This is the story of Princess Victoria Gouramma, the princess of Coorg, who was deposed by the British. Her story is not just a footnote of colonial history. It is a reminder of resilience, heartbreak, and a young girl’s fight for belonging in a world that was never ready to fully accept her. 

On a rainy spring morning of 1852, a usual day for Londoners, when they suddenly gathered curiously around the docs as an unusual figure stepped ashore. She was clad in a simple silk robe, a 11-year-old girl, with dusky skin, solemn eyes, steps down as she clutches her father's hand.

She was Princess Gouramma of Coorg. She was a royal from India, which was now annexed under the British rule. Beside her was her father, the deposed King Chikavira Rajendra, who hope for justice from the Queen of England. Little did they know that the little girl, bright and eager, was about to be swept into the heart of British royalty, which would turn into a lifetime of quiet battles against prejudice, loneliness, and betrayal.

In the pages of history as we go along adopting, acknowledging and embracing new curriculum, there are often stories that we continue to ignore. Princess Gouramma's story is also one such forgotten story, however, it continues to hold the haunting mirror which reflects even what royals like Meghan Markle may have faced centuries later. Princess Gouramma's life shows that even when the British monarchy embraced a person of colour, the acceptance was only skin-deep.

A Royal Arrival, A New Identity

In India, adoption has witnessed a significant transformation, driven by government initiatives like those of the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA). In the financial year 2024-25, a record 4,515 legal adoptions were recorded, showcasing the growing societal shift towards open-hearted, legal adoptions and offering hope to many children in need of a loving home......

Sometimes, love comes looking for you, even when you least expect it. 

Little Moksh, left at a Child Care Institution just one day after he was born, had no way of knowing that his life was about to become a beautiful story of hope and belonging. 

Moksh was born with a condition called knock knees, where his legs bent inward. For four long years, he watched families walk past him. Some paused, some smiled, but most moved on once they saw the mention of his condition on the papers. For Moksh, every passing face was a silent goodbye. 

But in 2021, everything changed. Amidst the fear and distance brought by COVID-19, a couple saw him not his diagnosis, not his “defects,” but simply, their son. 

Even though the pandemic delayed the adoption process, they refused to give up. From afar, they told him bedtime stories over video calls, made him laugh through screens, and promised they would be together soon. 

PATHANAMTHITTA: Two years ago, baby Niket was fighting for survival, having been found abandoned by his biological parents. Today, he is nestled in the arms of his adoptive parents in Italy, in a early-life story that has come to embody resilience and unconditional love.

Niket’s journey of acceptance began on April 4, 2023 in Aranmula, Pathanamthitta, where he was discovered in a bucket in front of a house. After giving birth to him at home, his mother sought medical attention at a hospital in Chengannur due to excessive bleeding.

The mother informed authorities that she had delivered a stillborn baby. However, police became suspicious when they received information of the abandoned infant, weighing just 1.3 kg. and rushed him to Kottayam Medical College Hospital for treatment.

The intervention by police officers, which ended up by saving the child’s life, came for high praise. A video showing a cop running to a hospital carrying the bucket with the child in it had then gone viral.

Chengannur sub-inspector M C Abhilash, who carried the infant to safety, recalled the emotional moment. “We just wanted to save his life. Seeing him in safe hands now fills my heart with joy,” said Abhilash, who is now circle inspector with Venmony police station.

The Overseas Koreans Agency (Director Lee Sang-deok) will hold its first policy discussion meeting tomorrow (the 29th) to discuss ways to support the domestic settlement of adoptive Koreans.

 This event, co-hosted with the Overseas Korean Adoption Association, was prepared as a follow-up measure to the 'Adoption Counseling Center' opened by the Overseas Koreans Office last month.

