A prostitution camp in the Marshall Islands provided many of the birth mothers caught up in former Maricopa County Assessor Paul Petersen’s allegedly illegal adoption business, according to statements attributed to his co-defendant in a warrant to seize his assets.

When she was arrested in August, Lynwood Jennet, Petersen’s co-defendant in his criminal case and his fixer in the Marshall Islands, told police that the majority of women she had recently helped Petersen recruit came from a prostitution camp where girls as young as 15 or 16 did sex work in exchange for food and housing.

Jennet said when the girls at the prostitution camp would get pregnant, she would receive a call (the name of the caller was redacted in the documents) and she would contact Petersen.

“Lynwood was asked who runs the camp, Lynwood said it was the government or businessmen,” Department of Public Safety Detective Samuel Hunt, who interrogated Jennet following her arrest, said in the sworn affidavit, which was recently unsealed.

Jennet described the camp as a place where “young girls wait for fishermen to come and dock to do shopping and what not.”

NEW YORK (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - When Fatma Marouf and her wife Bryn Esplin decided to foster refugee children in their home state of Texas, being rejected because of their sexual orientation never crossed their minds.

But Catholic Charities Fort Worth, which finds foster homes for unaccompanied refugee children, told the couple in 2017 they were not even eligible to apply because they did not “mirror the Holy Family” of Jesus, Mary and Joseph.

“I just couldn’t believe it,” Marouf, a law professor at Texas A&M University who has worked with Catholic organizations across the country on immigration cases, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

“It’s hurtful that they’re willing to work with me for immigration expertise, but somehow still think I’m inadequate as a person to take care of a child,” said Marouf - one of two gay couples suing the U.S. government for discrimination.

The cases reflect a growing tension in the United States between civil rights advocates opposing discrimination and religious groups seeking the right to operate according to their spiritual beliefs.

DELHI, India — A West Chicago couple said they are stranded in India after picking up their adoptive daughter.

Chris and Caeli Santa Maria are anxious to get home because they have two other children waiting for them in Illinois. But the couple said it could be weeks before that happens.

The family started the adoption journey 18 months ago and 18-month-old Elli is now with them. It is something they said they always wanted to do, but never thought returning home would be so difficult.

“How are we going to get out of here? We have two kids at home,” Chris Santa Maria said. “The thought of another few weeks is hard to imagine.”

The couple arrived in Delhi, India on March 1. A seven-day lockdown followed.

The Government has heard calls from the intercountry adoption sector, particularly adult adoptees, for greater involvement in service design and development. In response to these calls, the Government is holding consultations to ensure that the Intercountry Adoption Family Support Service (ICAFSS) continues to meet the needs of those who have experienced intercountry adoption.

This consultation aims to capture the voices of the intercountry adoption community in the redesign of the service, recognising the significant benefits gained from the involvement of those with lived experience.

To ensure that the ICAFSS continues to meet the needs of the community, we encourage responses to the Discussion Paper from adoptees and their families, prospective adoptive parents, service providers, professionals, academics and other stakeholders.

Supports

If you or a family member need immediate help or counselling, contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or beyondblue on 1300 224 636.

CABARATE, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC -- The world has essentially been imprisoned by a virus. Borders are closed, flights are cancelled and cities are in lockdown. Thousands of Canadians are now separated from the ones they love. These are extraordinary and uncertain times.

In my recent reporting for CTV National News, I have spoken to many families who are desperately trying to be reunited with those now trapped thousands of kilometres from home. Their fear, their sense of powerlessness, their desperation has an aching similarity to a story I have been working on for the last six months for W5.

It’s called Prisoner in Paradise and instead of a nasty virus keeping people apart, it’s the story of one Canadian family who has been separated off and on again for 10 excruciating years because of a natural disaster, changing laws and the politics of three countries.

Back in 2010 Christal and Vaden Earle launched a project in the Dominican Republic to build homes for the impoverished Haitian community. Much of their time was spent at a sprawling dump far from the all-inclusive resorts, where Haitians would try to scrap together a living by picking through the waste. It was there that the Earles met a parentless toddler named Widlene. Their attempts to adopt her have been herculean, and stymied by a series of very unfortunate events.

Her adoption paperwork was destroyed by a 7.0-magnitude earthquake that wiped out entire neighbourhoods in Port au Prince, Haiti. The Dominican Republic changed laws that made Widlene stateless, a citizen of nowhere. And the Canadian government has rejected repeated legal attempts to bring her to Canada.

Arun Dohle

Attachments

Fri, 20 Mar, 11:18

to bcc: internagainstchildtrafficking

---------- Forwarded message ---------

A New Way neemt adoptiebemiddeling Slowakije over

16 maart 2020

facebook lindedin twitter mail

Adoptiebemiddelaar A New Way neemt de adoptiebemiddeling uit Slowakije over van vergunninghouder Stichting Kind en Toekomst. Kind en Toekomst kondigde vorig jaar aan per 1 oktober 2020 te gaan stoppen met haar activiteiten als adoptiebemiddelaar.

Kind en Toekomst is nog in gesprek met New Way over de overdracht van andere procedures en landen waarmee lopende adoptieprogramma’s bestaan.

Moradabad, Mar 16 (IANS): A woman has been booked for allegedly selling her seven-day-old daughter for Rs 10,000 to a neighbour at Kathghar area of Moradabad district in Uttar Pradesh.

The matter came to light when the woman herself went to the SSP office to lodge a complaint against her neighbour, saying that she wanted her daughter back.

On being questioned, she admitted that she had sold her daughter to the neighbour two months back.

The SSP directed the station house officer (SHO) of Kathghar police station to detain the woman and register an FIR against her.

The police later told reporters that the woman was married nearly three years ago and separated from her husband after she gave birth to a baby girl on January 4. Since she was living alone and her daughter had a medical condition, she allegedly threw the newborn on a railway track.

After having lodged a complaint against the former boss of the ANR, Dieu Merci Kitambo, Human Rights Defender and Head of Office in charge of Child Protection at the Network of Human Rights and Civic Education Organizations of Christian Inspiration, RODHECIC in acronym, was visited on March 09, 2020 at his home by strangers.

Obviously, these unidentified bandits were on a suicide mission. They did not find their target, missing from her home for the simple reason that she spent the night at a wake in Yolo in Kalamu Municipality.

Contacted by Objectif Infos CD, the unfortunate man presented a paper on which these thugs left him a message written in red: "GOD THANKS OKO KUFA LOKOLA MBWA PONA COMPLAINT AGAINST KALEV", a message which simply means in French: " Thank God you will die like a dog for a complaint against Kalev ".

In addition to this message, these strangers, after a systematic search, managed to extract from the inside pocket of a bag, the sum of 120 US dollars and the passport.

Recently, Mr. Kitambo posted a video of himself on social networks denouncing the horrors he experienced during his imprisonment in the ANR prison in 2017 while he was investigating a network of child traffickers implicated by Belgium.

The wait for adopting a child could get longer with more than 29,000 prospective parents registered with Central Adoption

Resources Authority (Cara) and just 2,317 children available for adoption, according to latest data.

Among the orphan children, 1,401 are with special needs. There are just 89 normal children below 2 years, the most sought

after age group for adoption while there are 649 normal children who are over two years. There are 178 children in the

‘siblings’ category. As per rules, siblings have to be adopted together by the prospective parents.