NEW DELHI: A random analysis by National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) covering over 600 NGOs running child care institutions showed that going by FRCA data on the quantum of donations in 2018-19, the average amount received per child in these CCIs ranged between Rs 2.12 lakh and Rs 6.60 lakh.

The analysis covered 638 NGOs across Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Telangana and Karnataka that housed around 28,900 children at the time the NCPCR commissioned the social audit in 2018-19.

On why these five states were chosen, NCPCR chief Priyank Kanoongo said the audit in 7,163 homes in 2018-19 found around 2.56 lakh children in CCIs. Of these, over 1.63 lakh were in five southern states. NCPCR decided to analyse trends in foreign funding by taking these five states first, an official said. The NCPCR plans to study the trend further and extend the analysis to other states too.
“We are not alleging anything but yes, we want that whatever money is coming into the country should be used for the benefit of the child as these CCIs are under the Juvenile Justice Act,” the NCPCR chief said.
The random analysis was carried out by picking NGOs running CCIs audited by the Lucknow-based Academy of Management Studies in 2018-19. Kanoongo said they took the FCRA data available on the home ministry’s website (www.fcraonline.nic.in) for the year 2018-19.

“The calculation was carried out with the receipt of foreign contribution by NGOs running CCIs against the number of children staying during the social audit,” he said, adding that the expenditure per child per annum, including all recurring expenses, came to about Rs 60,000.

Tana-Julie Bichon woke up at home in Paris, when a message popped up on her phone saying 'We have found your mother.'

The sender was Nguyen Giang, a hospitality student living in Paris, who had learned three days earlier that Tana had been adopted as a baby by a French couple in Vietnam in 1996.

After listening to her story, Giang quickly posted Tana’s information, including her old photos and her Vietnamese mother’s name and address, on a Facebook group.

She wrote on behalf of Tana: "I just want more information about my family so I can go to Vietnam and visit my hometown. If you have information about my mother, my sister, or whether my home address still exists, please let me know."

Fifteen minutes later a Vietnamese woman contacted Giang.

