ADOPTIONENS PRIS — THE PRICE OF ADOPTION

“It’s almost five years ago that I began following the story of Masho and Roba. This was at a time when I believed adoption was a noble act for children in need of parents, and for parents in need of children. But what I witnessed was not the tale of joy and hope that I had imagined.”
“Det er nu snart fem år siden at jeg startede med at følge Masho og Robas historie. Det var den gang jeg troede at adoption udelukkende var en god gerning for børn der behøvede foreldre, og foreldre der behøvede børn. Men det jeg blev vidne til var ikke den historie full av glede og håb som jeg havde forestillet mig.”
— Katrine W. Kjær

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Full episode (Danish, no subtitles)

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“77 children were adopted from Ethiopia to Denmark the same year as Masho and Roba.”
“Of those, only 2 were classified as orphans.”
“Every year, about 30,000 children are adopted internationally.”

The Brazilian Association Terra dos Homens (Terra dos Homens) is a non-profit organization, founded by Claudia Cabral, a psychologist working in the social field since 1977 and concerned about the number of children separated from their families and living in shelters.

The organization's creation is an outgrowth of the work Claudia began in 1985, when she was the coordinator of a late interracial adoption program at the Fondation Terre des hommes in Lausanne, Switzerland.

The person then responsible for the program created the Brazilian Terra dos Homens, establishing a board of directors, appointing advisors, and acquiring legal autonomy in 1996. This autonomy enabled the establishment of new partnerships and the expansion of its field of action in Brazil, as a result of Claudia's relentless pursuit of fulfilling her mission of being an agent of change in an unjust welfare system.

In 2003, Terra dos Homens was certified as a Federal Public Utility entity. In 2006, it was certified as a State Public Utility and Social Assistance Charity entity.

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Protecting rights

Search for Origins is a sensitive and personal process

Search for Origins covers the series of steps a person undertakes in order to access information on their origins.

Based on its extensive field-experience and expertise related to post adoption services, especially in cross-border access to records, information, search and reunion, ISS is well-equipped to provide individualised support to adoptees and their families.

The incident came to light at Bhubaneswar Airport, where Sejal confessed that she created the false narrative simply to return to Odisha and reunite with her childhood friend and lover, Amar, who lives in Balasore.

Sejal John, an Odia girl living in the United States, has admitted to fabricating a viral video that accused her adoptive mother of physical abuse and forced religious conversion. The incident came to light at Bhubaneswar Airport, where Sejal confessed that she created the false narrative simply to return to Odisha and reunite with her childhood friend and lover, Amar, who lives in Balasore. 

Childhood Bond Rekindled Across Continents

Sejal had moved to America at a young age after being adopted. Though she built a new life abroad, her connection with Amar was revived years later through social media while she was in the 12th grade. Their bond deepened quickly, and Sejal began longing to return to Odisha to be with him, a desire she feared expressing openly to her adoptive family.

The Viral Video that Triggered International Concern

ALTHOUGH THE GOVERNMENT HAD SUFFICIENT SIGNALS ABOUT FRAUD IN ADOPTIONS FROM ETHIOPIA

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• Jeroen Bossaert

·    April 29, 2019

·    5:00 AM

James Timermans is stepping down as manager at INEA. Since March 2023, James has worked diligently, on behalf of the Ministry of Justice and Security, to establish the first national expertise center for intercountry adoptees and their families.

James Timmermans is stepping down as manager at INEA. Since March 2023, James, commissioned by the Ministry of Justice and Security, has worked diligently to establish the first national expertise center for intercountry adoptees and their families. Ellen Giepmans, director of Fiom/INEA: “Thanks to his passion and dedication, great strides have been made during this period and a solid foundation has been laid. Now is the time for James to embark on a new path. We are grateful for his contribution and wish him all the best in his future career. In the coming years, we will confidently continue to build on the foundation he has laid.” 

INEA will be searching for a new manager in the coming period. Until then, Nicole Vening will be acting as interim manager for James Timmermans. For ongoing and future questions, please contact us at info@inea.nl .

Message from James Timmermans

Over the past three years, I have worked with great passion and dedication to lay a solid foundation for a new center of expertise for intercountry adoptees and their support network. A unique initiative, even internationally. It was an honor to work on this ambitious and sometimes challenging project.

We were delighted to welcome Dr Laura van Bochove (researcher at the Dutch Supreme Court and legal advisor at the Ministry of Justice and Security) for a research stay at the Luxembourg Centre for European Law (LCEL) in June 2025.
During her visit, she worked on an article for the Tijdschrift voor Familie- en Jeugdrecht (Journal for Family and Youth Law), a Dutch journal focusing on family and youth law, which has since been published.

