I have just sent an open letter to the President of the European Commission, Madam Ursula Von Der Leyen, asking for an investigation to be opened in France and Romania on illegal adoptions since the 1980s. I invite all adoptees from of a so-called illegal adoption to write to the President of the European Commission.
Open letter to Madam President of the European Commission
Madam President Ursula Von Der Leyen,
My name is Maria Cotoara, I am of Romanian origin born under the dictatorship of Ceausescu and adopted by a French family in the 80s. I refuse to use my French first and last name because my identity was stolen without my consent. My birth certificate is false, since my first name and official name do not appear anywhere, as well as the identity of my biological family which is part of my genetic heritage. Like many adoptees, I felt like "a pawn" in my own story.
Because I grew up in a nest of lies, of "unspoken" in my daily life. These lies are everywhere, in our files, in our identities, in our stories, in our abandonments since I was told, and my adoptive parents, that my birth mother had passed away. It took me over 10 years to look for her and find her by chance. She was not dead. The Romanian authorities told her I was dead. My mother, who was in a situation of precariousness placed me in a nursery but never wanted to abandon me. She did the necessary to come and see me every day, management prevented her from doing so and forced her to sign an act of relinquishment before I was transferred to another city (400 km from my hometown) and another institution without her consent.