May 10, 2001 -- Barbara Walters used to find it painful to walk through a toy store.

More than 30 years ago, she and her husband, Lee Guber, wanted desperately to have children.

After Walters had three miscarriages, the couple decided to adopt a baby girl they named Jackie. Having a child, says Walters, "made her life complete."

Over the years, Walters discovered there were many others inside the ABC community who have made the decision to adopt, including weekend anchor Carole Simpson and former ABCNEWS correspondent Connie Chung, as well as talk-show host Rosie O'Donnell.

These parents and some of their children speak out about adoption and how it has changed their lives in an ABCNEWS special called Born in My Heart: A Love Story.

PLANO, Texas, Jan. 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- BEB and Uganda's Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development (MGLSD) announced last week that 8,000 children from licensed, Ugandan children's homes now have digital profiles in BEB's Children First Software (CFS), putting them on the path to family care. This statistic reflects an additional 5,000 children with profiles in CFS since the start of 2021.

BEB Leaders met with the MGLSD team on January 25 to present the Global Child Protector award and to review first-ever, comprehensive reports of Ugandan children living in licensed institutions and their needs. BEB Founder Craig Juntunen shared about the award, "Despite many obstacles in their way [Uganda] gathered the courage and resolve to produce real, sustainable change." President Mark Schwartz told MGLSD Commissioner Mondo and his team, "Uganda is a bright light for our mission for children… and an example for all of Africa by taking the first step. Accomplishing what you have through COVID and quarantine is amazing."

The statistical report provided by MGLSD shares that 149 approved homes are currently using CFS, Uganda's alternative care management information system. 621 Ugandan social workers have been trained to use the software. The report provided that "usage of CFS will be a requirement for licensure and will support the Ministry in its effort to elevate overall standards."

Also critical to success in 2021 was the Tiny Hearts project that focuses on the youngest children in institutions and applies all CFS modules to accelerate their placement. The project began in the last quarter of the year; of 21 children who have records in CFS, 15 were reunified with biological family and 6 are in the process of adoption. This pilot continues to enforce that when users take advantage of the entirety of CFS it equips them to quickly and correctly place a child into a family.

The Commissioner ended his remarks, "We pray that this year will bring hope and smiles on the faces of children. Every child deserves a place called home. Every child deserves a shorter trip home. Every child deserves to be loved and protected unconditionally. While we are happy about the successes we have made, we also know there is a lot more we need to do."

The Danish adoption agency DIA has been reported to the police after information has come to light that several children may have been adopted illegally to Denmark.

The adoption center DIA (Danish International Adoption) has been reported to the police because illegal adoptions may have taken place between 1979 and 1995. This happens after a TV 2 documentary which brings information that casts doubt on whether adoptions may have taken place from Chile to Denmark in violation of the rules.

As TV2 ØST could tell on Sunday , Rune Renato Hansen from Tølløse is one of the 111 Chilean children who were adopted to Denmark during the period. In the TV 2 documentary "De stjålne børn" he travels to Chile with his friend Christina Birkemose from Haslev, where they get to reinforce the suspicion that he may have been adopted against his parents' wishes.

In 2018, it emerged that it is believed that up to half of the 20,000 Chilean children who were adopted from Chile in the period between 1970 and 1990 have been stolen.

It is on the basis of information that comes to light in the TV 2 documentary about Danish adoptions from 1979 to 1995 that Christina Birkemose has lodged a report with the North Zealand Police.

Flanked by 10 American families and their adopted children, Michael Guest threatens:

"Romania's place is not in the Western structures, if it does not adopt a correct law for children"

The American comedy of caring for Romanian orphans continues

Mrs. Debra Murphy Scheumann, from the "Hope for Children" Foundation, one of the many American non-governmental organizations that support the resumption of international adoptions, presented, yesterday, at the residence of the US ambassador, 10 American families, who came with their adopted children from Romania, for to demonstrate that the little ones are not mistreated, destined for organ trafficking or pedophilia. On the steps of the sumptuous residence sat in a family photo parents and children whose broad smiles wanted to convey, in a symbolic form, the same message that Ambassador Michael Guest spoke in his official capacity: "This meeting it is important, because I firmly believe that we must do everything we can to soften the law" (n.n. - it is about the current provisions that make international adoption practically impossible). Because he is convinced that family values are the most important, Ambassador Guest had his mother and father with him, whom he thanked for taking care of him, and explained that the requests and the lobby he makes America for the resumption of international adoptions are not "a problem between the EU and the USA.

From the American side, the imperious requests of the EU to ban adoptions are not seen as homogeneous, since, says Mr. Ambassador, "there are many members of the EU who do not I agree with banning adoptions from Romania", and "the issue of adoptions is not part of the community acquis". The ambassador wanted to firmly state that the position of the American government is that "this law must be changed", "those who study the problem must keep your eyes open" and that both the EU and the US want to stop corruption in this area and create structures to prevent corruption.

How parents lose their children to families in the United States.

It takes an entire day, and costs a small fortune, for Florence Babirye to get from her home in the ugandan village of Kasolwe to the Kayunga police station. First there’s a motorbike taxi from the village to the nearest bus stop, then a bus to Kamuli town, a Nile crossing by ferry, and a long walk. At the police station, she inquires again about her daughter, and her niece and nephew, who have been taken away to America. But the answer she gets is always the same: The children are no longer yours.

In her picturesque village, where chickens scratch among the flower beds and generations live side by side, Florence shared the responsibility for bringing up her kids with her sisters, Jenipher Rubuga and Mariam Nakiranda; extended families tend to be very involved in raising children in Uganda. The three sisters had a total of 16 kids, who moved freely between their homes in neighboring villages. But in 2012, Mariam’s husband died, and she moved to work in the town of Mpunge, in Mukono district, several hours away by bus. Florence’s long hours at a restaurant made it difficult to look after her 4-year-old daughter, Rose Patience, so when Mariam offered to take her in, Florence readily agreed.