Approximately 60 domestic and international adoptees and experts, including Seodaemun-gu Mayor Lee Seong-heon, the Ministry of Health and Welfare's Population and Children's Policy Director Kim Sang-hee, and Overseas Koreans

' Counselor Yoo Jae-hoon, will participate in the meeting to discuss adoption policies and business directions and seek field-centered support measures. In addition, the meeting will feature presentations on various topics related to adoptees, such as '

Overseas Koreans Office's dedicated window operation cases and this year's promotion plan for adoptees' and 'The Child Rights Protection Agency's family search project.' Overseas Koreans Office Director Lee Sang-deok stated that this meeting is an opportunity to listen to the real difficulties of adoptees and to discover and promote policies and projects for adoptees and their children, and that he will continue to provide effective support for adoptees.

[Kim Yu-ri/Overseas Adoption Victim]
“I can’t accept this. Please… We are victims of the state.”

Ultimately, the fact that adoption records could not be found is what hindered the investigation into the truth.

[Peter Muller/Co-representative of the Danish Korean Truth Finding Group (DKRG) - Jeong Yeong-hun/Director of Investigation Department 2, Truth and Reconciliation Commission]
“The fact that there are no records is a violation of human rights. The fact that we cannot know the stories of our pasts is in itself a violation of our rights.” Only

56 people have been officially recognized as victims of overseas adoption.

In addition to the 42 people for whom the investigation into the truth was suspended, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission decided to suspend the investigation into 269 people, for a total of 311 people.

The reasons were a lack of materials and a lack of time.

[Noh Hye-ryeon/Professor Emeritus, Department of Social Welfare, Soongsil University]
“(If they don’t admit to being victims because there is no information) those who don’t know their real background and don’t know their parents and are suffering are saying, ‘You weren’t even harmed. ’”

Norway, which was an ‘import country’ for Korean adoptees, conducted a fact-finding investigation in Korea last month.

[Camilla Berndt/Chairperson of the Norwegian Overseas Adoption Investigation Committee]
“The purpose of our investigation is to determine whether the Norwegian authorities have sufficiently controlled international adoptions and whether there have been any illegal or inappropriate practices.”

Denmark has decided to conduct a large-scale investigation at the parliamentary level.

[Peter Muller/Co-Chairperson, Danish Korean Truth Investigation Group (DKRG)]
“The important thing about the Danish investigation is actually imposing legal responsibility. The Danish parliament is trying to find out how this happened and who is responsible.”

However, the investigation into the truth about overseas adoption in Korea is likely to end like this unless the third Truth Commission is launched.

[Park Geon-tae/Truth and Reconciliation Commission Investigation Team Leader]
"As you can see from the overall poor record management, I think at the time, they probably thought, 'Once a child is adopted, it's over, there's no need to look for them again.'"

-----

 

For adoptees, records, which are like an 'umbilical cord', are also a compass on the road to finding their identity.

[Han Bun-young/Co-CEO of the Danish Korean Truth Finding Group (DKRG)]
"Where is there a person who doesn't know where they came from? Where is there a person who doesn't know their mother, father, and siblings? It's so basic. Without this (adoption record), we don't exist. This is the beginning of our lives."

The damage caused by lost records continues across generations.

Marit Kim, who visited her mother's hometown after her mother took her own life due to the pain of adoption.

[Marit Kim van der Stey/Second-generation overseas adoptee]
"When I first went to Gwangju (her mother's hometown), it felt really special. I was so fascinated by the faces of the people. I thought, 'Gwangju people seem to have rounder faces, and their lips look like my mother's.' It was so sad, but it felt like a small gift to be able to see someone who looked like my mother."

However, even finding her mother's mother, her maternal grandmother, was very difficult.

[Marit Kim van der Stey/Second-generation overseas adoptee]
"But I'm a part of my mom. I don't know why I can't access my family papers. I asked the Child Rights Commission if I could get a DNA test, but they said no because I'm not an adoptee or a missing child. Maybe my grandmother is still looking for my mom and wants to know more about her."

The second-generation adoptees Straight spoke to described this experience as one of sadness, loss, and emptiness.

