Half of all intercountry adoptees who are now adults have ever searched for information on their background. Slightly under one-fifth are planning to do so in the future. A small number have been able to find all the information they were looking for. Adoptees from China are less likely to search for birth information than those from other birth countries. The search was also less successful in the case of adoptees from China and from Bangladesh. Statistics Netherlands (CBS) reports this on the basis of new research.

Over the first six months of last year, CBS surveyed the living situation, well-being and search behaviour of adults in the Netherlands who were adopted from other countries as a child. This survey was commissioned by the Committee Investigating Intercountry Adoption. Altogether 3.5 thousand people participated in the survey who were adopted from a foreign country between 1970 and 1998. The report elaborates on the experiences of adoptees from Bangladesh, Brazil, Colombia, China, India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and South Korea. More information on the survey is provided in the final paragraph below.

Fewer searches in China

Fifty-one percent of the adult adoptees have searched for information on their background, while 18 percent intend to search for this information in the future. The number of searches is varied, depending on the country of birth. Adoptees born in China are least likely to search for information (26 percent). The share is roughly 50 percent among other adoption countries.

The most common objectives for people to set out searching for information by themselves are: finding out more about their roots (82 percent), their birth relatives (69 percent), a resemblance in appearance and character (61 percent), and finding out whether there are any siblings (56 percent).

Nicole (44) and Babette (29) had one more meeting to go with the Child Care and Protection Board before they could possibly receive approval for an adoption. Due to the adoption ban, they are now in uncertainty.

“There is never a guarantee that it will go ahead, but that it will not happen for this reason, we never expected,” said Babette.

The women do not want their last name to be mentioned for privacy reasons.

ADOPTION STOP

After a damning report by the Joustra Committee on intercountry adoption in the Netherlands, Minister Dekker suspended all intercountry adoptions last week. The committee speaks of 'structurally serious abuses ' in the Dutch adoption system. According to the report, the system is 'susceptible to fraud'.

This Belgo-Congolese from Namur is suspected of fraud in the adoption of Congolese children.

The Dinant council chamber referred Julienne Mpemba to the criminal court on Tuesday, Eric Van der Sypt, spokesman for the federal prosecutor's office, said Wednesday, confirming information from several media. This Belgo-Congolese is suspected of fraud in the adoption of Congolese children.

In this case, the prosecution suspects that five adoptions of Congolese children by Belgian couples were carried out fraudulently. Some had been taken from their families. Julienne Mpemba is suspected of human trafficking, forgery and forgery. She has in the past suggested that she delivered thirty to forty orphans to adoptive parents in Belgium and the United States. Seven officials from the Wallonia-Brussels Federation were also suspected of being involved in this case. Searches were carried out at the FWB. They were accused of having turned a blind eye to fraudulent manipulation of dates of birth and photos of children. However, these were not referred by the Dinant council chamber to the criminal court.

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Disconcerted I read the articles and the Commentary ( In case of intercountry adoption, all supervision and control failed, 11/2) on the report of the Joustra Committee on intercountry adoption. The one-sided negative conclusions would almost make you, as an adoptee, doubt the legitimacy of your existence in the Netherlands. As if you really shouldn't have been here retroactively. As if all adopted children have been 'channeled away' to the Netherlands through deception, lies, deception and forgeries. Although life as an adoptee will always remain overshadowed by questions about identity and biological origin, there is still mainly gratitude for a dignified existence in a free, prosperous Netherlands and for having escaped social exclusion, poverty or war. It seems as if this sound should not be interpreted in this debate. Incidentally, many children were abandoned or the child was consciously renounced because of poverty or because of illegitimate birth. My Urk parents told me after my probing questions that shortly after my birth I was abandoned on the sidewalk of an orphanage in Isfahan (then Persia). You miss the bottom of your existence, but my Dutch parents are not to blame for that. By throwing everything into one negative heap, I feel like an adopted child and their sincere motives and care are done great injustice. My biological parents would also have given me up if my adoptive parents had not adopted me. My Urk parents told me after my probing questions that shortly after my birth I was abandoned on the sidewalk of an orphanage in Isfahan (then Persia). You miss the bottom of your existence, but my Dutch parents are not to blame for that. By throwing everything into one negative heap, I feel put away as an adopted child and their sincere motives and care are done great injustice. My biological parents would also have given me up if my adoptive parents had not adopted me. My Urk parents told me after my probing questions that shortly after my birth I was abandoned on the sidewalk of an orphanage in Isfahan (then Persia). You miss the bottom of your existence, but my Dutch parents are not to blame for that. By throwing everything into one negative heap, I feel put away as an adopted child and their sincere motives and care are done great injustice. My biological parents would also have given me up if my adoptive parents had not adopted me.