When Rose first went to stay with Mariam, Florence didn’t own a phone, so she kept tabs on her daughter via friends and relatives. Through this grapevine, Florence heard that Mariam had met a pastor who said he could find a sponsor to cover Rose’s fees at a boarding school where he served as a director. The three sisters had often talked about wanting a better education for their children. Once she heard about her sister’s decision, Jenipher decided to entrust her two toddlers, Fatiya and Kirya, to Mariam so they could be educated, too.

At first, Florence and Jenipher were happy with the arrangement: With only their older children to look after, they could work the hours they needed. They believed that their three little ones had been placed at a boarding school in Entebbe, an hour from the Ugandan capital of Kampala. It seemed like a stroke of luck.

What you need to know:

Due to their alleged involvement in an international adoption scam involving more than 30 children, the United States government levied financial sanctions and travel restrictions on two judges and two lawyers from Uganda in August 2020. According to the US State Department, Judges Moses Mukiibi and Wilson Musalu Musene, as well as attorneys Dorah Mirembe and Patrick Ecobu, helped organise a network that coordinated adoptions of Ugandan children.

The American government made these accusations and imposed penalties a few years ago. Why are you speaking right now?

I am a retired judge. Being outside judicial service, I do not enjoy automatic departmental public relations protection. I have been forced to break silence to dispel some lies peddled by the United States Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and the US Department of State. On August 17, 2020, those two offices published notes intended to explain and provide justification for the action of the Deputy Secretary of the Treasury (Justin G. Muzinich).

He said, and I quote: “Deceiving innocent Ugandan families into giving up their children for suffering. This corrupt scam deliberately exploited the good faith of Ugandans.” It was also stated that unsuspecting or unwitting prospective parents would arrive in Uganda to adopt to take the children back to America.

BEB expands Africa Operations to equip Ethiopia, Malawi, Nigeria and Tanzania with technology solution

Plano, Texas – Texas-based software non-profit BEB takes another step of remarkable growth by announcing expansion of its Children First Software (CFS) into four additional African Countries: Ethiopia, Malawi, Nigeria and Tanzania.

BEB began Africa operations in Uganda five years ago and today over 10,000 children are registered in CFS. Further, over 1,000 children have been placed from institutions into families, primarily through reunification with biological family members. Uganda is proving how CFS can accomplish BEB’s mission to equip a country to change its child welfare system. The Ministry of Gender, Labour, and Social Development (MGLSD) now requires children’s homes to use CFS to track children’s identities, stories, and paths to families in order to receive licensing from the government. MGLSD Permanent Secretary Aggrey David Kibenge shares, “We are excited about the roll out of all the system modules to the entire country and children’s homes [of Uganda]. We are also looking forward to the building of capacity of our social service workforce who are key stakeholders in the implementation of the system.”

This progress for the children of Uganda is making an impact for other children of Africa as the success of CFS is attracting new partners to begin implementing the software. BEB Africa Regional Manager Kenneth Ayebazibwe shares, “The implementation of Children First Software in Africa is an integrated child service especially for children living in institutional care. With digital profiles of vulnerable children, government and NGOs will provide coordinated and monitored services across the African continent.” In Ethiopia, the leader of the Sele Enat NGO discusses the lack of statistical data regarding the children they have served for over 20 years. He says, “It was time-consuming and challenging to know statistics like the number of orphaned or abandoned children. But CFS has made that an easy task that only takes a few minutes.”

In Nigeria, BEB initiated the first pilot training last week with 12 child welfare organizations that are committed to use the software in their homes. Malawi and Tanzania are next to begin training and roll-out of the software in their children’s homes. BEB teams in each country will work alongside these partners to ensure all paper records on children are converted to create digital identities for boys and girls under their care. Simultaneously, BEB will train its partners to use all five software modules which help decision makers realize and execute the best family placements for the children.

The WCD ministry said adoption orders have been issued in 361 cases after the rules were amended to empower district magistrates to issue adoption orders.

NEW DELHI: A total of 589 children have been adopted after the notification of the new adoption regulations in September that empower district magistrates (DMs) to issue the adoption order, the union ministry of women and child development (WCD) said on Tuesday.

Under the Adoption Regulations 2022 issued on September 23, DMs and additional DMs were given the power to issue adoption orders under Section 61.

“A number of adoption orders have been issued by DMs all over the country during the last two months soon after notification of the Adoption Regulations in the month of September 2022. On the date of notification, 905 adoption orders were pending with the courts. As of date, the pendency has come down to 644. In 361 cases, adoption orders have been issued. The first adoption order was issued by DM, Akola, Maharashtra on 6 Oct 2022,” the ministry statement said.

The ministry said prospective adoptive parents (PaPs) can now opt for their home states or region under the new norms.

Aditi Tandon

New Delhi, December 6

Foster families will no longer have to wait for five years to adopt a child. The process will now take two years, thanks to a Centre’s decision to ease adoption rules for foster families.

Rules amended

District magistrates start issuing adoption orders under amended Juvenile Justice Rules, 2022

The Netherlands has decided to shorten adoptions from abroad. This is due to insufficient supervision of situations such as child theft, child trafficking and unethical conduct by officials. This is a very drastic measure for future adoptees.

In this Dutch Desi episode we talk to Minakshi Baigum . Who was adopted as a child from the Indian orphanage 'Bal Anand'. Minakshi has been looking for her parents, her family and her entire history for 14 years.

The topics discussed during this episode are her adoption process, her emerging company: Adoption Advice Bureau NL and her view on the drastic measure.

Interviewed by: Alyssa Bhawanidin

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