[Bastian Flickweirt (Shin Seo-bin)/Second generation overseas adoptee - Melanie Steiner/Second generation overseas adoptee]
"There are barriers on so many levels, culturally, linguistically, and legally. There are already such barriers simply because we are adoptees, and we are even further down. You feel like you can't approach it, and there is an emptiness in your heart that is too hard to explain. <To me, it feels like a silent sadness. It feels like sadness.> About something you've lost... <Not only did you lose your family, but you also lost your culture, your country, and your language. When I met other adoptees and adoptee children, this emptiness suddenly disappeared, and I felt a sense of light and connection, and I thought, 'Oh my gosh, I'm not alone, I'm not crazy.' This is what it means to be alive. This is what it feels like to have roots. Other people must have felt this way their whole lives.>

-----

Moreover, adoption records are directly related to life.

Mathieu Christmas, who was adopted to France at 5 months old. He

has suffered from severe insomnia since last year and is now suffering from tinnitus and muscle I'm experiencing convulsions and hallucinations.

I desperately need information from my biological parents to find out if it's a hereditary disease.

The Special Adoption Act also states that adoption information can be disclosed regardless of the consent of the biological parents in special cases, such as for medical purposes.

[Mathieu Christmas/Overseas Adoption Victim (YouTube 'Mongsaem Bookstore', December 13, 2024)]
"I just want to find out if there was a case of fatal insomnia or a hereditary sleep disorder within that family."

However, the Child Rights Protection Center, which manages adoption information, is not disclosing the information, saying it has not yet received parental consent.

[Bae Jin-si/Director of Montaigne Overseas Adoption Solidarity]
"Is the Personal Information Protection Act more important than human life and the child's human rights? It's not like we can't find our parents. They're alive and well, and I know where they are living. But I don't know if it really makes sense that they can't give me that information."

-----

So how are the records of victims of overseas adoption managed?

The Child Rights Protection Center once entrusted an outside company with the task of computerizing the adoption records of 86 childcare facilities for 10 years from 2013.

The result was a mess.

The birth mother's address was written completely differently, from Jeollanam-do to Seoul, and even the child's gender was wrong.

A large number of cases were found where the names and contact information of the birth parents were written incorrectly or omitted.

Important records before adoption were damaged, and because they were not even properly inspected, half of the scanned data in 2020 and 2021 were blank.

They didn't even know that the external hard drive containing the original files was lost.

[Kim Nam-hee/Democratic Party of Korea - Jeong Ik-joong/Director of the Child Rights Protection Center (National Assembly Welfare Committee, October 21, 2024)]
"<So there's an external hard drive?> I understand that there is an external hard drive."

[Jeong Ik-joong/Director of the Child Rights Protection Center (National Assembly Welfare Committee, October 21, 2024)]
"I apologize for speaking too definitively about the loss of data. I would like to ask for a correction once again."

Internal document of the Child Rights Protection Center obtained by Straight Team. It states

that the original data is 50% more than what has been computerized, but it is not possible to identify which data has been scanned.

In the end, we concluded that we had to start the computerization process again from the beginning.

[Child Rights Protection Center employee]
"The data we have now is unreliable. When adoptees request disclosure of their current information, I honestly cannot guarantee whether or not the data will be correct."

-----

In addition, starting in July of this year, all adoption records from four adoption agencies, including Holt, will be transferred to the Child Rights Protection Agency.

A plan was made to build an archive on 25,000 square meters of state-owned land in Gimpo-si, Gyeonggi-do, and the director of the Child Rights Protection Agency visited the site, but the plan has been put on hold indefinitely.

[Gimpo City official]
"It seems that the Child Rights Protection Agency is still in the process of preparing internally. We are waiting."

When asked why it was put on hold, the Child Rights Protection Agency explained, "It was not something that the Ministry of Welfare, the Ministry of Strategy and Finance, and the Child Rights Protection Agency agreed on, and the article at the time was not an official position."

We also visited a place that was supposed to be used as a temporary storage facility until the archives were built.

It was a warehouse in Gyeonggi-do, a remote place that would be inconvenient for adoptees to visit.

