Campaigners 'implore' MSPs to help deliver measures to help those affected by historic forced adoption policies.

Women forced to give up their babies for adoption in Scotland say the words in an apology made last year ‘lose their worth every day’.

The group Movement for an Adoption Apology has written a letter to over 60 MSPs urging action over the “ongoing injustice” and to help people in the community searching for answers about their relatives.

It comes a year after former first minister Nicola Sturgeon delivered an official apology in the Scottish Parliament to those who have been affected by historic forced adoption policies.

It is estimated around 250,000 families in Scotland have been affected by the practice throughout the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s.

GESTOLEN LEVEN LAMBO, DANIEL LAMBO

Je wordt als wees geadopteerd in een Westers land en ontdekt pas jaren later dat je officiële papieren niet kloppen. Je was helemaal geen wees en je biologische ouders zijn ook nu nog in leven… Rani, ontvoerd als kind, getuigt over de kinderhandel door de katholieke kerk in India. De Nederlandse Marcia, slachtoffer van adoptiefraude, legt met haar organisatie corruptie bloot in Colombia en zorgt hiermee voor een schokgolf in België. Journalist Kurt ontmaskert met gevaar voor eigen leven een netwerk van Congolese kinderhandel.

ABUJA – The 36 State governors under the aegis of Nigerian Governors’ Forum NGF on Wednesday condemned the heinous act, where 17 Soldiers were killed in Okuama Community, Ughelli South Local Council Area of Delta State and observed a minute of silence for their souls.

The members of the NGF also raised concerns over the growing illegal and fraudulent inter-country adoption of Nigerian children by the United States.

AbdulRahman AbdulRasaq, the Chairman, Nigeria Governors’ Forum and Executive Governor of Kwara State, gave the highlight in a issued after the governors’ meeting, and made available to newsmen on Thursday.

“We, members of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), at our meeting held today. Wednesday 20” March 2024, deliberated on various issues of national importance and resolved as follows:

“The Forum commiserated with the Governor of Delta State. H E Sherif Oborevwwori. over the communal clash between Okuama in the Ughelli South Local Government Area and Okolaba in the Bomadi Local Government Area of Delta State, and which led to the death of many including sixteen (16) military personnel. While condemning the heinous act, members observed a minute of silence for the souls of the departed.

134 people have already reported questions about their adoption. Some adoptions date back sixty years or more. About twenty reports concern adoptions after 2000. This was reported by De Standaard on Thursday. Flemish Minister of Welfare Hilde Crevits (CD&V) wants each of these 134 adoptions to be rescreened.

In November last year it was confirmed that some adoptions of Ethiopian children through the Ray of Hope adoption agency had been abusive. Researchers who travelled to the country on behalf of Crevits and examined twelve adoption files, found that in at least one case parents had not consciously given up their child for adoption.

Following these initial results, the minister launched a broad appeal: anyone with questions about their own adoption or that of their child could report them. 134 people have already done so. This concerns reports about adoptions dating back to the 1950s and 1960s, as well as adoptions after 2000. There are 21 countries of origin among them.

Another 25 additional reports were received about Ethiopia, in addition to 21 reports about adoptions within Belgium and ten reports about adoptions from France. Other large clusters are 28 reports about adoptions from India and 19 about South Korea.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: To avoid duplication in the birth registration of adopted children in more than one local self-government institution, the state government has asked the families to initiate steps to cancel the registration done before permanently registering the birth within the limits of the LSG in which they reside.

The government had earlier given permission to families that adopted children to register the birth in the LSG where they reside, after submitting an application in the registration unit in which they are included. However, it led to duplication of birth certificates as some births were registered in the same local self-government institution.

Given the situation, the women and child welfare department had asked the State Birth and Death Registrar to take necessary steps to avoid duplication. Considering the demand of the women and child welfare department, the government in a circular issued on March 10, asked the parents of adopted children to cancel the birth registration done in the LSG where the adopted family also intended to register the birth with new permanent address.

The institutions that keep the children till adoption usually register the birth of children with the local self -government and give their address as the place of residence. The adopted family should submit an application to the Birth and Death Registrar in the LSG in which they live to cancel the birth registration done earlier.

Investigations continue to try and discover real parents of couple’s ‘non-related’ baby

PJ police have arrested a couple in their 40s, living in Gondomar, on suspicion of international child trafficking.

The duo walked into a family health unit in their city around a year ago with a baby girl who, they said, they wanted to ‘integrate into their household’ and start on the required round of vaccinations.

The infant had no identity documents: the story being that she was the daughter of a woman who had had an affair with the man, and who did not want her.

He and his wife had decided to bring her up as their own child, said the couple.

https://www.liberation.fr/societe/le-business-franco-belge-des-bebes-voles-nous-etions-des-marchandises-que-lon-pouvait-ramener-au-magasin-20240320_5YLEJ3ZCO5DEVKBARB25646NJI/?fbclid=IwAR2vvgRerHujVp9LkQM3vNq80Kog0iTD6IA7_Fksx-KkqWh_RJQc8NLxH6E_aem_AR7u6lAVQYkGEMZrPUAb9Sw-nSuqndQbHdsG0M4cbP6rPgsGdBwb2K3nKsMz0WSs-pj5w5eTzTSXNbYOUf9cpb-s

For at least thirty years, families from the Belgian bourgeoisie paid Catholic organizations so that their daughters would give birth under X in the north of France. The infants were then brought back to Belgium to be adopted. Today, these victims are fighting against silence.

When he tells his story, he begins with this: “I had just turned 18, the police knocked on the door.” Stern expression, handcuffs in hand. “The French police sent us. You are accused of insubordination. Military service is obligatory, young man.” Christophe de Neuville, however, has two Belgian parents and does not remember having set foot in France. He watches his father, embarrassed, stammer out an explanation to the police. He stays behind. "I always knew. My brother and I come from “the Dunkirk industry”.” A blurry image has always wandered through his head: “I see my mother covering the bassinet with a blanket. I imagine when crossing the border, to hide the baby from customs officials.”

