The Karnataka High Court has directed the trial court to reconsider the petition filed under Section 8 and 9 of the Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act, 1956, by a member of the Scheduled Caste community residing at Jamakhandi, seeking to adopt a 19 year old. A single judge bench of Justice Sachin Shankar Magadum said adopting a major child was a legally recognised custom in Jamakhandi governed by the Bombay School of Hindu Law

“If petitioners are permanent residents of Jamakhandi, then I am of the view that since there is no dispute that Jamakhandi which was erstwhile princely State and part of Bombay province, the custom of adopting a major child is judicially recognized and therefore, I am of the view that the proof of the said custom is not necessary.”

The petition was filed by Sharada Walagad and Shrishail Shankareppa who had challenged the trial court's order rejecting their application for adoption

The impugned order pertained to a plea filed under Sections 8 and 9 of the Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act, seeking permission to allow Walagad to act as the guardian of Shankareppa and, consequently, to permit her to adopt Shankareppa. 

The petitioners, in this case, are residents of Jamakhandi, Karnataka. Petitioner no.1 was a retired government employee who claims to have lost her husband and has no biological children. Petitioner no.2 was a distant relative of petitioner no.1 and had lost both his parents during childhood. The petitioners initiated the petition, seeking permission for petitioner No.1 to adopt petitioner No.2. They cited a custom of adopting individuals aged over 15 years

Many people appreciated Megan and her family for lovingly accepting Ami while many others criticized them for not adopting American kids and traveling to a foreign country for the same.

It is often said that family is more than blood relations, a woman named Megan and her family in the USA have proved this right as they have adopted and accepted a young girl from India as part of their family. Recently Megan shared a heartwarming video on Instagram that documented their one year with Ami, her adopted daughter from India who has Down syndrome. Down syndrome is a genetic disorder that causes intellectual and developmental delays. In her now-viral Instagram post, Megan captured how they took their first flight from India to the USA and how her family, including her two sons, gathered at the airport to welcome them. The clip then moved on to show the wholesome moments of learning, traveling, and playing they all shared with Ami.

While explaining their one year anniversary since Ami’s adoption, Megan wrote, “One year ago we met our daughter for the first time. Family of five, greeted at the airport, playing. In October 2022 we became parents to the spunkiest, silliest, most beautiful “baby" girl born in India. She is smart, has the biggest heart, and rocks an extra chromosome. She was a missing piece to our family puzzle and we are so grateful to have spent one full year together. I wasn’t sure what kind of video I wanted to put together so here is some never before seen footage of our arrival in the United States and a montage of what life has been with our sweet Ami girl.️ We could have missed this."

This clip has over 1.8 lakh likes so far. Appreciating Megan’s tender mothering skills, an Instagram user wrote, “You’ve given life to a child which is only a dream for many. God bless you. You have the kindest heart". Another person wrote, “My sister and brother are both adopted and older (I randomly appeared haha). My sister is Sri Lankan and I love stories like this, this one was a little closer than normal, congratulations mum and dad, and gorgeous baby girl too."

While many people appreciated Megan and her family for lovingly accepting Ami, many others criticised them for going all the way to India for adopting kids in need when there are many kids in America as well.

A Greek adoptee in the US eventually discovered the identity of his biological father after 63 years thanks to the Eftychia Project.

The Project is a nonprofit organization that provides assistance and support free of charge to Greek adoptees searching for their roots and Greek families searching for their children lost to adoption.

Thousands of Greek children were sent from Greece for adoption abroad, mainly to the United States, through often questionable means during the Cold War decades of the 1950s and 1960s.

The story of the Greek adoptee retracing the past

Stephen Grater from Tennessee had saved the black-and-white photo of himself in his stepmother’s arms on the balcony of the “Mitera” baby center in Athens in May 1960 on his mobile phone. He was just four months old and preparing for a trip that would end in the United States.

Foundation for Intercountry Adoption Mediation Netherlands (via Ebbinge), Baarn

DISCIPLINE

Healthcare management

FUNCTION

Chairman of the Supervisory Board

Protocol Working Method Bureau Central Authoritywhen granting a permitto mediate in international adoptionor extension of the validity periodof that permit

IntroductionThe inclusion of a foreign child in a Dutch family for the purpose of adoptionof the child is a very traumatic event. That is partly why the Dutch government feelswho is involved in this recording has a major responsibility. Thatresponsibility is reflected in the fact that intercountry adoption is surrounded by the necessary legislation that must ensure that certain principles andsafeguards are observed. For example, there are regulations regarding the organizations thatmediate regarding the admission of a specific foreign child in a specific Dutch settingfamily. These intermediary organizations cannot carry out their activities until afterthey have received a permit for this from the Minister of Justice.

