Geadopteerden ontevreden over onderzoek: ‘Commissie lijkt waarheid te verdraaien’

Posted 31/07/2020

Bron: Algemeen Dagblad

Het onderzoek naar de rol van de Nederlandse staat bij illegale adopties ligt onder vuur. Geadopteerden en deskundigen hebben geen vertrouwen in de onafhankelijkheid van de commissie en de zoektocht naar de waarheid. Verslagen kloppen niet, vragen over de overheid blijven uit en een tevredenheidsenquête wekt wrevel.

Tonny van der Mee en Gea Mollema 31-07-20

In a judgment which paves way for child adoption by Indian diaspora from the country, Punjab and Haryana high court has held that NRIs applying under the Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act (HAMA)-1956 don’t have to undergo the rigorous process set under Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA).

The high court bench of justice Jaishree Thakur also held that for adoption covered under the personal law — applicable to Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists and Jains — within the country, the adoptee won’t even need the CARA certification. There is no personal law for adoption by Muslims.

CARA is a statutory body for adoption of Indian children and is mandated to monitor and regulate in-country and inter-country adoptions. CARA was established under the Juvenile Justice Act (JJA)-2015 after the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption. Under CARA, adoption can be made by person of any belief.

The ruling was delivered in a plea wherein a two-year-old girl adopted by an NRI couple was denied passport. Born as one of the twins to a Jalandhar couple in 2017, she was adopted by her natural mother’s NRI sister as per Sikh rites performed at a local gurdwara for which a certificate was also issued. In November 2018, they signed an adoption deed under HAMA, following which the adoptive parents applied for the girl’s passport, but it was rejected by authorities stating that a no-objection certificate (NOC) from CARA was mandatory, said the family’s lawyer Sukhwinder Singh Nara.

The court said Section 56 (3) of the JJA stipulates that the provisions of the law shall not apply to adoption of children under HAMA. The said adoption cannot be challenged on the ground that the same should have been made under JJA, which itself states that a valid adoption of a minor child under HAMA is irreversible and cannot be revoked, the bench said.

The ruling by Justice Nirmaljit Kaur came in a case where the Passport Authority had refused passport to a minor girl, adopted in accordance with the Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act (HAMA), on the ground that a NOC from the CARA or photocopy from a recognised Indian placement agency was required.

The petitioner’s counsel, Sukhvinder Singh Nara, contended that the NOC from the CARA was not required as Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act (JJ Act) clearly stated that its provisions would not be applicable to an adoption made under the provisions of the HAMA. Nara added the minor petitioner was adopted under an adoption deed, which was a duly executed document and was under the provisions of the HAMA.

The counsel for the Union of India, during the course of arguments, contended the inter-country adoption was valid only under the JJ Act.

After hearing arguments, Justice Nirmaljit Kaur asserted it was evident that “Indian parents” were not required to provide the NOC from the CARA. The requirement was for foreign parents. “Although, the Court is of the view that an Indian or Overseas Citizen of India with a British passport, i.e. with British Citizenship, will not lose their identity of being an Indian parent or Indian, especially when they are called ‘Overseas Citizen of India’, nevertheless, the debate is left open as no argument was raised qua the same by either side,” Justice Nirmaljit Kaur asserted, while referring to the facts of the case.

Justice Nirmaljit Kaur at the same time added that it would be in the interest of the adoptive parents and the child to obtain a simple NOC from the CARA to ensure a clean transition from one country to another, lest they face difficulty in visa or any other requirement.

When Vanita Thomas met her future husband, Peter, for the first time, she asked if he would be interested in adopting a child with her.

It wasn’t a premature question—their marriage was arranged, and their first meeting was meant to see if they were compatible. Potential future children were important to discuss. But it was a weird question, because adoption was uncommon in India, where both were born. (“People believe that God opens and shuts wombs, so if you adopt, it means you didn’t have enough faith,” Vanita said.)

But Vanita was determined. “Growing up, my school took us to one of Mother Teresa’s children’s homes in Bangalore to visit the orphans,” she explained. “I remember begging Mum and Dad to take one of those kids home. They said that they already had three kids, and anyway, it wasn’t something normally done in India.”

Vanita and Peter with their adopted children Sandeep and Ruth / Courtesy of Sandeep Thomas

But she didn’t forget about it. Years later at their first meeting, she asked her future husband what he thought about adopting. Peter, who had just finished reading about God spiritually adopting believers into his family in J. I. Packer’s Knowing God, agreed immediately. Five years later, Peter had finished graduate school, the couple had immigrated to New York, and Vanita had lost a pregnancy. It’s time, they thought.