The Romanian Parliament adopted today, November 3, 2020, by unanimous vote (270 votes in favor) fundamental improvements to law 273/2004 on the adoption procedure, changes long debated but also expected by the approximately 50,000 children in the child protection system but and future adoptive parents. "I confess that the desperate requests I received from my parents in search of the child to love and protect are the ones that motivated me to get involved in the last two years, two long years, in debating and completing the law adoption. Starting from a very good project, initiated by the PSD Government in September 2018, I debated the law with the civil society both in Bra?ov, on November 2, 2018 but also in Bucharest, in June 2019. Then, I worked, together with Oana Bîzgan, for other parliamentary colleagues, to a series of amendments that I supported and that are found in the law voted today. We want the law voted today to mean a much shorter stay of children in the child protection system and a much faster integration of them in the family, where they have to live and grow. " - said the PSD deputy, Roxana Mînzatu. Among the beneficial legal provisions adopted today by the Chamber of Deputies are: - The extension from 2 years to 5 years of the validity of the certificate of adoptive family.The certificates valid on the date of entry into force of this law extend their validity until the fulfillment of the term of 5 years from the date of their issuance. - A child may be declared adoptable without the consent of relatives up to the fourth degree; extended family relatives remain among the categories with priority in the placement of the child and then match for adoption of the child, if desired. - A child will be able to be declared adoptable more quickly by shortening the time limits in which natural parents over the age of 18 declare in writing that they give up caring for the child and in which they can return to the initial declaration - In the case of siblings the special protection system, which are protected in the administrative-territorial area of ??the same directorate, is appointed by the same case manager. Also, adoptive parents who have already adopted a sibling also gain priority in matching the other siblings in the child protection system. - The application for approval of the adoption is simplified by eliminating the obligation to legalize the documents at the notary - they will be certified by each DGASPC. - Children declared adoptable will be able to benefit from the chance in a family even after reaching the age of 14, remaining adoptable until adulthood. - The definition of persons with whom the child enjoyed family life and who have priority in the matching procedure with the adoptable child / children is extended. -The accommodation allowance and allowances that adoptive parents receive are aligned with the benefits enjoyed by any biological parent - for example, the allowance of 85% of the average net income of the adoptive parent in the last 12 months of the last 2 years prior to the decision. entrusted courts for adoption. - Clearly and strictly condition those exceptional situations, not imputable (with evidence) in which the natural parents no longer agree with the adoption and request the review against a court decision to open the adoption procedure - Simplify post-adoption monitoring. For example, post-adoption monitoring is not performed in the case of internal adoption of the child by the spouse of the natural or adoptive parent or by the child's relatives, nor in the case of adoption of the child by his guardian or by persons / families who had the child at least 2 years. - The obligation for the director of DGASPC to control, on a quarterly basis, the way in which each case manager carries out his activity for the benefit of the children he cares for is introduced. - The internal adoption of children who are difficult to adopt is stimulated by providing financial incentives (which are granted after the adoption sentence and until the adoption of the adopted child or up to the age of 26 if they continue their studies); I reproduce below the text of the law: “(1) The adopter or the adoptive family benefits, from a support allowance, related to the reference social indicator, in the amount of 1.20 SRI, for each child who, at the date of finality of the approval court decision of adoption, is in one of the following situations: a) is between 3 and 6 years old; b) is classified as having a mild or medium disability; c) is part of a group of 2 brothers who can be adopted together.(2) The amount of the indemnity is increased by 50% in case the child is in one of the following situations at the date of the final decision of the court approving the adoption: a) he / she is 7 years old; b) is classified as severely or severely disabled, infected with HIV or AIDS; c) is part of a group of at least 3 brothers adoptable together. (3) If the adopted child meets two of the conditions provided in paragraph (1) or (2), the amount of the support allowance shall be increased by 75%. (4) In the situation where the adopted child meets cumulatively all the conditions provided in paragraph (1) or those provided in paragraph. (2), the amount of the support allowance shall be increased by 100%. " - Fixed annual sums of money are provided to support the medical recovery expenses necessary for the adopted child - Parents are also helped to adopt children from a geographical area other than the one where they reside, by settling expenses of the adoptive parents with the practical matching visit. Currently, about 50,000 children live in the child protection system, according to official data released by the Authority for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Children and Adoptions. In 2017, just over 3,000 people had the necessary certificate for adoption and just over 1,000 people adopted children. The law voted today (PLX 736/2018) is meant to contribute, through its application, to the significant increase of domestic adoption, after it will be promulgated by the President of Romania. Roxana Mînzatu PSD Deputy Bra?ov November 3, 2020