The article discusses the role of the European Union in the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH) Parentage/Surrogacy Project. Since 2023, a HCCH working group has been preparing a draft convention with uniform rules on parentage and surrogacy, and it is expected to present its findings by early 2026. In parallel, the European Commission has proposed an EU Parenthood Regulation (7 December 2022), creating overlap and raising questions about the division of powers between the EU and its Member States.

The HCCH project seeks to articulate international rules for recognizing judicial decisions on parentage, while also addressing safeguards in international surrogacy (e.g. informed consent, protection against trafficking). The EU’s proposed Parenthood Regulation covers jurisdiction, applicable law, recognition of decisions, and introduces a European Certificate of Parenthood, but its adoption requires unanimity in the Council and remains politically uncertain.
The article explains the EU’s external competence to conclude international agreements. The Commission argues that the publication of its Parenthood Regulation proposal gives the EU exclusive competence over the HCCH negotiations, even if the regulation has not yet been adopted. However, questions remain about whether the EU can negotiate on substantive family law issues, such as surrogacy safeguards, since its powers are limited to PIL aspects.

During the preparatory phase of the HCCH project, EU institutions and Member States must cooperate closely (Article 4(3) TEU). Member States are expected not to contradict EU positions, though this may frustrate HCCH discussions if EU positions remain vague. A comparison is drawn with the Maintenance Regulation and Hague Maintenance instruments, where the EU played a leading role but waited until the HCCH work was finalized before adopting its own rules.

The conclusion highlights key challenges: parentage, especially following surrogacy, is politically highly sensitive, making EU coordination difficult. Unlike with maintenance law, the EU cannot easily take a leading, constructive role in the HCCH meetings. The article suggests Member States should have more space to voice their own ideas in the preparatory phase to improve discussions, while still respecting the duty of loyal cooperation and EU legal constraints.

Your article in the Tijdschrift voor Familie- en Jeugdrecht examines the EU’s role in the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH) Parentage/Surrogacy Project. What motivated you to explore this topic, and what are the key challenges you identified?

Utahn Ashley Mitchell placed her son up for adoption 20 years ago.

“I think it's very scary with a lot of unknowns,” she said. “When people step in and claim to care about you and your best interests and the best interest of your baby, they are going to offer solutions that are very permanent solutions to this temporary issue.”

She sat in the second row of a packed committee room at the Utah State Capitol and listened intently to the proposed amendments to Utah’s adoption code. She works for Utah Adoption Rights, an advocacy group that lobbies for better laws for birth mothers and adoptive parents.

Utah is known for having some of the loosest adoption laws in the country. But that could change with draft legislation being discussed in the lead-up to the 2026 legislative session.

One of the leading issues Rep. Katy Hall wants to change is the restriction on birth mothers’ consent.

In a significant ruling, the Gujarat High Court has held that a registered adoption deed is legally binding and cannot be questioned by the Regional Passport Office, directing the authorities to process a minor girl’s passport application filed through petitioner on the basis of the deed.

The single judge bench of the high court, while allowing a petition filed by a UAE-based woman, observed, “Once the deed of adoption is registered, the same cannot be called in question by the Regional Passport Office. The passport authority is bound by law to take cognisance of the registered adoption deed.”

The court directed the passport authority to decide the fresh application on its own merits, in light of the registered adoption deed dated July 20, 2016 and the Ministry of External Affairs’ Office Memorandum dated November 14, 2024, preferably within six weeks.

The petitioner and her husband, residents of the United Arab Emirates, had adopted the minor girl. The passport authority closed the fresh application seeking issuance of minor passport through petitioner on the ground that the adoption was invalid under the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act (HAMA) since the adoptive parents belonged to different religions and therefore insisted on production of a proper court adoption order.

Wadapalli police said investigations are underway into both cases.

NALGONDA: Wadapalli police on Wednesday booked seven individuals in two separate cases for allegedly being involved in the illegal adoption of two infants in Damaracharla and Miryalaguda.

In the first incident, police registered a case against Vankudothu Seva and his wife, Bujji of Manthanda in Damaracharla mandal, for illegally adopting a baby girl. A case was also filed against Deepavath Srinivas and his wife Srivani of Munugothu Thanda, who allegedly gave the baby for adoption on November 2 near Uma General Hospital in Miryalaguda.

In the second incident, involving the illegal adoption of a baby boy on September 3, police booked Lavuri Sanjeeva and his wife, Urmila of Manthanda, who received the infant, and Radha of Yadagarapalli in Miryalaguda mandal, who allegedly gave the baby for adoption near Veena Hospital in Miryalaguda.

Wadapalli police said investigations are underway into both cases. District Integrated Child Development Services project director K Krishnaveni told TNIE that both infants were produced before the Child Welfare Committee and have since been shifted to Shishu Gruha in Nalgonda.