AHMEDABAD: Call it the parent of all paradoxes: an 11-year-old girl (https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/11-year-old-girl)

who has biological as well as adoptive parents has been sent to a child protection home

(https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/child-protection-home). While the adoptive parents have taken a moral stand and

want to return the child to her real mother and father, the biological parents have no legal standing to take back their daughter.

In this case of adoption gone (https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/adoption-gone) awfully awry

Authorities in Romania are investigating a social program for troubled youths, who were allegedly kept in "slavery-like conditions." A German couple is being investigated for human trafficking.

Romania's Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism opened an investigation into eight individuals suspected of mistreating German children. The agency carried out a search of the suspects' homes on Tuesday.

Authorities said a German couple was part of the individuals being investigated. All suspects, who have not yet been arrested, were involved with "Projekt Maramures," a "social program" financed by the German state and licensed by Romania's Labor Ministry.

Projekt Maramures sought to "rehabilitate" troubled German children and teenagers aged between 12 and 18 through recreational activities and psychological assistance. It was located in the northern rural Romanian region of Maramures.

But its founders are being investigated for allegedly forcing teenagers aged between 12 and 18 to "do exhausting physical labor" in numerous households.

Ahmedabad: An adoption that began with the intention of embracing a girl who was either orphaned or abandoned, turned out

to be rather traumatic for the child along with her biological and adoptive parents.

While the 11-year-old girl is back to the orphanage she was adopted from, her biological parents have been making rounds of

government offices to secure custody of their daughter and the adoptive parents have had to file a case to invalidate the

adoption, so that the girl can be handed over to her biological parents.

Born to a rape victim, grandparents of the child refuse to accept him

Mahesh Sharma|

Mandi Ahmedgarh, August 27

The newborn son of a rape victim, who was allegedly sold to a Dehradun-based family for Rs 3 lakh, has been rescued but nobody is ready to accept him.

While his biological father is behind the bar for allegedly raping his mother, the parents of the victim are not ready to accept him fearing social stigma.

Youth Aid Romania

Contact

If you would like more information or to send us suggestions, please contact:

Jonas Schäfer, Werkschule Jugendhof Cund

Tel & Fax +40 265 714395

The CWC has also refused to allow the couple to visit the two-year-old boy, who was sent to Bal Anand, a specialised adoption agency in July, when the racket was busted.

THE MUMBAI Child Welfare Committee (CWC) has refused to grant permanent or temporary custody to a couple who had allegedly purchased one of the six children rescued by the Mumbai police from an inter-state child-selling racket. The CWC has also refused to allow the couple to visit the two-year-old boy, who was sent to Bal Anand, a specialised adoption agency in July, when the racket was busted.

“The committee is mindful of the fact that incidents of child trafficking is rampantly increasing. Children are being trafficked under the garb of adoption, from hospitals, nursing homes and institutions that do not figure in the adoption set up at all. The committee cannot encourage the practice of illegal adoption,” the CWC stated, while rejecting the application filed by the couple earlier this month.

The boy, along with five others, all aged between 18 months and seven years, were rescued by the Mumbai Police crime branch in July and, as per orders of the CWC, sent to Bal Anand.

The police claimed that the couple and others, from whose custody the children were rescued, had not completed any legal formalities to adopt the children. The “adoptive” parents were arrested in July and later granted bail by the sessions court.

It all started when a Facebook user Sandhya was browsing multiple online gifting sites for Rakshabandhan this year, and came across a website that sold ‘combo’ gift items for siblings. All that was fine, of course, except that there were some products designed and marketed in a way that specifically addressed one of the siblings as an adopted child, and in a manner that many found to be derogatory.

At a time when the concept of adoption is still not very well accepted in our society, the last thing we need is people making fun of an issue that has so many layers and is such a sensitive one for many. To trivialise it or pass ‘cool’ jokes around adoption, which is often overwhelming for families going through it, is just not done.

As Sandhya delved deeper and did more research, she found that there were a number ofother websites which had similar products and she took it upon her to bring it to the attention of these sites, pointing out that they were actually hurting the sentiments of adoptive parents.

One of the companies indulging in selling such products was OyeHappy. The products listed ranged from magnets, picture stands, mugs and rakhis. Each one of them carried a text where one of the children was a natural sibling and the other an ‘adopted’ one — the latter, mostly represented by a caricature that looked subdued.

Sandhya and many others are part of a Facebook group which addresses and discusses the issues, concerns and life of adoptive parents. She brought this to the attention of the Facebook group which joined together to pull such product listings off the website.

Stringent rules slowdown international adoption

Nasra Bishumba

By

Nasra Bishumba

Published : August 26, 2019

Stringent rules slowdown international adoption

Nasra Bishumba

By

Nasra Bishumba

Published : August 26, 2019

Despite lifting the ban to allow foreigners or persons outside Rwanda to adopt children in the country two years ago, only two children have since been adopted and another eight could be handed over to their new families soon, The New Times has learned.

In 2010, the government temporarily suspended receiving new applications for international child adoption pending clear structures and mechanisms required under The Hague Adoption Convention on the protection of children.

The suspension was, however, lifted in September 2017 after the government put in place the required mechanisms, which outline the requirements that must be fulfilled before the child is placed with a permanent adoptive family.

Among the requirements a nation is required to fulfill is the establishment of an institution that is equivalent of National Children Commission (NCC), commitment through different laws, including the law relating to the rights and the protection of the child, law governing persons and family, and the ministerial order determining conditions for inter-country adoption.

By 2016, 103 countries had signed the Hague Convention with the aim of making adoption a safer and less complicated process by establishing an international standard of practice.