother unknown” on numerous birth certificates.

Some were found on the streets, others were taken to children's homes by relatives - many were taken away from their mothers immediately after birth.

In the sixties and seventies, getting pregnant without being married was a big taboo in the Netherlands. Thousands of girls and young women therefore kept their pregnancies secret and gave birth to their child in isolation. Many of them were then forced by social pressure and circumstances to give up their baby.

The children ended up in homes or special children's departments, such as the Midwifery School in Heerlen. They were then adopted by parents who had often been waiting for a child for a long time. Although people thought adoption was a good idea at the time, it turns out that the impact of the events continues to have a long-lasting effect, both on the mothers and the adopted children and on the adoptive parents.

The four-part television series Dossier Afgestaan ​​brings together the personal stories of birth mothers, adopted children, adoptive parents and care providers.

In the series, various women talk about their experiences with unwanted pregnancies at a young age. Their babies were sometimes taken away immediately after birth, and they themselves had to continue with their lives as if nothing had happened. After a few days, for example, they went back to school or training and hardly anyone knew that they had become mothers. "When I came home from Moederheil, my father literally said: it is not talked about anymore," says a certain Cecilia.

Sambalpur: A 17-day-old baby boy from Khoirpali village in Bargarh district’s Sohela Block, who was allegedly sold to a family in a neighbouring village, was rescued by an official of the district’s child welfare committee on Saturday.

The illegal adoption was arranged using a notary and stamp paper, which is illegal. The district administration is investigating whether the adoption involved a monetary transaction.

The baby’s parents, who already have five children, were unable to raise another child and allegedly facilitated the transfer using notary documents.

The baby boy was allegedly handed over shortly after birth to a family seeking a son, as they only had daughters.

The boy’s father said, “I already have children aged 8, 6, 3, 2, and 1, and this baby was our sixth. Since I was unable to raise another child, I gave him away. I didn’t even have money to buy medicines for my children, so I gave the baby to a family in the neighbouring district to secure a better future for him. They do not have any boys. We did not take any money from them.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-10-20/tas-hold-forced-adoptions-tasmania-compensation-push/104489306?utm_source=abc_news_web&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_campaign=abc_news_web&utm_content=facebook&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR1gK3fCKLkwlIuiDOZg3orM8fbDnfkr9LU0XldALbqN1JoBUzJd_V-3Q-o_aem_4Zdw5Y2v85ZD_mtXDxAfFg

In short:

A group of Tasmanian mothers who had their babies forcibly removed are continuing their push for compensation.

Forced adoption of the children of unwed mothers occurred in Australia up until the 1980s.

What's next?

Greek authorities have arrested a Bulgarian national involved in an illegal child adoption ring operating between Bulgaria and Greece. The 30-year-old man was detained during a routine identity check in central Athens.

Police report that the individual is connected to at least six cases of illicit adoption involving Bulgarian children. As part of a criminal network, the man targeted vulnerable pregnant women in Bulgaria, offering them money in exchange for their newborns, which were then transferred to Greece for adoption.

Investigations reveal that he facilitated the transactions between the mothers and a network consisting of doctors and lawyers who helped legalize these adoptions. The man is said to have received over 10,000 euros for his role in brokering the arrangements.

The price per child has now escalated to over 30,000 euros, according to anti-trafficking investigators. Authorities have presented undisputed evidence proving the suspect profited from the sale of children. He has been referred to the prosecutor's office for further legal proceedings.

In short:

An Indonesian man has been charged after allegedly selling his child on Facebook for the equivalent of about $1,450 to buy two mobile phones and fund online gambling.

The child was recovered from the couple that bought him and returned to his mother last week.

What's next?

Experts say economic incentives for struggling mothers and a lack information about legal adoption are part of the reason why baby trafficking remains a problem in Indonesia.

At least 2,000 babies were born to Black GIs stationed in Britain during the second world war and a home was created for some of them: Holnicote House in Somerset. Those who grew up there are now telling their stories

When Carol Edwards and her daughter went on a walking weekend to Holnicote House, a hotel on Exmoor in Somerset, a guide gave them a tour of the property, explaining the estate’s 500-year history. “The story ended at about 1945,” Edwards says. “So afterwards, I said to him: ‘You missed a section out.’” Edwards knew this because she had lived at Holnicote House for the first five years of her life, along with 25 other children like her, immediately after the second world war. All of the children were orphans, all were mixed race: their mothers were white British women, their fathers were African American GIs who had been stationed in Britain during the war.

Edwards was one of what US newspapers would call “brown babies”. At least 2,000 of these children were born during the war, at a time when there were just 7-10,000 Black people in the entire UK. So these “brown babies” increased the population of Black Britons by about 25 per cent. Over half are believed to have been given up for adoption, but Holnicote House, which was requisitioned by Somerset county council in 1943, was the only children’s home specifically dedicated to them. Edwards, 79, has positive memories of her time there. “They cared for us and they loved us all,” she says. “We were all treated the same and never made to feel different … I really do feel quite privileged to have spent my first five years there. I think I was one of the lucky ones.”

For the other “brown babies” the picture is more varied, says Dr Chamion Caballero, cofounder of the Mixed Museum, a digital archive of Britain’s history of racial mixing. They carried the double stigma of being mixed race and being born outside marriage, and they were treated as a problem by the authorities. “No one knew what to do with them,” she says. Most of them found themselves the only person of colour in very white rural areas, where they stood out, experienced discrimination and had no connection to Black communities. Those that did gravitate to Black communities in cities like London, Liverpool or Bristol also often faced discrimination for being “not Black enough”.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-10-16/calls-to-rename-beryl-grant-centre-forced-adoption-matron/104451290?utm_medium=social&utm_content=sf275070597&utm_campaign=abc_great_southern&utm_source=m.facebook.com&sf275070597=1&fbclid=IwY2xjawF8jhZleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHcq6iXYTP6jOGdpJEwxRGQElLd4PPp-nACNuEuXgHSN1dzI87NZorzS5sQ_aem_wbni3trjr8-uJQDYYKBadA

In short:

Survivors of forced adoption practices in WA are calling for the Beryl Grant Community Centre, named after a woman involved in the practice, to be renamed.

ECLI:NL:RBDHA:2024:16503

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Ahmedabad: The Gujarat high court on Wednesday issued notices to the Centre and other authorities concerned, including the Regional Passport Office (RPO), after a four-year-old girl filed a petition because her adoptive Australian parents were unable to apply for her passport.

According to the submissions made by the petitioner's advocate in the HC, the child was adopted by her father's sister, an Australian citizen, two years ago. The adoption took place by way of a registered adoption deed. When the adoptive parents began the process of taking the child to Australia, things hit a roadblock.

The agency responsible for adoption immigration informed the adoptive parents that many cases of migration through adoption under the Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act were under the Australian govt's scrutiny. Once the agency receives clearance from the Australian govt, the process for taking the adopted child to Australia will proceed further. Until then, the child could be taken to Australia through any other valid immigration process, but not through adoption.

The counsel for the petitioner submitted that the adoptive parents then initiated the process of getting the child's passport in India, as she is an Indian citizen. However, this too was not possible because the adoptive parents cannot file an application online. This is because the adoptive parents, being Australian citizens, must supply a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) confirming that the adoption is valid. The adoptive parents have applied to CARA, but the agency has not issued an NOC, stating that it was waiting for confirmation from the Australian authorities on this subject, the petitioner's advocate submitted in the court.

The petitioner's lawyer further argued that even if the child does not travel to Australia on the strength of her adoption by Australian citizens, it is her right to have an Indian passport so that a different process for travel could be resorted to.