The second part of an investigation into global adoption examines the possible abduction and selling of thousands of Georgian babies

On a cold December day in 1990, Irma Dvalishvili gave birth to twin girls in the maternity hospital in Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia. Irma vividly recalls the doctor telling her that both girls were healthy, but the following day the family learned that one of the twins had died.

Different doctors cited different reasons. The hospital initially refused to give the body to the family, but after much pleading a wrapped infant was eventually handed over. Yet no-one checked the baby’s identity.

At the time, the family did not imagine they would ever come to ask whether their child was, in fact, still alive.

Now, 32 years later, Mariam Kobelashvili is searching with unwavering conviction for her twin sister. “If you have ever come across someone who looks like me, I am asking you from the bottom of my heart, please, get in touch,” Mariam said in a recent post on a Facebook group dedicated to reuniting Georgians with children suspected to have been snatched at birth.

Imagine for a minute that you don’t know who your mother is. Now imagine that you are that mother, and you don’t know what became of your daughter.

Imagine the questions that the daughter would live with on a daily basis. Why did my mom give me up? And imagine that mother, possibly plagued by regret, and very likely thinking of her lost daughter.

For Janine Vance and her sister, Jenette, these are not imaginings, but everyday life. Adopted into the United States from Korea when they were very young, the two women have next to no information about their original family, and very little detail about the circumstances of their adoption. In order to answer her own questions, and those of other adoptees not only from Korea but around the world, Janine has spent years researching the questionable practices of adoption agencies. She has written books on the topic, and formed a support network for those in similar situations. She calls her research and the collection of resulting books that also includes her memoirs, The rEvolutionary Orphan Collective.

Doubtless there are legitimate providers of children from other countries to the United States for adoption by U.S. parents. Yet what Janine suspects, is what her research points to: an adoption machine that hints at human trafficking, evangelical agendas, and, at the very least, taking children from those less advantaged to give to the more advantaged—for a profit.

“The primary concern I have about the current adoption procedure for children, whether from Asia or Africa, or anywhere in the world, is that it is based on secrecy in order for it to be effective and profitable,” explained Janine. “It has been created by various churches and based on shame. It has exploded into a network known as the Evangelical Orphan Movement and used as an effort to proselytize to other people’s children. It generates massive amounts of money for profiteers or adoptioneers. It ignores the rights of children as enshrined in the original intent of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child…Korean children are not the only children exploited by the industry, but…there are several mass child migration schemes that have plagued communities, particularly organized by various religious entities, starting as early as 1618. It continues today because no one knows the crisis exists.”

I am from Romania. As I write this I am looking for my biological family. In the meantime I have found and met my sister Viorica. She and I have been in close contact for a few years now and I traveled to America, where she lives, to meet her. It felt like old times and very familiar. But because of this, my desire to find and possibly meet my parents has grown even more.

Experience story Sister found now my parents still.jpg

Together with her, I have already started with the information we have. We have names of our parents, of our sisters and brothers, but it's just not enough! I've never felt so desperate about it. Fortunately I have Viorica, I can really share everything with her, but at the same time it hurts that I just can't visit her quickly. I really want to know who my parents are, who I'm most like and if I recognize things in them in terms of character.

Sometimes I lie awake in bed for hours or I cry myself to sleep. Just because I want to know who those people are who brought me into the world and gave me up, the reason why. I'm not 100% sure yet. I've been told it's for money, that they couldn't give me what they might want to give. I often wonder: Why? I hope somewhere they want to meet me and my sister.

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Tandur: adoption racketeers did not just try to take advantage of women who had several daughters and convince them to give away one; they even targetted women who had just one daughter, to make money in the process. the plight of sita bai of chindanur thanda at kunchawaram in gulbarga district of karnataka is unimaginable. for the last nine months she has been desparately trying to locate her baby. "no one is helping me," sita bai told the times of india.with tears rolling down her eyes, she said she had been deceived by parvathi bai, an agent of savithri, into giving away her daughter. sita bai's daughter deepya was nine months old when parvathi bai approached her. "she told me she would show me my daughter every week and took her to the adoption home in tandur. i have never got to see my daughter after that," sita bai said. the woman had given away her daughter just eight days before the racket was busted. when she got to know what happened, she went along with three other women from her village, who had also given away their daughters, to the john abraham memorial bethany home at tandur. but the babies had been shifted from there. she, however, has not come to hyderabad to the sishu vihar to trace her daughter there. "my husband left me long back. i do not have anyone who can accompany me.the police said they would help me but so far i have not got back my daughter," sita bai said. from her village, another lambada kamli bai had given away her three-day-old daughter and another woman, poona babi her four-day-old baby girl. sita bai has a son but her heart is going out for her daughter from whom she has been separated. "i was paagal (mad) to have given away my daughter. i want her back," she cried narrating her tale of woe, near the kunchawaram police station in bordering karnataka state. they had heard it before too, but did little to help sita bai get back her daughter,who could be at the sishu vihar in hyderabad.

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Liz (48) is three months old when she is adopted from Germany by Dutch parents. Two years ago, she met her birth mother for the first time. “She had no regrets,” she said very firmly and without emotion. 'Didn't I end up well?'”

