Marie K.Eftestad skrev et innlegg på Facebook der hun etterlyser sin biologiske mor. Foto: PrivatLETER: Marie K.Eftestad skrev et innlegg på Facebook der hun etterlyser sin biologiske mor. Foto: Privat«Kjære mamma, hvor er du?»Marie (40) bruker sosiale medier for å finne sin biologiske mor.13. APRIL 2018 KL. 16.42 DEL PÅ FACEBOOK Cornelia Kristiansen Cornelia KristiansenHver 14. januar så lenge Marie K. Eftestad kan huske, har hun tenkt på moren. Hvem er hun? Tenker hun noen gang på datteren? Marie ble født i Kolkata i India i 1978, og adoptert bort til en familie i Norge samme år.Da Marie fylte 40 i år, skrev hun et innlegg på morens språk bengali og la det på Facebook.- Jeg har jo alltid tenkt på det. Etter jeg fikk barn selv vet jeg at man ikke glemmer at man har båret på et barn. Og så fikk jeg lyst til å skrive til henne.- Mitt eneste ønske er å møte degEt par måneder seinere la hun ut et nytt innlegg, denne gangen på engelsk. Der skrev hun blant annet:«Kjære mamma, hvor er du? 14. Januar 1978 fødte du meg på Park View Nursing Home i Kolkata. Men etter fjorten dager, adopterte du meg bort. Saroj Sood hjalp meg med å bli adoptert I Norge. Men hver dag tenker jeg på deg. Jeg lurer på om du også har meg i tankene etter alle disse åra. Jeg vet ikke hvor du er eller hva du gjør. Men mitt eneste ønske er å møte deg og takke deg for å ha gitt meg livet. Jeg er evig takknemlig for at du har født meg! ?Videre skriver hun at hun håper moren har ombestemt seg:«Det må ha vært en veldig god grunn til at du adopterte meg bort, men jeg vil aldri bruke det mot deg og er evig takknemlig, for at du har gitt meg denne muligheten Jeg forstår at du ønsket å være anonym den gangen. Men jeg håper at du har ombestemt deg etter alle disse åra. Jeg håper virkelig at du også vil møte meg så mye som jeg vil møte deg.»Lite informasjonTil Dagbladet forteller trebarnsmoren som nå bor i Søgne, at hun først tok kontakt med organisasjonen som sto for adopsjonen for noen år siden. Reglene er strenge, og dersom moren ønsker å være anonym, er det ikke så mye organisasjonen kan gjøre.Foreldrene til Marie har fortsatt adopsjonspapirene, men der var det begrenset med informasjon. Det sto at kvinnen var ugift. Ikke navn, ikke religion eller alder. Nå har Marie fått vite initialene til moren. Men det er fortsatt lite å gå på i et land med en milliard innbyggere.De forsto at det kanskje ikke hjalp å bare dele en oppfordring fra egen Facebook-side. Kona til Marie, Monica, postet Facebook-innlegget på siden til organisasjonen som hadde stått for adopsjonen. Så søkte hun på indiske nettsider og fant en indisk journalist som jobbet i Times of India, og tok kontakt med henne.Publisert i flere indiske medierJournalisten fikk en melding på Facebook i januar med Maries historie, men hadde ikke sett den før i mars. Da tok journalisten kontakt. Et par dager seinere var artikkelen publisert. Flere andre indiske medier skrev om saken. Men flere uker har gått, og Marie har ennå ikke fått svarene hun leter etter.- Med en gang var det flere som tok kontakt, og det var veldig spennende og gøy, og man får jo et større håp. Men jeg vet at det ikke er enkelt.Tankene om å forsøke å finne moren ble forsterket da de så filmen «Lion», som hadde norgespremiere 5. januar. Dev Patel har hovedrollen som en med indisk bakgrunn som er blitt adoptert bort, og blir besatt av å finne foreldrene. Filmen, som er basert på en sann historie, fikk seks Oscar-nominasjoner.- Filmen er fra Kolkata, så det blir enda nærmere. Og så ble det litt som i filmen. Man blir - ikke besatt - men man får et ønske om å finne. Man er nysgjerrig på opphavet sitt.- Og så er det mange som ikke er det?- Ja, jeg kjenner flere som ikke engang er interessert i å reise til landet. Men i India er det strengt, og det finnes informasjon. Andre jeg kjenner har blitt levert på en trapp og da har de ikke noe å gå ut fra. Kanskje de lettere avfinner seg med situasjonen.Marie vet at hun må være forberedt på det meste i letingen videre. At det kan være gode grunner til at moren ikke svarer, selv om hun skulle høre om det.- Det er jo veldig skam, så jeg skjønner jo hvis hun ikke har mulighet til å svare. Det er også veldig viktig for meg å si at jeg ikke vil utsette henne for noe. Men jeg håper etter alle disse åra at hun kanskje har endret syn på å være anonym.