Father Eugene Homrich, a prominent American Holy Cross missionary priest who spent six decades serving and improving the lives of indigenous people in Bangladesh, has died from Covid-19.

He died at Old Holy Cross Priests' Home in the United States on July 26. He was 91.

From 1955 to 2016, Father Homrich was a missionary in Bangladesh and served people in the Madhupur sal (Shorea robusta) forest area of Tangail district in the central part of the country.

Born on Dec. 8, 1928, in Muskegon in Michigan, he entered Holy Cross Novitiate in 1946 and was ordained a priest on June 8, 1955. The same year, Father Homrich joined a contingent of 12 missionary priests and brothers to reach East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) by ship and then by airplane.

He learned the Bengali language at Notre Dame College in Dhaka for a year. He then served in two parishes — St. Francis Xavier Church in Golla of Dhaka and St. Elizabeth Church in Biroidakuni of Mymensingh. He moved to Madhupur in 1959.

The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) on Friday paraded a 45-year-old woman, Pauline Okere, who allegedly turned her orphanage home into a bait for human trafficking.

Okere was arrested for unlawfully keeping 74 children who she collected from their parents at various locations in the Federal Capital Territory.

Kaduna to demolish orphanages for alleged child trafficking

Curbing human trafficking in Nigeria

Speaking at a press conference at the NAPTIP headquarters in Abuja where the woman was paraded on Friday, the Director, Research and Programme Development of the agency, Mr Godwin Morka who represented the Director General, Julie Okah-Donli, said child trafficking had continued to give NAPTIP serious concern.

“You are given a name without a choice. You are given a religion without a choice. You are given a race and an identity without your choice. Those who have favourable ones are lucky. But people like us will always be tormented by society. So I decided that somebody must speak up about it”.

– Moses Akash De Silva –

Years of discrimination have come to an end with the recent removal of marital status from all future birth certificates. The decision, announced by Registrar General, N C Vithanage, has been under consideration for two years. Set to be issued after the procedures have been completed, it has been renamed to National Birth certificate, instead of birth certificate.

The move to remove marital status was initially opposed by the Department of Pensions and Department of Lands on the grounds that it would affect inheritance and other entitlements. However, while the information will be withheld from the birth certificate, it will be documented by the Registrar General’s Department to be viewed when necessary.

Discrimination is nothing new to single mothers, children born out of wedlock and orphans in Sri Lanka. While juggling this stigma and hurt on a daily basis, they have also been deprived of opportunity and ripped of their dignity throughout their lives.

Bea Garnier-Merz offers members of the Bundeswehr and their families advice and support in social matters. But when the lights go out in your office, your social commitment doesn't fall by the wayside. Because then the employee of the social service of the Bundeswehr in Koblenz gets involved in the association “Help a child eV” registered association ”. This association offers help with adoptions abroad.

Still a little tired from the exhausting journey, Bea Garnier-Merz and her colleague Angela Gönemann review the past few days. The two employees of the social services of the Bundeswehr covered around 17,000 kilometers by air in a short time. The reason: They brought ten children between the ages of three and seven from Haiti to Germany to hand over to new adoptive parents. Both women are involved in the adoption agency “Help a child eV”registered association"

Despite the corona pandemic, the flight to Haiti could be carried out. Without further ado, the association chartered an aircraft with pilots and flight attendants. The machine was on the road for almost three days. Started in Brussels, spent the night in Guadeloupe, then on to Port-au- Prince. A three-hour stay and then back again. Cost: around 100,000 euros. The new parents paid a large part. The remaining amount has been donated for this purpose. “It is an enormous effort, but when we look into the happy faces of the children when we hand them over to the new mums and dads, then that makes up for everything,” says Garnier-Merz.

There was a lot going on on the return flight: excitement and anticipation for what lies ahead.

Many of the children have never seen a plane in their lives, let alone sat in one ",

Recovery found. Griffini (Ai.Bi.) "Now off to the reform of International Adoption"

Posted on July 21, 2020

Related articles in AiBinews:

Separate fathers and Coronavirus: the new critical issues

July 21, 2020

Patricia is adopted from India but finds no trace of her biological mother. Then a DNA test shows that she has a relative - in Norway! Can the relative reveal the secret of Patricia's origins?

Gunilla Nordlund has followed Patricia's journey and enlists the help of genealogist and DNA expert Peter Sjölund to help her in her search for answers.

Have you uncovered a family secret that turned your self-image upside down? Feel free to contact us with your story. Email to familjehemligheten@sverigesradio.se

Producer for the series is Ola Hemström.

.