Margaret Tuite | (Chair), Child rights activist

After 33 years of EU public service, the last seven of which were focused 100% on rights of the child, I am happy to contribute on a voluntary basis. I'm interested in everything to do with children's rights and love to connect people who can work together. I see clear benefits in system-strengthening, high standards for NGOs working on children's rights, child safeguarding (that's the least we can do), and lots more effort for children in migration.

When I was younger, I thought everyone knew better than me. But that's not true. Had I figured that out sooner, I could have fought harder for some people. Can I make up for that in the time I have left? There's a fantastic global community of people working hard for children's rights, I hope we can expand that. And there is hope in children's activism for climate justice at a global level.

“If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito [in the room].”

— Unknown

AHMEDABAD: A Gujarat court has rejected a 24-year-old woman's petition to legally renounce her adoptive parents by cancelling the adoption deed and having the names of her adoptive parents removed from her certificates and documents.

She claimed she wanted to legally separate from her adoptive parents because of ill-treatment over the years. Turning down the demand, the court cited Section 15 of the Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act, 1956, which bars such cancellation and prohibits such renunciation either by the adopted child or the adoptive parents.

To justify the legal provision, additional senior civil judge at Mirzapur court R C Sodhaparmar also cited Hindu rituals associated with the adoption process. The court said that in Hindu culture adoption is considered a "samskara" and, for this occasion, the ritual prescribed is "homam", considered divine. Lawmakers based Section 15 on this concept and it was declared that the adopters are required to perform their duties towards the adoptee as biological parents would, while the adoptee must perform all duties a biological son or daughter would.

According to the case details, the applicant woman and her biological parents filed the application in court last year and sought cancellation of the adoption deed. The court was informed that the woman was born in Gandhidham in 1999. Seven months later, she was adopted by her father's brother, who was childless then. A deed was notarised in 2007. Her adoptive parents live in Jaipur, while her biological parents live in Ahmedabad, where she currently resides.

Seeking cancellation of the 2007 deed, the woman told the court that she found out late that she was an adopted child. She claimed that she got admission to a dental surgery course in Udaipur but could not pay the fee due to her adoptive parents' poor financial condition. So she turned to her biological parents for help, and they arranged for her to study medicine in the Philippines. For this, she required documents from her adoptive parents, who allegedly refused to give them to her as they disapproved of the help given by her biological parents. Her admission was cancelled and her birth parents had to bear the financial loss.

Are you part of an organization for adoption stakeholders and do you have ideas for a joint project, in collaboration with at least 2 other organizations? Then you might be eligible for this one-off incentive! Until May 31, 2023 you can submit a project application to the Adoption Support Center for financial support (€ 2500) and the possibility of guidance.

The Adoption Support Center is launching this one-off call in the context of the policy action 'expanding low-threshold care and guidance' and the policy recommendation 'professional development of peer contact for those involved in adoption' of the 'care and guidance' working group.

Here you will find more information and the conditions to participate. You can submit a project via this form . Good luck!

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When Khaled Quzmar was 14 years old, his brother was arrested by Israeli occupation forces and Khaled was only able to see him through an “iron net” when he visited. His desire to break through this iron net and give his brother a hug – a simple request denied by the Israeli prison authorities – is what inspired Khaled to become a lawyer: “I found that the only way was to become a lawyer and visit him in prison and hug him inside.”

He studied for his law degree at Oran University in Algeria, and returned to Palestine 5 years later to find his brother still in prison. Two days later, he was inside his brother’s cell and was finally able to hug him.

For the next 20 years, Khaled continued to work as a defence lawyer representing mainly child prisoners inside the Israeli military courts.

However, after 20 years, Khaled became so frustrated that he felt that he could no longer continue to battle in the Israeli military courts system.

“I got aggressive with my children. I couldn’t accept it when I came home after working 10 hours in the military courts, leaving children alone behind bars without anybody to take care of them, subjected sometimes to torture and ill-treatment, while my children asked me to go to a restaurant or to the cinema. So I became aggressive. But then I thought to myself, ‘Why am I doing that? Why am I blaming my children? Why am I punishing them?’ So I decided to stop working, to have a rest, and to study something.”

When Khaled Quzmar was 14 years old, his brother was arrested by Israeli occupation forces and Khaled was only able to see him through an “iron net” when he visited. His desire to break through this iron net and give his brother a hug – a simple request denied by the Israeli prison authorities – is what inspired Khaled to become a lawyer: “I found that the only way was to become a lawyer and visit him in prison and hug him inside.”

He studied for his law degree at Oran University in Algeria, and returned to Palestine 5 years later to find his brother still in prison. Two days later, he was inside his brother’s cell and was finally able to hug him.