Jayme Metzgar By Jayme Metzgar

MARCH 19, 2018

In September 2016, just as the presidential race was entering its final weeks, the State Department quietly proposed new regulations governing international adoption. Adoption advocates sounded the alarm, saying the regulations would severely hamper Americans’ ability to adopt overseas. I wrote about this for The Federalist just days before the November election.

Then, to almost everyone’s surprise, Donald Trump was elected president. On the day of his inauguration, Trump began a regulatory reform effort, announcing a moratorium on all new regulations from executive agencies. Ten days later, he issued an executive order requiring agencies to repeal two regulations for every new one they proposed.

Under this new scrutiny, the State Department soon withdrew its proposed adoption rule. Adoption advocates breathed a sigh of relief.

He was 6. They called him The Worm. He had had polio and couldn't use his arms or legs. When Kathy Sreedhar met him in one of Mother Teresa's foundling homes in India, she was told he might be able to manage a wheelchair some day, but no more.

That was two years ago. Sreedhar, who is Mother Teresa's agent for adoptions in this country, found a home for the boy with a California family.

Last summer she stopped off at the Los Angeles airport, and the family drove 100 miles to spend an hour with her because they had never met her.

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As she adopted a 15-month-old girl from India, Jerri Ann Jenista was told that the child had cerebral palsy, severe developmental delays and was thought to be having seizures.

Jenista, a University of Michigan pediatrician who specializes in the health problems of children adopted from other countries, took her new daughter Rohina right off to a neurologist. In those initial screenings six years ago, the doctors ruled out cerebral palsy and the seizures, Jenista recalled, and friends and colleagues assured her that Rohina's developmental delay would improve with time. And it did. So did her hepatitis, her intestinal parasites, her tuberculosis, her asthma, her malaria, her malnutrition.

When Rohina was 3, Jenista took her in for a routine checkup. Her pediatrician was on vacation, and they saw a new one.

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Kathy Sreedhar, a champion of social justice in India for five decades, is retiring from the Unitarian Universalist Holdeen India Program (UUHIP) at the end of June. For the last 28 years she has built the program into a major force for grassroots social change in India.

She has identified transformational leaders and organizations who are now at the forefront of India’s struggles to build a more just and equitable society. She has also raised wide awareness in the United States about poverty and social justice in India.

Her achievements are a testament to the strength of UUHIP’s vision for international grant-making—a vision she was central in creating. Before serving with UUHIP, Sreedhar was renowned in the adoption community.

She facilitated the placement of 1,000 children in the United States from Mother Teresa’s orphanages in India, all the while working as a volunteer. She herself adopted two children from these orphanages and raised them as a single mother.

Prior to this she worked as an administrator with the Peace Corps in India and Afghanistan, as well as serving at non-profit organizations in Washington, D.C. She has long been known in Washington as the go-to person for all things Indian.

