New research conducted by New York's largest adoption agency suggests that adoptions anchored around transparency and choice offer the most favorable outcomes for birth-mothers.

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The past year has not been good for the image of adoption. In the wake of the Dobbs decision rolling back abortion rights last June, the media has been filled with reports describing how adoption is “a traumatic event for everyone involved.”

Adult adoptees, for instance, have detailed the crises they’ve often faced in life, with some even comparing adoption to colonization or slavery. Then there are the concerns about potential coercion pregnant women might face if abortion were to be restricted even further.

But is any of this actually relevant?

When I found out I had a different name to the one I grew up with, my life story began to change.

As an adopted person I had only ever seen my amended birth certificate which was written 'as if I was born to' my adoptive parents.

But when I was 18 years old the laws around closed adoptions changed and allowed me to apply for my original birth certificate.

So I did.

It was like reading a front page news story about myself that I had no idea about.

Western Australia will follow Victoria in holding an inquiry into forced adoption, following two years of campaigning by people who were adopted out as children and mothers who were forced to give up their babies.

A parliamentary committee this afternoon confirmed an inquiry would be held after both sides of politics indicated support for it in recent days.

Premier Mark McGowan on Tuesday revealed a personal connection to the issue upon backing calls for an inquiry.

Survivors in Western Australia say little has been done to support them or restore their basic human rights since WA became the first state in the country to apologise for forced adoption in 2010.

Inquiry to probe adoption practices over four decades

The court terms the “young woman in distress” to be a unique case. The petition was originally filed seeking medical termination of pregnancy by a 20 year-old student.

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ON Tuesday, a Supreme Court bench comprising the Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dr. D.Y. Chandrachud and Justices P.S. Narasimha and J.B. Pardiwala, issued a clarification in its direction from earlier this month to seek prospective adoptive parents with utmost priority and urgency before the delivery of a child by an unmarried 20 year-old student.

The petition was originally filed seeking medical termination of pregnancy. The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), however, submitted a report that in light of the petitioner being in the last stage of her pregnancy, the termination of pregnancy could cause harm to the mother and the child. Accordingly, the bench, by an order dated February 2, directed AIIMS to fix a suitable date for the delivery of the child and to ensure all necessary facilities are made available without charges.

Further, the petitioner suggested giving the child for adoption since neither she nor her family was in a condition to care for the child. In light of the situation, the bench granted permission for the adoption of the child by prospective parents registered with the Central Adoption Resource Agency (CARA). Subsequently, on Tuesday, the bench directed CARA to implement the order and take necessary steps within 24 hours.

Between 1990 and 2017, 1,575 Ethiopian children were adopted in France through an approved association, Les Enfants de Reine de Miséricorde. In a book published in 2020, one of them, Julie Foulon, denounces irregular and even illegal adoption procedures. On May 26, 2021, several families and adoptees filed a complaint against ERM for breach of trust and fraud.

One morning in August 2017 in her Parisian studio, Julie Foulon, 20, logs into her Facebook account where a message from a stranger awaits her. “Hello Julie, I am Gertrude. I'm looking to get in touch with you. Do you know a lady in Ethiopia named Askale Mekonnen? »Julie's heart stops beating. This name is that of her biological mother, whom she left in 2003 when she was adopted, at the age of 6, with her little sister by a Norman couple. This contact with an intermediary from the Ethiopian diaspora confirms what Julie strives to explain to her adoptive parents since she can speak French: no, contrary to what is indicated in the adoption documents, her biological mother is not deceased. Worse still, Julie learns after having joined her biological mother by Skype through Gertrude: Askale had been looking for her daughters since the year of their separation and found their new names by accident, by dint of imploring the Social Affairs office of Dessie, in Ethiopia, where she lives, to hear from them. A stranger, white, ended up going to her house and providing her with a photo of her daughters. On the back of the photo, their new French name.

This reconnection in 2017 and the Skype exchanges that followed shake Daniel and Chantal Foulon, to whom the little girls had been presented as orphans. Everything seemed to be in order in their eyes when they concluded, in 2003, the adoption procedure for their daughters. Having received their approval, they approached an organization authorized for adoption (OAA) in Normandy, Les Enfants de Reine de Miséricorde (ERM), established in Ethiopia and Burkina Faso since the beginning of the 1990s. August 19, 2003 , after having paid 10,000 euros for the operating costs of ERM as well as for the costs of proceedings in the country, the Foulons go to Roissy airport to pick up Sara, who will become Julie, and her little sister from 4 years old, whose first name will also be changed. Growing up, Julie turns out to be a difficult child, especially with her mother. The young girl refuses to forge a relationship with her and for good reason: in her heart, the place of a mother is already taken by the one left behind. How could such a mistake happen? How could the existence of a biological mother fall by the wayside in the context of a full and transnational adoption, strictly supervised in France? How could such a mistake happen? How could the existence of a biological mother fall by the wayside in the context of a full and transnational adoption, strictly supervised in France? How could such a mistake happen? How could the existence of a biological mother fall by the wayside in the context of a full and transnational adoption, strictly supervised in France?

