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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.

Sam Mercer overcame seemingly impossible odds to make it to his senior year at Scarborough High School.

He lost his left leg to an infection that required amputation when he was less than a month old in his native Ethiopia. His father put him in an orphanage when he was 6. His adoptive American parents gave him up after three years. He bounced around Colorado foster homes and schools for most of the next decade.

But then last year he landed in Scarborough, where he quickly found himself in a real home and began to spread inspiration and cheer in the hallways of Scarborough High.

“Sam’s super power was his ability to inspire people,” said Dan Mercer, his newly adoptive father. “He was a survivor. He was loved by everyone. He resonated with people because of his disability and how he approached it.”

Now the high school community is mourning the death of the popular teenager, who celebrated his 18th birthday March 26 with Mercer, an associate chaplain at Long Creek Youth Development Center who has been a single foster father to 15 other boys, six of whom he adopted.

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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