After celebrating World Adoption Day a week ago, we continue to cover important factors under this broad topic.

A WEEK ago, we celebrated World Adoption Day. Under this broad topic, we covered the adoption process in South Africa and the importance of this process. We highlighted what qualifies a minor to be adopted and who is eligible to adopt. In continuation of the topic, in this article, we highlight how to qualify for adoption and the remaining process of this legal action which includes the intervention of the Children’s Court, as well as clearing misconceptions.

According to the Department of Social Development, in order to qualify to be a prospective adoptive parent, you ‘must’ match the criteria as set out in Section 231 subsection 2. You need to be:

fit and proper to be entrusted with full parental responsibilities and rights in respect of the child;

willing and able to undertake, exercise and maintain those responsibilities and rights in respect of the child;

Finding Home For 30 Million Abandoned Children: How Can India Attain High Adoption Level?

Vidyadhar Prabhudesai

Writer: Vidyadhar Prabhudesai (Guest Author)

India, 25 Oct 2022 7:48 AM GMT

Creatives : Shiva Chaudhary

Carlos Dunnink (21), adopted from Colombia, where he has already traveled three times.

I was adopted by my parents when I was eight weeks old. So my roots are far away, in Colombia. The only thing I have from there is a note that my mother gave me at the time, together with a photo of her. Those are precious possessions, but without memories. I know what my mother looked like 21 years ago and that poverty was the reason she gave me up for adoption. I don't know anything about my biological family.

That photo of my Colombian mother: I often looked at it. To keep remembering what she looks like. Sometimes I also try to see characteristics of myself in it. For example, people sometimes say to each other: “You look a lot like your father.” I never hear that.

Being adopted has never bothered me. My parents have always handled it very well. I've never had the idea that I'm different. The fact that my only brother has also been adopted, and is also from Colombia, may have contributed to this. And I also have cousins ??who are adopted. My eldest cousin is a month older than me and he is also from Colombia. So the rest of the nieces and nephews know no better than that their eldest cousins ??have colored skin, black hair and brown eyes. They never had to get used to us.

As a child you take it for granted that you have a different skin color than most others around you. You don't stop there. And in my case there was never a moment when I suddenly became aware of this. It was a gradual process. Gradually I discovered that my background is very different from that of my classmates.

Child protection measures can help to improve the well-being of parents and their children. The violence also seems to stop more often, according to research.

Yara van BuurenOctober 28, 2022 , 9:36 AM

Every year in the Netherlands, more than 100,000 children are abused at home. The cause is often an accumulation of risk factors, which makes the approach particularly complex. If there are concerns about the safety and development of the child, a juvenile court may order that the minor be placed under the supervision of a family guardian. The child can also be removed from the home.

In recent decades, a great deal of research has been carried out into the functioning of youth protection. Yet little research has been done into the effectiveness of these far-reaching interventions. The Verwey-Jonker Institute has a study on Thursday showing that child protection measures help to improve the family situation.

For the study, more than 1300 families were followed for a year and a half in which there is evidence of child abuse. A supervision order and/or custodial placement was imposed on 480 families. Compared to families that have no involvement from youth protection, a clear improvement can be seen in the well-being of the children. Bonding with parents improves, emotional safety increases and trauma complaints decrease sharply.

Holt is acting to holistically address the changes with lifelong support

Eugene, OR, Nov. 03, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- In honor of National Adoption Month, Holt International Children’s Services is showcasing the evolution of international adoption and emphasizing Holt’s lifelong adoption services available to families and adoptees. In addition to these services, the organization’s partnerships allow for families to apply for funding to support their international adoption journey. Holt representatives and affiliates are available to share relevant stories for media representatives during National Adoption Month including:

Do you want to know more about international adoption and how it is evolving? Eugene-based Holt International has welcomed over 44,000 children from 27 countries through international adoption and today reaches over 1 million children and individuals around the world. Truth is, the profile of adoption has significantly changed, and Holt is growing to provide holistic support services. If you seek to learn more about how adoption has changed and how Holt’s global impact is adapting, reach out today. We can present personal stories from adoptees and families to give insight and encouragement.

Post-Adoption Services are available for adoptees and families on their lifelong journey! Holt’s post adoption services team stands committed to serving all those whose lives have been touched by adoption: Adoptees, adoptive families, birth parents, and the entire adoption constellation. Holt offers these services to anyone seeking assistance, even if Holt was not the placing agency. Our team is here to care for families through their lifelong journey of adoption. To learn more about these programs, visit https://www.holtinternational.org/post-adoption/.

Funds may be available to assist with International Adoption! We believe that finances should not be the primary barrier to prospective adoptive parents considering adoption. We partner with Gift of Adoption, Connected Hearts, and others who work to reduce or remove financial barriers for qualified families through grants and support.

Byline: Jeff Wright The Register-Guard

A lawsuit filed Thursday in Los Angeles County Superior Court alleges that former Holt International CEO David Cousineau sexually molested an underage girl for four years while he served as a Roman Catholic priest in the 1970s.

Cousineau resigned from the Holt position in April, two months after the adoption agency learned he had once been accused of molesting an 11-year-old boy in California. An independent law firm hired by Holt couldn't substantiate those allegations, but the agency decided the accusation had impaired Cousineau's ability to manage Holt.