I am a Chinese International Transracial Adoptee. I reunited with my biological family five years ago. Five years ago already, and going on six years soon. Some days it still feels surreal and other days it feels like I have always known them. 

Six years ago, if you asked me when my birthday was, I would have said December 5, with an uncomfortable feeling and painful reminder of my unknown past. Now, I answer the same question with a pause of whether or not to share my birthday is July 16. If you asked me six years ago how many siblings I have, I would have said half the number I have now. 

 As a child, and even in my teenage years, I was told and convinced that if I was still in China I probably would not have made it through school. I would not have the same opportunities if I still lived there. I might have been hidden or, even yet, maybe not alive. I would not have had the medical care I needed. Being deaf, I would be rejected by society. I would have been poor because my family was assumed to be poor and would not have a “successful” or “happy” life. I wrestled with this supposed “truth” and “luck” I had over the years.

The wonders and beliefs continuously changed through different seasons of life. Sometimes, I could only hold anger because there was no other identifiable feeling. I often became numb and would find myself assimilating to the beliefs around me: “lucky”, “chosen”, “thankful”, “grateful”, and “God’s plan” even when I did not feel like those comments were true. Other seasons, I missed, grieved, and carried the weight of the ambiguous losses alone. 

The experience of the unknown often leaves uncertainty, anxiousness, fear, and confusion. As a child, the unknown was not concrete. The differing answers about my birth parents and my past were what I had to make sense of why I was here. My understanding of my past was based on many different theoretical situations and imaginary scenarios of what possibly happened and a few documents with almost no information. Not even my birthday or finding spot was known to be exactly correct.

Union of India today submitted a set of suggestions before the Supreme Court in a plea seeking directions to make adoption procedures simple, and superfluous.

ASG Aishwarya Bhati informed the bench that as pert experts from the field once a child came under the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA), there was no delay in their adoption.

"Its the identification that takes time..so we can direct the nodal departments to carry out an identification drive every 3-4 months", ASG Bhati added.

A bench of CJI Chandrachud with Justices Pardiwala and Manoj Misra was further told that a positive step of foster adoption has been started by CARA.

More than 50 years have passed since Glen Rattenbury’s baby was taken away from her at birth but that memory is “as clear as day”.

“I didn’t even get to see him after a 35-hour labour,” she said. “I could hear the nurses saying, ‘No, that one is earmarked for adoption.’ And they took him away.”

She was heartbroken.

“They put a form in front of me – I was still under the effects of morphine – and they asked me to sign him away.

“For years, I remember looking into prams and thinking, ‘That could be my baby.’ Even though I knew he would’ve grown.”

The case of the Croatian couples accused of trafficking children from DR Congo became a hot topic in the Croatian media, but the Municipal Court in Zlatar, which has a bizarre verdict in its archives, also brought it into focus.

Mrs. Nataly Anderson was left without her children, who were kidnapped by her ex-husband, also a former SOA employee, Zvonimir Marinović.

This trauma of Ms. Nataly and her children shows how rotten and corrupt the Croatian judicial and social system is.

Mrs. Nataly's family lived in Donja Stubica, Nataly was an employee of HT who fed the family, while Mr. Marinović found himself in customs, demoted, due to political puzzles. (Karamarko case, leaking of documents, UDBA)

This is Neven Kucelj, a judge from Donja Stubica, a sleepy little town in Zagorje — a rural region of Croatia just a short drive from the capital which feels frozen in time.

I used to bump into Judge Kucelj when I started working in Donja Stubica for an American property investor. My family had bought a flat there, and we used to pass by each other when I was out walking my dog. A dapper, bohemian fellow, often dressed in a corduroy suit, perhaps with a paisley cravat, he would mumble hello into his beard and avoid eye contact. His parents live next door to a good friend of mine.

When I signed the contract for the flat, I never imagined that this risked trapping me in Donja Stubica for the rest of my working life. I never dreamed that one day a Croatian man I was yet to meet yet would try to defraud my family and I of our property and cash, and take away from me the two children I was destined to give life to.

I never dreamed of the role Judge Neven Kucelj would play in this.

In 2007 I entered a courtroom for the first time in my life. A local man brought a vexatious claim against my employer, and I was called as a witness. Judge Kucelj didn’t take long to see through the claimant and throw out the case, telling him that he was wasting everyone’s time.