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Parlamentul României a adoptat azi, 3 noiembrie 2020, cu unanimitate de voturi (270 voturi pentru) îmbun?t??iri fundamentale la legea 273/2004 privind procedura adop?iei, modific?ri îndelung dezb?tute dar ?i a?teptate de cei circa 50 000 de copii din sistemul de protec?ie a copilului dar ?i de viitori p?rin?i adoptivi. ”M?rturisesc c? solicit?rile disperate pe care le-am primit de la p?rin?i în c?utarea copilului pe care s? îl iubeasc? ?i s? îl ocroteasc? sunt cele care m-au motivat s? m? implic în ultimii doi ani, doi ani lungi, în dezbaterea ?i completarea legii adop?iei. Pornind de la un proiect foarte bun, ini?iat de Guvernul PSD în septembrie 2018, am dezb?tut legea cu societatea civil? atât la Bra?ov, în 2 noiembrie 2018 dar ?i la Bucure?ti, în iunie 2019. Apoi, am lucrat, al?turi de Oana Bîzgan, de al?i colegi parlamentari, la o serie de amendamente pe care le-am sus?inut ?i care se reg?sesc în legea votat? azi. Ne dorim ca legea votat? azi s? însemne o ?edere mult mai scurt? a copiilor în sistemul de protec?ie a copilului ?i o integrare mult mai rapid? a acestora în familie, acolo unde trebuie s? traiasc? ?i s? creasc?.” – a declarat deputatul PSD, Roxana Mînzatu. Printre prevederile legale benefice adoptate, azi, de Camera Deputa?ilor, se num?r?: - Prelungirea de la 2 ani la 5 ani a valabilit??ii atestatului de familie adoptatoare. Atestatele valabile la data intr?rii în vigoare a prezentei legi î?i prelungesc valabilitatea pân? la împlinirea termenului de 5 ani de la data eliber?rii acestora. - Un copil va putea fi declarat adoptabil f?r? a mai fi cerut acordul rudelor de pân? la gradul IV; rudele din familia extins? râmân printre categoriile cu prioritate la luarea în plasament al copilului ?i, apoi, potrivire în vederea adop?iei copilului, dac? doresc. - Un copil va putea fi declarat ca adoptabil mai rapid prin scurtarea termenelor în care p?rin?ii fire?ti cu vârsta peste 18 ani declar? în scris c? renun?? s? se ocupe de cre?terea ?i îngrijirea copilului ?i în care pot s? revin? asupra declara?iei ini?iale - În cazul fra?ilor din sistemul de protec?ie special?, care sunt ocroti?i în raza administrativ-teritorial? a acelea?i direc?ii se desemneaz? acela?i manager de caz. De asemenea, p?rin?ii adoptivi care au adoptat deja un frate dobândesc, ?i ei, prioritate, la potrivirea cu ceilal?i fra?i din sistemul de protec?ie a copilului. - Se simplific? cerererea de încuviin?are a adop?iei prin eliminarea obliga?iei legaliz?rii la notar a documentelor – acestea vor fi certificate de fiecare DGASPC. - Copiii declara?i adoptabili vor putea beneficia de ?ansa la o familie inclusiv dup? împlinirea vârstei de 14 ani, r?mânând adoptabili pân? la majorat. - Se extinde defini?ia persoanelor al?turi de care copilul s-a bucurat de via?a de familie ?i care au prioritate la procedura de potrivire cu copilul / copiii adoptabili. - Concediul de acomodare ?i indemniza?iile pe care le primesc p?rin?ii adoptatori sunt aliniate cu beneficiile de care se bucur? orice p?rinte biologic – de exemplu, indemniza?ia de 85% din media veniturilor nete realizate de p?rintele adoptator în ultimele 12 luni din