TWO women were charged yesterday for allegedly stealing a three-month-old boy from his parents and selling him to another person in Barangay Poblacion, Danao City. Chief Insp. Gerard Ace Pelare, city police commander, said they filed kidnapping and child trafficking charges against Jessica Secretaria Besabella, 46, and Kimjean Bating, 20. The boy was brought by his father Jimmy along with his older sibling in Danao City last Friday night to beg for alms. Bating was the contact of Besabella, who was looking for a child for adoption. Besabella promised to pay P25,000. Bating was first caught by the boy’s father, Jimmy, and Roy Entero, who helped the former in chasing the trisikad carrying the suspect and the boy last Saturday night. She was turned over to the police, then an entrapment followed. Besabella was contacted by Banting, who informed her that she had the baby with her. They agreed to meet outside the Sto. Tomas de Villanueva Parish, where Besabella was arrested. The suspects reportedly met in Cebu City. Child trafficking is punishable under Republic Act 10384, or the Expanded Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2012. The law states that the “recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring, adoption or receipt of a child for the purpose of exploitation or when the adoption is induced by any form of consideration for exploitative purposes shall also be considered as ‘trafficking in persons.’” (KAL) Published in the SunStar Cebu newspaper on September 20, 2017. Latest issues of SunStar Cebu also available on your mobile phones, laptops, and tablets. Subscribe to our digital editions at epaper.sunstar.com.ph and get a free seven-day trial.

Read more: http://www.sunstar.com.ph/cebu/local-news/2017/09/20/2-women-steal-baby-danao-565072

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NKOLE NKOLE, Lusaka

IT IS only a very special circumstance that would make a man want to pursue an issue for as long as a decade, and in the case of one Zambian man, that circumstance involves his 10-year-old son whom he last saw as a three-month-old baby.

Kaduna State bans Child Adoption - BellaNaija

Kaduna State Government has banned fostering and adoption of children due to abuse by orphanage homes in the state, the Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development, Hafsat Baba, has said.

Baba said in an interview on Thursday in Kaduna that the government had discovered that some of the orphanage homes were conduits for trafficking and abuse of children.

She said that the ban would remain in force until the government sanitises the system of adoption and fostering of children in the state. She said:

When we came on board, we found out that people just turn their houses into orphanages and get these children, but won’t give them out for fostering or adoption.

“You can define how strong a democracy is by how its government treats its child. I don’t mean children. I mean the child of the state.” – Lemn Sissay (Adoptee; fostered)

As we wrap up the Series today, I would like to speak to some points briefly.

Having studied adoption in many climes, it remains to be said that absolutely nothing can be done for the child of the state, without the government.

One major complaint that almost everyone has had with the adoption process has been the time it takes from the expression of interest to the actual adoption. The anticipation of waiting. It’s not a Nigerian problem, it’s a universal one. From Australia, to the United Kingdom, it takes time to adopt, period. Like we noted earlier in the Series, each state legislates over adoption. Adoption is very different in each jurisdiction and it can be very messy and overwhelming for some people. In Nigeria, the government generally permits only children who have been abandoned and with no identifiable family members to take them in, to be adopted. In most developed countries, adoption is permitted even when family members may still be living, but only when they are no longer in a position to take care of them. But the truth is the same everywhere. The waiting list for younger children, most especially babies is longer than those for toddlers or young children. Like last season’s fashion, the longer they have been in the homes, the less likely they are to be adopted.

The government has always sought to protect the interest of children. Through the years, we have seen such tools as Family Planning, the fight against child abuse and trafficking and even the re-introduction of free education that have helped improve the lot of children. For the child of the state, however, a lot has been left undone. The passage of the Child Rights Act, 2003 has largely helped in this direction but how much? Abandoned children are still at the mercy of evil people who use them to throw pity parties and get grants form unsuspecting organizations. These children are being sold to willing couples; people who have tired of the long drawn out adoption process and will do anything to get a child. They are also trafficked for various heart breaking activities.

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Do you know that in Ghana some parents give birth just for the purpose of selling the babies for as low as GH¢25?

According to the Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Ms Otiko Afisah Djaba, ‘Baby factory’, the practice of deliberately giving birth to a large number of children just to sell them, was gradually emerging in the country,

Preliminary investigation by the ministry, she said, had shown that some parents, especially those in the rural areas, engaged in the practice and, sometimes, sold the babies for as low as GH¢25.