The plaintiff in the new suit said in a telephone interview that she decided to file after learning Cousineau worked in a job involving children.

"I heard he worked with orphans, and I just thought that was a scary situation," she said. "I felt I had to come forward and that something needed to be done."

Justice minister Franc Weerwind wants to make foreign adoption possible again in order to "not exclude" prospective parents. Children's and human rights organizations are outraged. They believe that the minister does not put the interests of children first.

"There will always be people with an unfulfilled wish to have children. For example, people who have a same-sex partner. We want to offer that group a choice by still allowing adoption from abroad," a spokesperson for Minister Weerwind told NU.nl. . "If we completely stop foreign adoption, we will exclude these prospective parents. For the time being, we therefore see no reason to stop adopting from abroad."

The minister says that foreign adoption is only possible if a child cannot receive suitable care in its own country and there is no other option. The government will monitor this more closely. In addition, the Ministry of Justice and Security (JenV) expects that foreign adoption will automatically decrease. For example, 145 children from abroad were adopted in 2019. In 2015, this was still 304 children.

Intended parents can now adopt children from six countries: Thailand, Philippines, Taiwan, South Africa, Lesotho and Hungary. Adopting a child from China, the United States, Burkina Faso, Haiti, Colombia, Peru, Slovakia and the Czech Republic is no longer possible. In these countries it is more difficult to supervise adoption practices strictly, or the minister is of the opinion that suitable reception can better be arranged in the own country. The ministry is also investigating whether it will also remain possible to adopt children from Portugal and Bulgaria.

Mistakes cannot be avoided

Welcome to Our Place, an article series exploring identity in Aotearoa. This article explores M?ori adoptee identity, the legislation reform, and the importance of whakapapa and tikanga M?ori.

Adoption can look different for everyone, and this article does not represent everybody’s story. Instead, it focuses on two individual perspectives, told through the lens of M?ori adoptee Dr Annabel Ahuriri-Driscoll, and daughter of a M?ori adoptee, Dr Erica Newman.

The European idea of adoption has been legally practiced in New Zealand for over 67 years. But wh?ngai, a M?ori kinship practice, has been practiced since before colonisation. Wh?ngai is where tamariki M?ori are brought up by wh?nau, instead of their birth parents. Many knew who their birth parents were and kept in contact, but they grew up in a different family member’s home.

Adoption grew in Aotearoa from the 1950s, and in 1955 The Adoption Act changed the way in which children were adopted. Adoptions would be closed, a clean break – there would be no legal obligation for birth parents to stay in contact with their child. Single mothers who adopted their child out were thought, through a closed practice, to be given a second chance.

M?ori, who had not been allowed to legally adopt non-M?ori children since 1909, were now treated the same as P?keh?. Iwi affiliations were hardly recorded. This meant that many M?ori adoptees grew up without knowledge of their whakapapa and were disconnected from tikanga M?ori.

The South Korean Cabinet on Tuesday approved bills to allow single people to adopt children, as the number of one-person households is sharply increasing.

The Justice Ministry revised the Civil Act and the Family Litigation Act, which currently stipulate only married couples can legally adopt, reports Yonhap News Agency.

Under the revisions, single people can adopt if they are 25 or older and meet requirements to sufficiently guarantee the welfare of the children.

The Ministry said it will submit the amendments to the National Assembly on Friday for approval, while it also strengthened qualification reviews of would-be adoptive parents.

The revisions call on the family court to consider parenting time and the post-adoption environment when reviewing applications, in addition to their capability and conditions to raise a child.

The territorial police in Kampala Metropolitan, charged two foster parents, of American origin, to Buganda Road Court on the 09.12.2022, with the Aggravated torture of their 10-year-old son, and they were remanded till the 14.12.2022. The facts gathered indicate that, Nicholas Spencer aged 32 and his wife Mackenzie Leigh Mathias Spencer, a 32-year-old, volunteer, fostered 3 children, including Kayima John, in 2018, from Welcome Ministry, in Jinja City. The suspects came to Uganda in 2017, and started working with Akola Project, based in Jinja. The couple joined Motive Creation Agency, and moved with their children to Upper Naguru, where they have been staying together.

It was however, realised that between the year, 2020 and December 2022, the couple constantly tortured, a one Kayima John, a 10-year-old pupil of Dawn Children’s Center in Ntinda, which attracted the attention of neighbours. They alerted the police at Kira Road Division and investigations commenced. Our team of investigators established, that the couple kept the victim barefoot, and naked throughout the day, would occasionally make him squat in an awkward position, with his head facing the floor and hands spread out widely, he spent his nights on a wooden platform, without a mattress or beddings and was served cold meals from the fridge. We believe, the victim could have endured more severe acts of torture, away from the camera.

We want to thank the neighbours, teachers and the victim, for taking the courage to stand-up against acts of child torture. We also call upon al probation offices and social workers, to continuously monitor the well-being of children in foster homes, to guard against handing over vulnerable children to abusive foster parents, or other forms of harm. For instance, what happened to the victim, in the last couple of years, probably could have been prevented, if they had closely monitored the well-being of the foster children.

The suspects came to Uganda in 2017, where Nicholas started working with AKOLA Project based in Jinja. In 2018, they fostered 3 children including the victim from Welcome Ministry – Jinja. They moved to Kampala when they joined Motive Creation Agency, with their 3 children.

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