ultimii 2 ani anteriori datei emiterii hot?rârii judec?tore?ti de încredin?are în vederea adop?iei. - Se condi?ioneaz? clar ?i stict acele situa?ii excep?ionale, neimputabile (cu probe) în care p?rin?ii fire?ti nu mai sunt de acord cu adop?ia ?i cer revizuirea împotriva unei hot?rârii judec?tore?ti de deschidere a procedurii adop?iei - Se simplific? monitorizarea post-adop?ie. De exemplu, monitorizarea postadop?ie nu se realizeaz? în cazul adop?iei interne a copilului de c?tre so?ul p?rintelui firesc sau adoptiv ori de c?tre rudele copilului ?i nici în cazul adop?iei copilului de c?tre tutorele s?u ori de c?tre persoane/familii care au avut copilul în plasament cel pu?in 2 ani. - Se introducere obliga?ia ca directorul DGASPC s? controleze, trimestrial, modul în care fiecare manager de caz î?i desf??oar? activitatea în beneficiul copiilor de care se ocup?. - Se stimuleaz? adop?ia intern? a copiilor greu adoptabili prin acordarea de stimulente financiare (care se acord? dup? sentin?a de adop?ie ?i pân? la majoratul copilului adoptat sau pân? la 26 ani dac? î?i continu? studiile); redau mai jos textul legii: ”(1) Adoptatorul sau familia adoptatoare beneficiaz?, de indemniza?ie de sprijin, raportat? la indicatorul social de referin??, în cuantum de 1,20 ISR, pentru fiecare copil care, la data r?mânerii definitive a hot?rârii judec?tore?ti de încuviin?are a adop?iei, se afl? în una din urm?toarele situa?ii: a) are vârsta cuprins? între 3 ?i 6 ani; b) este încadrat în grad de handicap u?or sau mediu; c) face parte dintr-un grup de 2 fra?i adoptabili împreun?. (2) Cuantumul indemniza?iei se majoreaz? cu 50% pentru cazul în care la data r?mânerii definitive a hot?rârii judec?tore?ti de încuviin?are a adop?iei copilul se afl? în una din urm?toarele situa?ii: a) are împlinit? vârsta de 7 ani; b) este încadrat în grad de handicap accentuat sau grav, infectat HIV sau bolnav SIDA; c) face parte dintr-un grup de cel pu?in 3 fra?i adoptabili împreun?. (3) În situa?ia în care copilul adoptat întrune?te dou? dintre condi?iile prev?zute la alin.(1) sau (2), cuantumul indemniza?iei de sprijin, se majoreaz? cu 75%. (4) În situa?ia în care copilul adoptat întrune?te cumulativ toate condi?iile prev?zute la alin.(1) sau pe cele prev?zute la alin. (2), cuantumul indemniza?iei de sprijin se majoreaz? cu 100%.” - Se acord? sume fixe anuale de bani pentru sus?inerea cheltuielilor de recuperare medical? necesare copilului adoptat - P?rin?ii sunt ajuta?i s? adopte ?i copii din alt? zon? geografic? decât cea în care domiciliaz?, prin decontarea unor cheltuieli p?rin?ilor adoptatori cu vizita de potrivire practic?. În prezent, aproximativ 50000 de copii tr?iesc în sistemul de protec?ie a copilului, conform datelor oficiale f?cute publice de c?tre Autoritatea pentru Drepturile Persoanelor cu Dizabilit??i, Copii ?i Adop?ii. În 2017 pu?in peste 3000 de persoane aveau atestatul necesar adop?iei ?i pu?in peste 1000 persoane au ?i adoptat copii. Legea votat? ast?zi (PLX 736/2018) are menirea s? contribuie, prin aplicarea ei, la cre?terea semnificativ? a adop?iei interne, dup? ce va fi promulgat? de Pre?edintele României. Roxana Mînzatu Deputat PSD Bra?ov 3 noiembrie 2020