[Warehouse official]
"<What was it originally used for? The building itself?> It was a cold storage. (The Child Rights Protection Center) would come and look at the 2nd floor, the 4th floor, the 5th floor, etc...."

In a place where the entire building was used as a cold storage, questions about whether old documents can be stored are bound to arise.

[Child Rights Protection Center employee]
"The place we are trying to move to (as a temporary storage facility) has a cold storage on the lower floor, so the temperature is very low. So in order to maintain the temperature and humidity there, a lot of equipment will have to be brought in, and we are worried about whether it will work or not."

However, the Child Rights Protection Center explained, "It meets the load capacity standards, has sufficient area, and is relatively close to the city center, so we consider it the best candidate."

[Lee Kyung-eun/Representative of Human Rights Beyond Borders]
"All of these issues ultimately converge on the right of 200,000 (international adoptees) to know their own identity, their own roots, and their true identity, so there is a very long way to go to guarantee those human rights."

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Timotheos

"I love you Mom because you take me out to play…"

Moksh's mother had tears in her eyes when she read this simple, loving, and heartwarming note written by her son in uneven letters and wobbly handwriting. Though it seems like just ten simple words written by a kid to his mother. But behind those words lies a powerful story of love, waiting, and hope.

Moksh was born with a condition called "knock knees," which made his legs bend inward. He was left at a Child Care Institution when he was just a day old unaware of anything in this new world. He was put up for adoption. For four years, families walked in and out of his life—pausing, hesitating, moving on. His condition was listed on the form. And that was often the end of the conversation.

Until one day, it wasn't.

In 2021, a couple saw him, not the label, not the diagnosis, but 'Their child.' To them, he wasn't a problem to solve, he was their son, waiting for them from the day he was born. The second wave of COVID-19 made the wait even longer. But they didn't let him go, they stayed—through video calls, telling him bedtime stories through screens, making him smile from far away and patiently waiting to hold him in their arms.

Three days before she was set to stand trial in the death of her teenage son, a Springfield Township woman fired the attorney she had hired to defend her.

On April 25, Tamara Moore − who had been expected to plead guilty − instead told Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Jody Luebbers that she wanted another attorney. Moore's trial had been set for April 28.

Moore, 53, who faces up to life in prison, didn't entirely explain her decision.

Attorney Clyde Bennett II told Luebbers said that Moore didn't want him to represent her, "based on my analysis of the case."

Adoptees have had to live with all the lies and deception they have been told about being given away out of love for a better life in the West.
Photo: PixabayWhy does the collective society so heartily tolerate the injustice done to its "Norwegian" children? And why do they not want to talk about it? Is it because the injustice is built on the basis of our shared values ​​and attitudes?

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Elin Netland

Shalina Gomes is still looking for her biological mother in Bangladesh, now that the woman from official documents turns out not to be her real mother. She sings it off with her first Frisian single 'Wy kinne it net opnij dwaan'. Photo: Johan Vogelzang

About forty years after Shalina Gomes arrived in Leeuwarden as an adopted child from Bangladesh, she releases her own Frisian single on streaming services such as Spotify and as a video clip on YouTube. She sings it completely in Frisian, because she feels Frisian through and through. She also sings about the fact that she is still looking for her biological mother in Bangladesh, and is being obstructed by authorities.

Someone of foreign descent may indeed be Frisian and feel that way. Johan Derksen's sneer at Habtamu de Hoop last year gave her the strength and inspiration to continue with the Frisian song she wanted to make again. “I like that people from outside the Netherlands are coming from harren and Frisian love girls, I would like to carry the boat.” She is combative. "The melody of the music ignites the passion and draws my personality."

'We can't do it again'

She has been singing for decades in various bands and background vocals throughout the Netherlands, in various genres as well, but had never released her own song. 'Wy kinne it net opnij dwaan', is the title of the song written by Minke Adema, with music by guitarist Rick Meijer. It will be released on May 9, two days before Mother's Day. That is of course no coincidence, because of the adoption story. It can be heard via streaming services such as Spotify and can also be seen via Shalina Gomes' brand new YouTube channel.