Christophe de Neuville, 64, is a journalist at RTBF in Liège. Usually, he talks about other people's lives. This time, it’s about his own, and “like him.” "We are numerous. We recognize each other right away. No need to talk a lot.” With Christiane, discovered by chance on a forum, the bond was immediate. Both were born a few hours apart, in the same clinic in Dunkirk (North). “On the “Belgian floor”, as they said. It was under the roof. Our cribs were in a locked room. Our mothers kept away, without the possibility of seeing us. Very quickly, we were brought to Belgium, sold to adoptive families. Like D

Ten years after a woman was killed by her estranged husband in her Loudoun County home, two of the victim’s closest friends, who took in her five children, were finally able to start adoption proceedings.

Michelle Castillo was in the midst of a bitter divorce and custody battle with IT executive Braulio Castillo when she was found dead March 20, 2014. Her husband was convicted in her death and sentenced to life in prison.

In 2010, Michelle Castillo signed a legal document naming David and Stephanie Meeker guardians of her children should something happen.

“We promised that we would take care of the kids, and so in the beginning, not knowing what we didn’t know, we just took the kids and loved them anyway and felt like this was the right thing to do,” Stephanie Meeker said. “We’re just going to let them stay here and figure it out.”

It was just the beginning of a legal odyssey as they began to raise the kids as their own within the foster care system. The oldest Castillo child was in college; the others ranged in age from 3 to 11.

New Delhi, Mar 19 (PTI) More girls are abandoned or surrendered in the country, leading to the rise in their adoptions as against male ones, and there is no such trend of them being preferred, child rights activists said.
     According to the recent affidavit filed by the director of the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) in the Supreme Court, a total of 15,536 children and youth of both genders up to the age of 18 years were adopted in 11 states between 2021 and 2023 under the Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act (HAMA).
     The parents adopted 9,474 girls in comparison to 6,012 boys during this period, indicating a rise in the number of adoptions for girls.
     The CARA is a statutory body of the Union ministry of women and child development and works as the nodal agency for the adoption of children in the country. It is mandated to monitor and regulate in-country and inter-country adoptions.
     There is no such trend but more girls are abandoned so that is why availability is high for adoption, the experts told PTI.
     Availability of more girl children results in their more adoption, said Bharti Ali, co-founder and the executive director of HAQ: Centre for Child Rights.
     “This (rise) may be because there are more girls available, more daughters are dumped,” she said.
     Child rights activist Enakshi Ganguly concurred with Ali’s views and said, “That's because more girls are abandoned or surrendered and, hence, more (are) available for adoption.”
     The CARA, in its affidavit, gave details of the children falling under five categories -- orphan, abandoned, surrendered, unfit parents and non-visitation -- who are available for adoptions in the country, according to the data provided by certain states.
     A total number of 20,673 children (under the age group of 7-11 years and 12-18 years) have been identified so far in the states and Union Territories (UTs) during an identification drive comprising the five categories, it said.
     Ten states and UTs -- Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Jammu Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Ladakh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Manipur -- have not provided the data on total adoptions taken place during the period.
     In Punjab, a total of 7,496 adoptions were registered under the HAMA. Out of them, 4,966 were girls and 2,530 were boys.
     In Telangana, the couples preferred male children for adoption under the HAMA.
     The top court, on March 15, voiced displeasure over the failure to set up Specialised Adoption Agencies (SAAs) meant to streamline the adoption process of abandoned and surrendered children in 370 districts across the country. It warned the states and UTs of "coercive steps" for non-compliance of its directions.
     It lamented that out of 760 districts in the country, 370 do not have functional SAAs, a necessary legal requirement under the Juvenile Justice Act.
     The SAAs prepare the home study report of the prospective adoptive parents and after finding them eligible, refers a child declared legally free for adoption to them along with the child study report and the medical report of the child.
     The bench also asked the states and the UTs to provide the latest data by April 7 to the Union ministry of women and child development on setting up of SAAs and the number of adoptions, saying that it wanted to know whether the court orders have made any difference on the ground or not.
     Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for the Centre, said the states should be asked to provide the data to the Union ministry for effective implementation of the court orders meant to smoothen the adoption procedure.
     “All states and Union Territories are peremptorily directed to ensure that within every district falling within their jurisdiction, SAAs as required by the Juvenile Justice Act 2015, shall be set up by 31 January 2024,” the bench had directed on November 20 last year.
     The top court had earlier said the child adoption process in India is "very tedious" and that there is an urgent need for the procedure to be streamlined.
     The apex court was hearing a PIL by "The Temple of Healing" which sought simplification of the legal process for child adoption in India, saying only 4,000 adoptions take place annually in the country.

South Africans – and the world at large – have been left angered and heartbroken over how a mother could possibly sell her child. But according to Natasha Andrews – the woman who wanted to adopt Joslin Smith – the little girl was loved and wanted in her home.

‘She was loved’: Woman who wanted to adopt Joslin Smith speaks Andrews has revealed that her family wanted to take in the six-yearold as their own. However, they were denied by her mother, Kelly.

This week marks one month since Joslin disappeared from her home in the Middelpos informal settlement in Diazville, Saldanha Bay. Despite extensive searches by police, professionals, and the community, she has yet to be found. 

Four suspects – including her mother and her boyfriend Jacquin Appollis, as well as friends Steveno Van Rhyn and Lourentia Lombaard, have been arrested for kidnapping and human trafficking. They are currently in custody

JOSLIN SMITH ‘OTHER FAMILY’ SPEAKS