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Berlin (epd) . The federal and state governments have settled their dispute under the adoption assistance law. They agreed in the mediation committee of the Bundesrat and Bundestag on Thursday to lift the controversial obligation to provide advice on stepchild adoption for lesbian parents, as the spokeswoman for the Federal Council announced in Berlin on Friday.

The obligation to seek advice does not apply to lesbian couples if the child is born into a marriage or a long-term relationship. The law, which the Bundestag had already passed, provides for an obligation to provide advice to adoption agencies in the case of stepchild adoptions, i.e. if one partner wants to adopt the other's child.

Since in lesbian marriages or civil partnerships both partners do not automatically become parents when one has a child, they have so far been forced to adopt stepchildren. The majority of the federal states saw the obligation to provide advice for these couples as an additional form of discrimination and refused to approve the bill by Federal Family Minister Franziska Giffey (SPD). The federal government then called the mediation committee at the beginning of December.

Further regulations of the Adoption Assistance Act are not in dispute. It guarantees adoptive parents a legal right to counseling, promotes open adoption with contacts between the adoptive parents and the child's family of origin, and prohibits adoptions abroad that are not arranged by specialist agencies. Its aim is to improve child protection in the event of adoptions and to make it more difficult to trade in children from abroad.

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Nancy Santing from Emmen thinks that when adopting, too much thought is given to the joy of Western adoptive parents: "They have a choice. That is the problem. Babies or children do not have that in all cases. The focus is therefore on the joy of the adoptive parents, while important developmental points of the child are thereby overshadowed. " This mainly concerns the children's feelings and mental development.

Santing does not just speak out about her adoption. November is 'National Adoption Month'. The month in which attention is requested for adoption.

Dominican Republic

Santing, who is from Haiti, is adopted at the age of two by a couple from Emmen. In 2017 she visits her biological mother in the Dominican Republic and finds out that the adoption papers are incorrect: "My mother told us how it really went. It turned out that my father and uncle had sold me to child traffickers." She ends up in a children's home.

A huge shock for Santing, but also for her adoptive parents. "It was a real blow and it caused a lot of confusion. In addition, identity problems and depression were involved. The mental consequences for everyone involved are incalculable," she explains.

Yael Adler talks about her trip to Romania, and her lawyer fills in some background

Probably there isn’t any such thing as a typical adoption story, but if there were to be one, it certainly wouldn’t be Yael Schusterman Adler’s.

Yael, who grew up in Fort Lee and now lives in Randolph, always knew that she was adopted. Her parents, Marcy and Herb Schusterman, never kept that truth from her. But none of them talked about it much, and Yael wasn’t very interested in it. She grew up as a happy only child, close to her family, cherished by her parents and secure in their love. She didn’t particularly look like her parents, but not all children do, and she didn’t stand out as not possibly theirs by DNA.

But just about two years ago, after her father died, she was helping her mother clean up their apartment when she came across paperwork about her adoption. “It was a treasure trove,” Yael said. “It was gold. It was things that I’d never seen before; it was exciting and intriguing. And I’d just turned 30 — a big milestone birthday. So it made me think — now I have all this information in front of me. What do I do? Do I ignore it? Just go on with my life? Or do I pay attention to it.”

There would have been no story had she ignored it, but she did not.

If you do not succeed in becoming a parent, either naturally or through articial

insemination , you may be considering adopting a child. An adoption must always be

in the best interests of the child. And when you adopt a child, it means that you adopt

the child just like your own child, that you have full custody of the child and the same

rights and duties that biological parents have.

Lynelle is the founder of InterCountry Adoptee Voices (ICAV), beginning in 1998. She is a Vietnamese adoptee residing in Australia (Sydney). She has built ICAV into an extensive worldwide network amongst the intercountry adoptee community and provided one of the first platforms worldwide for intercountry adoptee led organisations and individuals to collaborate, share, and encourage one another, regardless of sending or adoptive country.

In the first decade, Lynelle focused locally and built strong and positive relationships with the Australian Federal Government responsible for intercountry adoption (DSS & AGD) and most State Central Authorities in Australia. She also built lasting relationships with the majority of Australian NGO post adoption support organisations who provide intercountry adoption services to adoptees. This advocacy at government level in Australia, resulted in free psychological counselling to all intercountry adoptees in Australia from Relationship Matters, access to a free Hotline for all intercountry adoptees for visa, passport, birth country queries; and a free Search & Reunification Service to all intercountry adoptees via International Social Services, Australia for 2 years, which sadly, despite much advocacy, ended mid 2018 after helping over 200 adoptees and families. Today, Lynelle’s work has extended to include international networking and relationship building with other Central Authorities and organisations who work in or are connected to intercountry adoption.

Over the years, Lynelle has presented at many seminars to governments and related organisations nationally and internationally, including adoption related conferences. She has written, edited and collaborated to publish extensively on the experiences of intercountry adoptees. The book The Colour of Time was her brain child which she edited, compiled, and published in June 2017 in collaboration with ISS Australia, funded by the Australian federal government.

In 2019, Lynelle was invited to represent ICAV at The Hague Working Group to Prevent & Address Illicit Practices in Intercountry Adoption and brought together a group of leaders from around the world to contribute to this important forum. She was also guest speaker at the US Department of State Intercountry Adoption Symposium, bringing with her a group of 10 American intercountry adoptee leaders to have a say and become visible in American intercountry adoption policy & practice. Lynelle continues to elevate the intercountry adoptee voice around the world and encourages adoptee leaders to do likewise.

