Danish International Adoption (DIA), which as the only organization in Denmark mediates international adoptions, has decided on Tuesday to stop mediating adoptions from abroad to Denmark.

This means that in practice it is no longer possible to adopt from abroad.

The decision was made by DIA's board after the Ministry of Social Affairs, Housing and the Elderly notified the organization that the last five countries from which DIA mediates adoptions will be suspended for a period of time.

Below you can learn more about how adoptions from abroad work:

* What is DIA?

DIA is initiating a controlled winding down of its work as a mediator of international adoptions. DIA's board decided this at an extraordinary board meeting based on an assessment of the current framework for finances and supervision as well as a number of new sanctions from the Danish Appeals Agency and the Ministry of Social Affairs.

The Danish Appeals Board supervises DIA and approves all adoptions to Denmark. It is now up to the agency to organize the further process in the area of ​​adoption - a process that is described in advance in a contingency plan.

As part of the plan, DIA can assist the Danish Appeals Agency during a transition period to ensure that existing knowledge about adoption and archives with information about the adoptee's identity are not lost.

"It is a difficult decision for the board of DIA to make. But we see no other way out. The area of ​​international adoption can no longer, under the current conditions in Denmark, be run by an NGO like ours. We hope that the transition in the long term will create greater clarity about roles and responsibilities for the benefit of children who do not have the opportunity to grow up in their biological family or their home country, as well as clarity for, in the words of the Prime Minister in the New Year's speech, future mothers and fathers, families in all colors of the rainbow , which carries around a homeless love," says deputy chairman Anne Friis from DIA's board.

On Friday, the Danish Appeals Board informed DIA that the agency is recommending to the Minister of Social Affairs to stop mediation from DIA's largest mediation country, South Africa, after more than 20 years of cooperation. Yesterday, Monday, the Ministry of Social Affairs' department announced that DIA's five other country agreements will be suspended for a period. There are currently 36 applicants (couples/singles) on the waiting list in six countries.

The Minister of Social Affairs and Housing has agreed to suspend the adoption mediating organization DIA's work in mediating international adoptions with all countries.

In May, the Minister of Social Affairs and Housing revoked the adoption mediating organization Danish International Adoption's (DIA) permission to cooperate with Madagascar. In December 2023, the Danish Appeals Board suspended DIA's cooperation with South Africa. On 12 January 2024, the Danish Appeals Board notified DIA that it will recommend to the Minister of Social Affairs and Housing that the cooperation with South Africa be definitively stopped. On the basis of a briefing from the Danish Appeals Board, the ministry has recommended to the Minister of Social Affairs and Housing that mediation work with all countries be suspended, which the Minister has  accepted. The decision has been notified to DIA.

Against this background, DIA's board has initiated a controlled winding down of its work as a mediator of international adoptions.  

It is the most serious crisis in the area of ​​adoption in the past 10 years. It happens on the same day that Norway has decided to close international adoption. Although the background is different, the development bears witness to an area which over a number of years has proved difficult to handle with a view to the security of the background for the adoptions.

Minister of Social Affairs and Housing Pernille Rosenkrantz-Theil says:

Denmark's only mediator of international adoptions stops its work following sanctions from the Danish Appeals Board.

It has been decided at an extraordinary board meeting in DIA, after it has been hit by a number of sanctions from the Danish Appeals Agency and the Ministry of Social Affairs, Housing and the Elderly.

DIA states this in a press release on Tuesday.

The agency and the ministry supervise the adoption agency.

- It was a difficult decision for the board of DIA to make. But we see no other way out, says Anne Friis, who is deputy chairman of the bureau's board, in the announcement.

If Bufdir gets their way, no children will be adopted from abroad to Norway in the next two years. But the Minister for Children wants more information before she decides.

Adoptions to Norway from the Philippines, Thailand and Taiwan are stopped.

Hubballi: Two couples from the US and one from Canada recently adopted three specially abled orphan children from the District Child Protection Unit here. Currently, there are 11 orphans at this unit. In the last three years, the unit had received seven abandoned children and rescued another 21.According to sources, of the three foreign couples, one was childless. Fifteen couples from Maharashtra, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh have also adopted abandoned children. To enhance child safety, cradles have been placed at Guntigeri, Hubballi and other locations so that people do not abandon infants near trees, by the roadside, near drains and such other places.To streamline adoption procedures for orphans, abandoned and surrendered children, the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) has been given the status of a statutory body to enable it to perform its functions more effectively. Adoption processes have been streamlined with fixed timelines for both in-country as well as inter-country adoptions, including declaring a child legally free for adoption. Neeta Wadkar, the district child protection officer, told STOI the government has given an opportunity to couples and single parents to apply for adoption on the CARA website. The process involves completion of certain legal formalities as well.According to Wadkar, inter-country adoption is on the rise. At six-month intervals, door visits are conducted to check on the condition of adopted children and collect all relevant data on them. “Usually, couples have to wait for a minimum of two years to adopt a child and adoptions are allowed only after running a thorough check on the prospective parent or parents,” she added.Prakash Kodliwad, a child protection officer, said: “We are creating awareness on legal adoption and the procedures that need to be followed. During awareness campaigns, members of the public are also warned on the consequences of illegal adoption.”