For the next 20 years, Khaled continued to work as a defence lawyer representing mainly child prisoners inside the Israeli military courts.

However, after 20 years, Khaled became so frustrated that he felt that he could no longer continue to battle in the Israeli military courts system.

“I got aggressive with my children. I couldn’t accept it when I came home after working 10 hours in the military courts, leaving children alone behind bars without anybody to take care of them, subjected sometimes to torture and ill-treatment, while my children asked me to go to a restaurant or to the cinema. So I became aggressive. But then I thought to myself, ‘Why am I doing that? Why am I blaming my children? Why am I punishing them?’ So I decided to stop working, to have a rest, and to study something.”

A woman has shared her despair after a DNA kit revealed her boyfriend of six years to actually be her biological brother, admitting she doesn't know where to go from here

A woman's entire life has been turned upside down after a DNA kit revealed her boyfriend of six years to be her biological brother. The 30-year-old, who was adopted from birth, explained how she met her boyfriend after graduating from high school - and instantly hit it off with him.

She says they "bonded" over the fact they're both adopted, finding comfort in their shared experience. Taking to Reddit, she said: "I was adopted as a baby. I love my parents and my parents love me - who cares if they aren't my real parents.

"My boyfriend was also adopted and when we met it was one of the things we sort of bonded over. We both didn't learn we were adopted until high school and we both were lucky and had good families."

She went on to explain how their relationship blossomed "very fast" thanks to their "understanding" and "attraction" to each other.

Some adoptees do not have a birth certificate. This can cause difficulties, for example when a copy of the birth certificate of both partners is requested with the marriage registration. What can you do if you cannot provide a birth certificate? In this article we list all the information.

Difficulties with the marriage registration

When An Sheela wanted to get married in 2004, she was unable to provide a birth certificate. “The problem was that we had already planned everything: the date, the room, the catering… The invitations had already been sent.” When An Sheela learned at the council that a birth certificate was required, she blocked. “I was disappointed and angry at the same time. There was a procedure through the court to obtain a birth certificate, but within the timing I would not have managed to get that sorted out administratively.”

Karen also encountered difficulties with her marriage registration in 1999. “I took my adoption certificate with me, but that was not enough. I had to provide a birth certificate. I had a Philippine birth certificate stamped in the year 1977, but that was not enough either, because it had to be a recent date.”

Mandatory registration in the registers since 2019

Kochi: In the latest update to the Kalamassery adoption row, the child has been temporarily handed over to the Tripunithura couple, who were accused of forging the infant's birth certificate, upon the direction of the Kerala High Court.

Earlier, the court had assigned the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) to decide on custody of the child. Following this, the committee decided to place the child in the temporary custody of the couple.

Meanwhile, the child's biological parents say they cannot accept the infant under the current circumstances. After the CWC informed the high court about the matter, it directed the Tripunithura couple to legally apply for adoption.

The adoption row came to light after the CWC found that the Tripunithura couple had adopted a newborn child from Kalamassery Medical College by forging a birth certificate. Furthermore, Anilkumar, an administrative staff of the medical college, was suspended in connection with the issue. He was accused of aiding the couple by expediting illegal adoption procedures.

A couple hailing from Karnataka and settled in Germany adopted the one-year-old baby on Thursday, in presence of Cuttack Collector, Bhabani Shankar Chayani.

Until recently, she was known as Sai Shreemayee and her address was ‘Servants of India Society, an orphanage located in Choudwar in Cuttack district.

From now on, she will be known as Sai Meenakshi and her new address will be Germany as she has been adopted by a childless NRI couple.

Defence for Children International Palestine (DCI-P) has abandoned a claim for libel against UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI). The articles we wrote about DCI-P remain on our website.

The articles to which DCI-P objected were about financial organisations and funding platforms that withdrew services from DCI-P.

DCI-P has issued a statement about UK Lawyers for Israel on its website and Twitter, incorrectly alleging that UK Lawyers for Israel has recanted on its previous statements about the links between DCI-P and a terrorist organisation.

UKLFI has not “recanted” or withdrawn any of its previous statements regarding DCI-P’s links to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). The PFLP is an active terrorist organisation, designated as such by the UK[1] and other countries and regions including the USA[2], Canada,[3] and the EU[4]. The stated goal of the PFLP is the destruction of the State of Israel.[5]

The statement published by UKLFI HERE simply clarifies that UKLFI did not write about any of DCI-P’s current board members in its published articles and therefore did not suggest links between present board members and a terrorist organisation. Our allegations concerned previous board members up to May 2018, as well as other employees.