For Julie Foulon, this fourteen-year separation remains a suffering, which she expresses at the age of 22 in Sara et Tsega? 1 , an autobiographical book mixing memories and fiction published in May 2020. "I hesitated to publish it, recounts -her for Chat. But I said to myself: “Do it, because there are bound to be other adopted people in your situation.” »She was not mistaken: the book had the effect of a small bomb in the middle of the adoptees of Ethiopia, where it passed from hand to hand. Quickly, she received many testimonials from people between 20 and 40 years old, like her adopted through ERM and who, too, had strong doubts about the conditions in which their adoption took place. Biological parents declared dead but still[…]

Patna: District magistrate (DM) Chandrashekhar Singh on Thursday issued adoption order of three children under the recent guidelines issued by the Central government. The children of different ages were adopted by three different couples of Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi, respectively.

Two children from Arunoday Vishisht Duttak Grahan Sansthan and another from Srijini Vishisht Duttak Grahn Sansthan were adopted at an event, which was attended by deputy development commissioner of Patna, Tanay Sultania, assistant director child protection (ADCP) Uday Kumar Jha and others.

Jha said earlier adoption of children was a long process through family court, but later it was simplified and the district magistrate concerned was authorised to issue adoption order. He said, “The couples, who had at least two years of stable married life and whose mental condition are fine, are eligible to adopt children after getting registered on the portal of the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA).”

Meanwhile, the DM inspected the district minority welfare office and directed the officials to make people aware about various welfare schemes launched by the government so that maximum number could avail their benefits. Various schemes sponsored by both central and state government were available for welfare of the minority in the district.

The DM further ordered effective implementation of the Bihar state madrasa strengthening scheme. He also interacted with the employees, checked their attendance, ordered closure of the unnecessary bank accounts and return the unspent amount of past government schemes.

Location: Brussels – Belgium

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About Defence for Children International:

Defence for Children International is a leading child rights focused and membership-based grassroots movement. Created during the International Year of the Child (1979), DCI coordinated the NGO’s input for the drafting of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) – the most widely ratified human rights treaty in history. As a worldwide Movement, our aim is to ensure an ongoing, practical, systematic and concerted action towards the effective implementation of the human rights codified in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) by means of effective, multi-level coordination and active membership within key networks and fora. DCI membership includes 37 grass-roots organisations (National Sections and Associated Members) in five different continents, involving over 300 trained and specialized local staff and volunteers, who contribute daily to defend and protect the human rights of children. In all that we do, we aspire to orient our work so that it is transparent, accountable, socially-transformative and sustainable.

DCI-World Service Foundation: a strategic institutional tool in Brussels

Intercountry Adoption and Suicide in Australia provides a comprehensive review of the available literature on intercountry adoption and suicide, with specific reference to the Australian context.

The report examines the literature to better understand how suicide and suicide ideation impacts Australian intercountry adoptees. Key findings of the report include:

Suicidal behaviours in intercountry adoptees are a complex interplay of vulnerability and resilience, internal, historical and systemic factors.

The body of literature on intercountry adoptees and suicide is small, with the majority of studies conducted internationally.

Raising community and professional awareness is indicated as a key activity that would improve suicide risk detection and response.

Kochi: Ernakulam Child Welfare Committee has decided to cancel the procedures to declare the baby, who was illegally adopted by a couple from Tripunithura, as free for adoption. The committee has made the decision after the biological parents of the six-months-old baby turned up before CWC and requested to keep the baby with the committee for some time, expressing their helplessness to take the baby home now.

"We haven't asked about their inability to take the baby home now. Since they have expressed the willingness to take back the baby but requested more time, we have cancelled the procedure for legally declaring the baby as ready for adoption," said a CWC official.

The baby is currently under care in a childcare home functioning with the government's approval. The illegal adoption of the baby, born at Kalamassery medical college, came to light after a municipality staff filed a complaint against a staff in the hospital for allegedly making a fake birth certificate.

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THANE: A newborn found abandoned in a drain in Ulhasnagar in Maharashtra’s Thane district in 2018 has been adopted by an Italian couple, said a functionary of a local organisation that rescued him and registered a police complaint at the time.

The child, with severe injuries to his head and illness due to consumption of contaminated water, was found in a drain in Vadol village on December 30 that year by Shivaji Ragade and his wife Jayshree.

They filed a complaint with police to find out who had thrown the child in the drain, though that search is yet to yield results.

An appeal for money for his treatment at Wadia Hospital in Mumbai post the trauma yielded Rs 10.42 lakh in 24 hours, Shivaji Ragade said.

“We wanted to adopt the child but could not do so due to some legal issues, so he was given in the care of Vishwa Balak Ashram. He was named Tiger due to the resolve with which the child survived despite being thrown into a drain,” Ragade said.