KOCHI: Things seem to be looking up for the Punjabi girl who faced abandonment by her adoptive parents in Kerala. The elderly couple had moved the court to annul the adoption of the 18-year-old, who is now dreaming of a career in fashion design. Following intervention by the Kerala High Court, the state government has facilitated her admission to the fashion design course at Thiruvananthapuram Government Polytechnic. She will also join a Hindi language course offered by Hindi Prachar Sabha to explore opportunities in her home state.  

The couple from Thiruvananthapuram had adopted her as a 12-year-old, on an order issued by the Guardian Judge, Ludhiana, Punjab in 2018. They sought to repeal the adoption on the basis that she was unable to integrate herself into the family. According to the couple, they tried their best to rehabilitate and assimilate the child into the family, but to no avail.

They had adopted her in a difficult phase in their life when they had lost their only son in a car accident on January 14, 2017. TNIE broke the news of the couple approaching the HC to void the adoption last November. The court expressed hope that “there will be a change in the perception and attitude of the parents in time, because, after all, as they say, time is the greatest healer. Perhaps, reconciliation between them and the child could then be a possibility.”

When the petition filed by the couple came up for hearing, amicus curiae Parvathi Menon submitted that the girl had been shifted to Sree Chitra Home, an institution under the state government more suited for adults and that arrangements had been made for her to attend a fashion design course at the Thiruvananthapuram Government Polytechnic. She added that if the girl wants Hindi as the medium of education, then it can also be decided – depending upon the progress that she makes as of now – to shift her to one of the courses to be offered by the Hindi Prachar Sabha. 

The amicus curiae also said that she is trying to obtain support from the government of Punjab and Haryana through the advocate general there, as also the Legal Service Authority, to alternatively explore whether the girl can be accommodated in her home state if that is what she wants in due course. That can be done only with the assistance of Jayachithra S, superintendent of Sudharma Home, where the girl resided before being moved to Sree Chitra Home, and Shaniba Begum, chairperson of the Child Welfare Committee, Thiruvananthapuram, the amicus curiae added.

KOCHI: Things seem to be looking up for the Punjabi girl who faced abandonment by her adoptive parents in Kerala. The elderly couple had moved the court to annul the adoption of the 18-year-old, who is now dreaming of a career in fashion design. Following intervention by the Kerala High Court, the state government has facilitated her admission to the fashion design course at Thiruvananthapuram Government Polytechnic. She will also join a Hindi language course offered by Hindi Prachar Sabha to explore opportunities in her home state.  

The couple from Thiruvananthapuram had adopted her as a 12-year-old, on an order issued by the Guardian Judge, Ludhiana, Punjab in 2018. They sought to repeal the adoption on the basis that she was unable to integrate herself into the family. According to the couple, they tried their best to rehabilitate and assimilate the child into the family, but to no avail.

They had adopted her in a difficult phase in their life when they had lost their only son in a car accident on January 14, 2017. TNIE broke the news of the couple approaching the HC to void the adoption last November. The court expressed hope that “there will be a change in the perception and attitude of the parents in time, because, after all, as they say, time is the greatest healer. Perhaps, reconciliation between them and the child could then be a possibility.”

When the petition filed by the couple came up for hearing, amicus curiae Parvathi Menon submitted that the girl had been shifted to Sree Chitra Home, an institution under the state government more suited for adults and that arrangements had been made for her to attend a fashion design course at the Thiruvananthapuram Government Polytechnic. She added that if the girl wants Hindi as the medium of education, then it can also be decided – depending upon the progress that she makes as of now – to shift her to one of the courses to be offered by the Hindi Prachar Sabha. 

The amicus curiae also said that she is trying to obtain support from the government of Punjab and Haryana through the advocate general there, as also the Legal Service Authority, to alternatively explore whether the girl can be accommodated in her home state if that is what she wants in due course. That can be done only with the assistance of Jayachithra S, superintendent of Sudharma Home, where the girl resided before being moved to Sree Chitra Home, and Shaniba Begum, chairperson of the Child Welfare Committee, Thiruvananthapuram, the amicus curiae added.

This weekend Anna, Matt and Brendan will uphold a somewhat belated annual tradition.

Every year gay couple Matt and Brendan take their son Baker to Anna's house and help her and her children put up their Christmas tree lights. "Then we have a picture in front of it," Anna says. "We didn't get around to it this year, so instead they'll help us take them down!"

As always, they'll exchange presents, including for Baker, 3. "I'm like his aunt," Anna says.

But the two Adelaide-based families have a particularly special relationship. Anna was a surrogate for Matt and Brendan, enabling them to become parents.

Before she became a surrogate, Anna was an egg donor for three different families. "I got hooked on the wonderful feeling of helping others in a really meaningful way," she says. "It's addictive."