Liz: “We were going to fondue that night, I was looking forward to it all day; it was my favorite food. 'We have to tell you something. You're adopted," my mother said. Her best friend was a psychotherapist, she had insisted that my parents should tell me the truth. I was seven and had no suspicions until that point. I was an only child and white, just like my parents. There was no reason to think I wasn't their child. The message really came like a bolt from the blue.

After the high word was out, my mother continued to fill the dishes. An immense sadness overcame me; I didn't know how to behave. It suddenly felt like I was visiting my own house. All this time I was lied to. My parents had always been firm about lying; you do not do that. That basic value suddenly vanished. I was also so angry at my birth mother. Who would throw away their own child? I found my new truth so painful that I rationally decided it just wouldn't be there. I did tell my best friends at school the next day, but after that I didn't want to talk about it anymore.

Two weeks later my mother asked if I understood what she had told me. I understood that very well, but I wanted to think about it as little as possible. My parents are honest and sincere, and while they didn't handle everything right, they did it with the best of intentions. My mother was infertile and they were on the long waiting list for adoption in the Netherlands. A cousin in Germany had an unwanted pregnant colleague. He mediated, and that is how I came to the Netherlands.”

Curious about my roots

Principal Correspondent :

A hundred years ago, on May 8, 1921, a social organisation was started by women for providing obstetrics facilities in Nagpur city, the heart of India. The Matru Sewa Sangh, a voluntary organisation founded by ‘Padma Shri’ Kamalatai Hospet, bringing laurels to Maharashtra not only in India but all over the world. Dr Lata Deshmukh, Secretary of Matru Sewa Sangh, told ‘The Hitavada’, “Two child widows became a beacon for the society at a time when it was socially acceptable for widows and abandoned women to live a life full of grief, hardship and humiliation. At the age of 22 years after becoming a widow, she received nursing training from Dufferin Hospital (today’s Daga Hospital). It was a pre-independence period.

The chief superintendent of Daga Hospital was an English woman. Delivery/maternity facilities were common to all but special facilities were only for British women and specific women enslaving the Britishers. Once upon a time, a very poor, uneducated, weak, sick baby had no strength to go to the washroom. Kamalatai Hospet, who was training as a nurse, served and supported her.” A patriot at heart Kamalatai decided to live independently and decided to leave the Britisher's job. She expressed her determination to her friend. She went to the wealthy and well-educated women of that time for help. Mathurabai Dravid, Laxmibai Gadgil, Gangabai Gokhale, Laxmibai Kelkar, Dr Indirabai Niyogi, Dr Kamlakar Sitabai Gadgil, Parvatibai Karanjgaonkar and Dr Nanasaheb Krishna Mohani, Haribhau Krishna Mohani, Appasaheb Chitale, Dr N B Khare, Dr L V Paranjape, Dr Gayaprasad, Dr Hardas, Baburao Paturkar, Tapodhan Krishnarao Jajuji all these people stood behind her to help, guide and to work in the real field. And Matru Sewa Sangh Sitabuldi Maternity Home started.

“During 1920-21, deliveries were done in the home only. Many mothers were dying during the deliveries if some complications arise. Starting with the confidence that our organisation will work hard for safe delivery when poverty, superstition and ignorance were noticed. During these 10 days stay at the maternity home Kamalatai and Venutai were personally serving the women delivering babies were providing with food for bathing for days. They were staying in the Maternity Home only. The dedicated service by Kamalatai and Venutai was motivation for the doctors involved in delivery and they were again working more enthusiastically,” elaborated Dr Deshmukh. During 1821 to 1959, Matru Sewa Sangh started 20 branches of maternity homes in Maharashtra and outside Maharashtra. Wardha, Bhandara, Arvi, Jabalpur, Hinganghat, Armori, Brahmapuri, Bilaspur, Warora, Narsinghpur, Sagar, Chandur Railway, Kurha, Amravati, Devrukh (Ratnagiri), Akola, Kareli, Sonavadhona, Sitabuldi, Nagpur and Mahal, Nagpur, Since 1921 to the present, many children born in Matru Sewa Sangh Maternity Homes are in every corner of India and abroad too. Matru Sewa Sangh is of the period when maternal care, medical profession was considered as only a service. Kamalatai, Venutai were dedicated nurses and Dr Kamlakar, Dr Indirabai Niyogi were dedicated doctors.