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Welcome here! Karenz. is Karen Gregory's personal life (style) blog. I am in my early 40s and live near Arnhem with my husband, son and dog. I was once one of the first life bloggers in the Netherlands, when I started blogging in 2001, I was one of the first 50,000 bloggers in the country. I have been nominated several times for awards in the Netherlands and Belgium, including several times for a Dutch Bloggie.

I have a background in the media and have worked for over 10 years with various media operators, media agencies and a producer. After that I trained as a weight consultant and I was a branch manager of a weight loss clinic for a number of years. I have also been working as a freelancer for 7 years and I advise companies in the field of social media.

After running the lifestyle magazine Dejlig for several years, I switched to a more personal blog in February 2017. Dejlig was incredibly successful with about 50,000 unique visitors per month, but a large survey I conducted among my readers showed that most readers liked the personal articles the most. Moreover, I personally find blogging the best thing to do. So 1 + 1 is 2 and Karenz. was born.

Karenz. is well read by the 30+ woman, but of course you are also very welcome if you have not yet passed that age.

Here you can read about various topics such as, of course, lifestyle, beauty, food, health, tips, home design, fashion, mom and kids and much more.

If you can't guarantee that a child protection system will work flawlessly, stop it, says Peggy Engrie, herself an adoptive mother.

Peggy Engrie

Is the adoptive mother of Thereza, who came to Belgium from Ethiopia in 2009 at the age of seven.

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On Tuesday, the council chamber in Dinant made a decision in the case of the large-scale adoption fraud involving various Congolese “orphans”. Of the eight suspects, only pivotal figure Julienne Mpemba (41) will answer before the criminal court later this year. All officials of the French Community concerned were thrown away. The parents involved are extremely disappointed with that decision.

In recent years it came to light that several Congolese children were offered for adoption to our country, while their biological parents in Congo had not left them at all. They were looted and put up for adoption for big money. According to the federal prosecutor's office, several members of the French Community were aware of the fraud. Passports, police reports, photos and ages were tampered with.

READ ALSO. Pivotal figure in Congolese adoption fraud Julienne Mpemba (42) breaks silence and lashes out at French Community officials (+)

Today the Dinant council chamber decided that the French officials should not answer to the criminal court. They could not be blamed under criminal law, it sounded. The parents of the concerned families who adopt a child are very disappointed. This confirms lawyer George-Henri Beauthier, who has been assisting the families for years. He will soon check with the attorney of the federal public prosecutor whether they can appeal against the decision.

Pivotal figure

The temporary ban on adoption abroad by Minister Sander Dekker of Legal Protection fell to the roof of the adoptive mother of Robin (4) and Tom (0) from the United States.

With other adoptive parents and a number of Dutch people who were adopted in the past, she started a petition to revoke that ban. It has already been drawn more than 10,000 times - and the counter is running.

Too great risks

"Those who have permission in principle can complete the adoption procedure, but how that will work out in practice is unclear," says Gregory. She fears that employment agencies will drop out because the financial risk will become too great. “Then knowledge and skills are lost. We trust Dekker has a solution for that. ”

Gregory and her supporters started their action out of enthusiasm. They want to share their positive adoption stories for fear that negative sentiment will dominate. A committee led by former top civil servant Tjibbe Joustra concluded that there had been child trafficking, corruption and fraud.

Joustra report Let adoptees be satisfied with their rescue from poverty, it sounds. It's not that simple, warns Anouk Eigenraam.

The report that Minister Dekker for Legal Protection is adopting all conclusions and advice from the Joustra Committee and that intercountry adoption is temporarily suspended with immediate effect, has caused a small earthquake in the adoption country, among adoptees as well as at mediation agencies, adoptive parents and researchers.

Anouk Eigenraam is an FD correspondent in China and wrote the book Welcome to Adoptionland (2017).

Many adoptees' interest groups were skeptical about yet another committee investigating intercountry adoption. Time and again, such a committee concluded that there was abuse, some already in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s identified signs of child trafficking, kidnapping, forgery, corruption. The Pavlovian reaction from politicians, advisers, permit holders and researchers was that international adoption was always in the best interest of the child and that many adoptions went well. It is therefore not surprising that Tom Schulpen, emeritus professor of paediatrics and former medical advisor to adoption organizations, also responds in his opinion piece in NRC (11/2).

No structural research

Allysha was informally adopted from The Philippines when she was born. Now, at 12 years of age, she risks deportation when her student visa expires next month.

Andrew had just ‘adopted’ a baby girl with his wife, Marijun, when he discovered the informal agreement between the couple and the child's biological parents meant she'd be ineligible for Australian citizenship.

“It was only when I went down to the Australian Embassy in Manila, and they had a sandwich board with a checklist, that I saw you had to have a DNA test to get [citizenship],” Andrew told The Feed.

“I thought ‘Okay, that's a bit of a worry. It's not gonna work’. Up until then, I had no idea there would be an issue at all,” he added.

After receiving erroneous legal advice in The Philippines, Andrew and Marijun had organised to have their own names listed on the baby’s birth certificate and apply for a child visa.