'What to others appears to be purely administrative paperwork, for adoptees often represents the only potential, tangible link with the first period of their lives, the people from whom they were born, their origins, an important part of who they are, a part of their identity', writes Ae Ra Van Geel. She calls, among other things, for better monitoring and retention of the administration. At Flemish level, it is expected that a decision will be made in September on the list of countries from which Flanders will adopt in the future.

Work is currently underway in Flanders on a new decree on intercountry adoption, as well as on screenings of all countries of origin from which Flanders is currently moving and adopting children, such as Portugal.

Much has been said and written in recent years about what should be important in the policy on transnational adoption, including by myself. The adoption field, that collection of forces, powers, individuals and often conflicting interests, is extremely complex. This field includes parents and their children; people with an unwanted and unfulfilled desire to have children; people who want to do 'good'; adopters; adoption services; governments in both sending and receiving countries; people who had to give up their child due to socio-economic circumstances, for example.
In response to recent current events in Flanders and the Netherlands, I would like to draw attention to a number of considerations that I believe are important in decision-making and policy-making regarding transnational adoption.

This is how I think of the recurring 'interests of the child'. This empty and meaningless phrase has been used to legitimize, condone and frame distance, forced displacement and adoption for decades. However, it has been known for just as long that the interests of the child are merely an excuse for other, less noble-sounding interests such as economic gain or fulfilling a desire to have children in the global North. This was recently demonstrated once again in an article that De Morgen published, based on written documents from the early 1970s.. The image of children as a commodity to be monetized emerges from this. In this way, money was made from deceased children and money was saved by exchanging children. Prospective adopters were also scammed because they were charged non-existent fees. The Belgian ambassador already mentioned such a lack of competence among the adoption services involved at the time. However, thorough investigation was not found necessary.

Whose interests did this serve?

In the matter pertaining to the issue of whether children born out of a void or voidable marriage had a right in parents' ancestral property as per the Hindu law, the Supreme Court discussed whether in case of a notional partition before the death of a father, a child born to the said father from a void or voidable marriage would be entitled to the property inherited by the father in the...

The nine persons allegedly running a criminal surrogate mother and adoption ring on Crete through an assisted reproduction unit testified on Sunday at the court in Chania, western Crete

Officers of the Greek Organised Crime department have successfully dismantled a criminal organisation operating in Chania, Greece, involved in human trafficking and illegal adoptions of babies.

Two prosecutors are involved in the testimonies being collected. The first defendant to testify was a 73-year-old doctor and head of the controversial unit of assisted reproduction. Citizens expressing support for him rallied outside the courts.

On Saturday, Health Minister Michalis Chrysochoidis removed alternate professor of gynaecology (University of Athens) Nikolaos Vrachnis as head of the National Authority on Assisted Reproduction. The Authority is responsible for overseeing all assisted reproduction facilities and approving their licensing.

An inquiry into historical adoption practices has been warned the government will be holding a similar inquiry into donor-conceived children in years to come, and likely issuing them an apology. 

It comes as Jigsaw WA, which is a key agency connecting people with their biological parents, revealed it will close its doors at the end of the year. 

A West Australian government committee is investigating the impact of past adoptive policies and practices between1939 and 1980, during which time unmarried mothers were forced to give up their babies for adoption.

Well over 150,000 babies were removed from their unwed mothers across Australia during a peak period from the 1950s to the 1970s.

Giving evidence to the committee, Jigsaw WA manager Isabel Andrews said she and others at a medical conference 30 years ago had warned the issues that had arisen in adoption in Australia were going to occur in donor conception.

Maryland family faces international adoption nightmare: Their daughter is stuck in Nepal

Are You Ok Baby Twitter Review: Directed by Lakshmy Ramakrishnan, music by Ilaiyaraja and produced by Monkey Creative Lab, Are You OK Baby movie is released worldwide today.

Samuthrakani In Lakshmi Ramakrishnan Film

Are You Ok Baby starring Samuthrakani, Abhirami, Mysskin, Pavel Navageethan, Mullai Arasi, Uday Mahesh and Aadukalam Naren is the fifth film from director Lakshmy Ramakrishnan. CS Premkumar is the editor of this film. Cinematography is done by Krishnasekar TS.

It is important to note that the film has got positive response from the special media premiere which was organized by the film crew in Chennai recently. Checkout this space for more interesting twitter reviews about the film Are You Ok Baby:

"Majority of audience were tuned to watch only those films with blood, drugs and violence. It is rare to see small films wining big at the box office. This film 'Are You Ok Baby?' has the scope to become a hit like Sillu Karuppatti and Good Night. And I'm sure that 'Are You OK Baby?' movie will stir up debates and controversies. There are multiple layers in the film with ruthless dialogues and adult content, censored with a clean U/A certificate.