Matru Sewa Sangh is an example of supernatural sacrifice and service to the nation since hundred years and shall be serving for the next hundred years. The nurses gave their entire lives to the Matru Sewa Sangh. These include Indutai Paranjape, Krishnatai Bhave, Malinibai Mahabal, Shantabai Dubey, Gopikabai Patwardhan, Kamalatai Vidwans, Godutai Kothiwale, Shantabai Lonakar, Nirubai Bhujade, Shantabai Sahasrabuddhe, Savitribai Nagdavai, Savitribai Nagdavane, Dr Dwarkabai Kamlakar, Dr Indirabai Niyogi, Dr Padmavati Thergaonkar, Dr Kamal Tare, Dr Kumud Deshpande, Dr Sumati Khare, Dr Malati Kurve, Dr Kamalabai Naralkar, Dr Vanita Chorghade, Dr Vatsala Karjagaonkar, Dr Kusumatai Wankar, Dr Durgabai Vazhalwar, Dr Kamal Joshi, Dr Prameel Asolkar, Dr Padmaja Risbud, Dr Chhaya Chaurasia, Dr Ratna Shekhawat had the only religion of Sewadharma, pointed out Dr Deshmukh. To run maternity homes, to educate nurses and midwives, to examine patients and provide pediatric related services, to run children education centres, to perform all kinds of health and educational work for the mentally and physically disabled, elderly, patients, men and women, to run libraries, to run educational institutes for the women, to help people in disaster, to work for the development and rehabilitation through education and health services are the broader objectives of the Matru Sewa Sangh, informed Dr Deshmukh. To fulfill these objectives, 20 maternity homes and the other 15 projects are in operation today.

Responding to a PIL filed in the Bombay High Court earlier this month on wrongdoings at a home for mentally

deficient children in Mankhurd, the state government earlier this week admitted that an inquiry was underway,

and prima facie there seemed to be some truth in the allegations made in the PIL.

The PIL filed by one Sangeeta Punekar lists three incidents at the home - hosting a New Year party without prior

permission from the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) on December 31, 2012 where more than 20 girls from the

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court order, asking the crime branch to probe the Mankhurd shelter home case has come as a major victory for those who had brought the incident to light. The staff members, however, allege that they have been mentally tortured and threatened ever since they wrote the letter narrating the incident on December 31, 2012.

Nine months ago, TOI first reported about the letter from the staff of Home for Mentally Deficient Children, run by the Children’s Aid Society (CAS), an NGO funded by the state. It complained of a New Year’s Eve party for mentally challenged children, which involved Champagne and bar dancers.

Activist Sangeeta Punekar filed a PIL on the matter in the Bombay high court. On Wednesday, the court directed the crime branch to probe the matter and slammed the authorities at the home, noting that the offence fell within the purview of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act. If the inquiry finds that the offence has been committed, the court ordered action against the perpetrators. To date, though, it has been a case of shooting the messenger.

Staff members say they have been shunted out of the home, mentally tortured and denied leave. “We continued to work under those who perpetrated the offence. A children’s welfare officer was transferred, and the newly appointed officer has been pressurizing the children not to talk of the incident,” said an employee. Two employees were transferred to other institutions without being given any reasons for their transfer. Some say they were harassed at every instance, served memos over trivial matters and denied leave, even when members of their family were ill.

Sharad Dave, honorary treasurer, Children’s Aid Society, who supported the staffers, found that he too, was ostracized, threatened and accused of “leaking” the letter to TOI. “At a meeting of the CAS in the chamber of the minister for women and child development at Mantralaya, an officer indicted in the staff letter accused me of leaking the matter to TOI, and asked for an inquiry against me,” said Dave.

The court said prima facie, the Mankhurd shelter home’s condition was not up to the mark.

Mumbai: The Bombay high court has suggested the state to develop a model plan for constant governance and supervision of shelter homes for children in the state. The division bench of Justice N.H. Patil and Justice G S Kulkarni has said that the government could also consult social entrepreneur Arunachalam Muuruganantham for supply of sanitary pads for girls staying in these homes.

The bench put forward these suggestions while hearing a Public Interest Litigation filed by a city resident, Sangeeta Punekar, raising the issue of poor condition of a children’s shelter home in suburban Mankhurd. The court said prima facie, the Mankhurd shelter home’s condition was not up to the mark.

Gauri Lama* and Rajesh Lama*, siblings from Rukum, were brought to Kathmandu sometime in 2018 by a relative, with a promise of better health care and education. They were sent to one of the child care homes in Bhaisepati, Lalitpur, along with five other children from various districts. The place fed leftovers to the children and forced them into labor.

All of them ran away from the orphanage two years later, and were reintegrated in their families through Future Generation Nepal (FGN), a non-profit organization working for the protection of children and their rights.

Krishna Thadera* from Humla came to Kathmandu in 2017. He was brought by someone from his village, who took money from the family after promising to send their child to a good school. He dropped Thadera off to an organization, who paid him off for bringing him in. Thadera was around 10 years old. During the Covid-19 lockdown, shelter was shut and, in 2020, Thadera, was found begging on the streets.

Ram BK* from Bajura was 14 when he came to Kathmandu with his uncle, a politician, who left him at an orphanage in 2018. His paperworks showed that his parents were dead. He was back on the streets during Covid-19, and rescued by Voice of Children (VOC), who later on found that his parents were alive, and his uncle had made a fake death certificate and received a commission from the organization for bringing in the child.

These are just a few representative cases among all the other cases they have encountered so far, says Bashu Phuyal, program coordinator, FGN. He says that this has been going on for a long time. Most of the children brought to Kathmandu belong to rural parts of Nepal, especially from Karnali province. They are brought through agents who take money from the family to find their children a good home in Kathmandu. “Most of these children either run away or suffer terribly in these institutions,” he adds.