Lynelle has an IT and business background, having worked at large corporations, IBM and PwC. Her various roles have included managing large contracts, delivering outsourced services, sales and client management, crisis and problem management, managing high functioning IT specialist teams around the world, and bringing people together to deliver a complete IT service.

Although intercountry adoption, according to systematic reviews as well as meta-analysis, is from a perspective of child protection, a successful intervention, this often comes at the cost of lengthy therapy and support. Both in studies as in clinical practice intercountry adoptees are overrepresented in mental health services worldwide (Barroso, Barbosa-Ducharne, Coelho, Costa, & Silva 2017; Palacios & Brodzinsky, 2011; Van IJzendoorn & Juffer, 2006; Rutter et al., 2009). From my clinical experience, the focus on classifying the problems and using highly standardized treatments are not enough to help intercountry adoptees and their families (Vinke, 2011, 2012). In this practice-based article, I propose to use the concept of Van der Kolk's Developmental Trauma Disorder to describe the problems intercountry adoptees face in combination with Waters’ Star model (Waters, 2016; Van der Kolk et al., 2009; Gindis, 2019). Although not an official DSM-5 disorder, DTD has been embraced by many clinicians as a valid concept to approach the diversity of symptoms seen in patients coming from severe deprivational backgrounds such as intercountry adoptees. Both have proven useful in my small private practice2DTD and the Star model prove helpful especially when dealing with dissociative symptoms. In 2004, the ISSTD published guidelines on evaluation and treatment of dissociative symptoms in children and adolescents, yet dissociation is hardly ever mentioned in diagnostical evaluations. This strikes as odd since in daily life of adopted families, in clinical practice, in peer supervision, when discussed, dissociative behaviours seem often very present. Still they are hardly ever referred to in research, assessment or treatment in relation to intercountry adoptees. In this article, I will focus on trauma related dissociation in intercountry adoptees and present a theoretically informed, practical approach to this phenomenon with respect to intercountry adoptees that integrates insights from developmental, trauma and neurobiological research. The approach is illustrated by using some clinical case-examples.

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The phone call was unexpected. Navya took it at her home in northern Italy, 11 years ago. The caller said that her birth mother, whom Navya believed dead, might still be alive somewhere in Kerala. She decided to find her mother, and began a search with the handful of details her adoptive Italian parents passed on. But over a decade and a visit to Kerala later, she hasn’t had much luck.

“All I know is that her name is Sophia and she was 19 years old when she gave birth to me. She came to stay at an orphanage in Kozhikode two to three months before the delivery. There was a woman with her, by the name of Thankamma. I don’t know how they are related to each other. On March 31, 1984, she gave birth to me and then she was gone. I was raised in the orphanage for two years before being adopted and taken to Trento in Italy,” Navya says.

As a little girl of three or four, Navya noticed how she looked different from her Italian parents. Why was she dark and they white, why was she not similar to them, she asked them. When she was old enough, they told her what they knew. She has since been curious about her birth mother, the person she hopes to be more ‘similar to’.

“I am not at all mad at her. I am thankful to her for giving birth to me. We don’t know what her situation might have been back then. And I have had a good life. I am very thankful to the people at the orphanage for giving me so much love and care. One of the nuns kept in touch with me all through my life through letters we wrote to each other. I am also thankful to my parents who adopted me and gave me a good life in Italy. But my mother doesn’t like it when I thank them. She says she needed a daughter and I needed a mother and we were there for each other,” Navya says, laughing.

Soon after learning that her birth mother was alive, Navya visited Kerala, but only for a few days. “I wanted to spend time with the nun at the orphanage who was quite aged by then. She passed away last year; today is her first death anniversary,” she says on Wednesday, showing a picture of the late nun.