The Committee on Enforced Disappearances today co-hosted an event at the Palais des Nations in Geneva to mark the first anniversary of the joint statement on illegal intercountry adoptionsOpens in new window.  Speakers discussed the content and objectives of the joint statement, highlighted its importance for victims and identified future actions to promote its implementation. 

Olivier de Frouville, Chair of the Committee on Enforced Disappearances, said that the purpose of the joint event was to consider how to implement the joint statement and how to ensure that victims’ rights were protected.  Mr. de Frouville stressed the importance of listening to the voices of victims, who went through great personal stress to tell their stories.     

Mr. de Freuville said there was a rising tide of people adopted during the 1970s and later who were now looking for their relatives.  States needed to respect human rights conventions and instruments, and the joint statement constituted a practical guide in that regard.  The treaty body system offered several procedures that could be triggered to help persuade States to implement effective measures.  In closing, Mr. de Freuville said the practice of illegal intercountry adoptions was a multilateral and a societal issue, and needed to be treated accordingly. 

The joint event was co-hosted by the Committee on the Rights of the Child; the Special Rapporteur on the Promotion of Truth, Justice, Reparation, and Guarantees of Non-recurrence; the Special Rapporteur on the Sale and Sexual Exploitation of Children including child prostitution, child pornography, and other child sexual abuse material; the Special Rapporteur on Trafficking in Persons, especially women and children; and the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances. 

During the session, two panel discussions were held, the first presenting testimonies of victims and States’ experiences, and the second discussing the relevance of the joint statement.  In addition to the co-hosts, representatives of the Governments of France and Ukraine, civil society organisations and persons affected by illegal intercountry adoptions participated in the panels.

Around 25,000 boys and girls once lived in the Berlin children's home in Königsheide. Some are still looking for their parents today. 

Behind the gate with the squirrel emblem, an almost unreal idyll opens up - it's hard to believe that the Schöneweide S-Bahn station is only around 600 meters away: Neoclassical buildings stand in a sparse forest of tall oaks and pine trees. They are reminiscent of the Zenner house in Treptower Park. Here and there there are hammocks stretched between the trees.

All buildings are decorated with blue, red and beige scratch paintings, showing happy children in all walks of life. The houses are on the right and left on a street lined with flower beds. It leads from the entrance gate with the squirrel to an imposing house with figures standing in front of the column-decorated portal. It looks a bit like a miniature of the Weimar National Theater.

This afternoon, a group of two dozen people strolled through the listed complex on Südostallee in Johannisthal, a district of Treptow . Some carry folding stools in their hands; the tour will last two hours, at least.

Balconies were added to the houses a few years ago. The residents of the ground floors were given terraces. There is a sign attached to one: “You should be a caterpillar: eat – sleep. Eat – sleep. Eat – sleep. Zack – nice.” The current residents of the complex want life to be so easy here. But it's not a carefree place.

Today a residential park, formerly the GDR's model children's home

It's never easy for adopted children to find their biological parents decades later, especially when they have little information about them. The challenge, though, has not deterred Mahogany from the United States. The 23-year-old girl is in India with friend Christopher to track down her biological parents. For the past two weeks, the two have been covering Lucknow street by street and meetings officials in the hope of some success.

Mahogany spoke to INDIA TODAY about her past as well as her mission. It was in 2000 that she was found abandoned by the Government Railway Police (GRP) near Charbagh railway station in Lucknow. The police searched hard for the parents, but in vain. Ultimately, the girl was sent to an orphanage from where, two years on, she was adopted by an American woman, Carol, and taken to Minnesota.

Mahogany said her foster mother, before her death in 2018, told her about her adoption. Therein began Mahogany's search. Mahogany, whose Indian name is Rakhi, told her story to Christopher, an artist, and a plan was drawn up to visit India. It took time to arrange for the funds and visa and finally, the two reached Delhi in the second week of September and proceeded to Lucknow.

Mahogany, who works in a cafe in Minnesota, said one of the first things she did in Lucknow was to enquire with the GRP at Charbagh station and also visit her orphanage. But credible leads to her biological parents eluded. Her documents at the orphanage have no details of her parents. Some photographs of her adoption have three women, but their whereabouts are not known.

In the 1980s, more than 200 children in Hato Mayor, Dominican Republic, were separated from their families and placed in the care of couples from Quebec. In the heart of this small town lost in the Caribbean, a formidably efficient "adoption machine" had been set up completely legally by a Quebec network of missionaries and adoptive parents. Thirty years later, accompanied by Orlando Fleurant, one of these children who is now an adult, Isabelle Hachey followed in the footsteps of this organization which, although motivated by good intentions, gave false hope to many families. Through the history of Orlando, DERACINES lifts the veil on the drift of a system whose impacts are still felt, in Quebec as in the Dominican Republic.