High court quashes adoption, which couple were forced into after registrar wrongly permitted only one mother’s name on child’s birth certificate

A woman in a same-sex relationship who was forced to adopt her child because officials refused to register her as her child’s mother has secured a high court ruling quashing the adoption.

Sarah Osborne, 48, and Helen Arnold, 48, had a baby with the help of IVF in 2014 but Osborne was forced to go through the “painful and humiliating” process of formally adopting her child – including being interviewed by social workers about her suitability as a parent and undergoing criminal records checks.

The couple registered their child’s birth at Cambridge register office but the registrar said that unless Osborne was the father, and she “clearly wasn’t”, then her name was not permitted on the birth certificate. They said, wrongly, there “could only be one” mother.

It was in breach of the law that states that same-sex female couples who have a child through IVF – and who consented to being treated as a parent – should be named on the child’s birth certificate.

Chennai: A sordid tale of exploitation of a minor girl by her mother, male companion and two others has come to light in Tamil Nadu with the girl accusing them of forcing to sell her oocyte to private hospitals. While the accused including her mother and companions were arrested, a six-member team from the Directorate of Medical and Rural Health Services commenced a deeper inquiry into the case on Sunday.

The team met the 16-year-old girl, who hails from Erode district in western Tamil Nadu, and conducted inquiries for nearly three hours at a Government-run home where she has been lodged after being rescued.

The girl was staying with her mother Indira alias Sumiya following the latter’s estrangement with her husband. Indira’s male companion Syed Ali allegedly sexually abused the girl. In a complaint to the police, she alleged that the abuse was going on for five years and she was taken to different private hospitals in Erode and its surrounding districts since 2017 where she was forced to sell her oocytes. She alleged Rs 20,000 was paid to her mother during each visit and a woman Malathi, who acted as an intermediary, received Rs 5,000 as commission. Another accused John had got her a forged Aadhaar card under an assumed name to make it appear she had attained the age of majority.

The complaint blew the lid off an illegal egg donation racket in the district, which has numerous infertility clinics and a case was registered under the POCSO Act. All accused were arrested last week.

“We have taken the girl’s statement. Based on what she revealed, we will be visiting hospitals in Erode and other places to take statement from the staff and initiate further action,” A Viswanathan, Joint Director of Medical and Rural Health Services told journalists. He said action including cancellation of licenses would be taken against hospitals found guilty of the illegal extraction of oocytes. Doctors, if they were complicit in the crime, will also face action, he added.

A parliamentary committee has said some 185,000 children were taken away for adoption between 1949 and 1976 in England and Wales, and urged an official apology.

Anne Neale, from the campaign group Legal Action for Women, welcomed any such admission as "long overdue".

But she said the committee had "refused" to examine cases of mothers being forced to give up their children today despite having done nothing wrong.

Activists say the law's singular focus on the well-being of the child has led to thousands of children being taken away from parents, even without evidence of any abuse.

Often it is because their mothers have suffered from mental health issues or domestic violence.

The US Congress could hamper Romania’s bid to join NATO unless the country lifts its moratorium on child adoptions. Romania banned international adoptions of children in June 2001 under pressure from the EU that condemned the practice as human trafficking.

The US Mission in Brussels has sent a letter to the Commission, arguing that many families in the US want to adopt Romanian children. The note warns that a continued moratorium on adoptions would “create potential problems in our Congress at the time of congressional debates on Romania’s candidacy for Nato accession”.

International adoptions of Romanian children were banned in June 2001 after the European Parliament adopted a rapport, condemning the practice as a “profitable trade in child trafficking”. Domestic adoptions have increased by 50 percent since the introduction of the moratorium. Whilst international adoptions cost 50,000 US dollars, domestic adoptions are free.

POSITIONS

The special rapporteur of the European Parliament for Romania, Baroness Emma Nicholson,stated recently that Romania has made important progress in addressing the problems attached to "institutionalised children". Mrs Nicholson stated that a recent report on the issue of institutionalised children, drawn up by an independent group charged with reviewing international adoptions, was "probably the most serious and profound" report on this issue.

When Russia invaded Ukraine, the outbreak of war meant a family of foster parents faced indefinite separation from six of their adopted children. Hearing about forced adoptions to Russia, they feared they would never be reunited.

As she was alerted to the invasion, Olga Lopatkina's first thoughts were for her six adopted children who were visiting the seaside, 100km (62 miles) away from home.

They were in a municipal holiday home near the sea, where they had been sent for fresh air and general wellbeing.

It quickly became too dangerous to collect them, with heavy shelling in towns along the route from their home to where the children were.

Olga faced an impossible choice - sending her husband Denis on a perilous drive to rescue them or leaving the children in Mariupol, where they had gone for their break. At that time it still seemed relatively secure.

A senior official from the Department of Social Defence in Tamil Nadu said that non-availability of breast milk is a concern for newborns who are under the care of specialised adoption agencies

The non-availability of breast milk for newborns under the care of specialised adoption agencies in Tamil Nadu is a concern, S. Valarmathi, State’s Director of Social Defence, said here on Saturday.

Inaugurating the fourth edition of “Clinical updates in Indian breastfeeding practice” at SIMS Hospital here, she pointed out that there were many infants who did not have access to breast milk in the roughly 20 specialised adoption agencies under the monitoring of the Department of Social Defence.

Highlighting the importance of breast milk for infants, she asked if any of the organisations and healthcare professionals participating in the conference would be able to help in ensuring access to breast milk for these children.

According to the Social Welfare and Women Empowerment Department, under which the Department of Social Defence functions, 23 specialised adoption agencies are functioning in the State. Orphaned, abandoned or surrendered children are kept under the care of these agencies after they are declared legally free for adoption by the Child Welfare Committees of respective districts.

The adoption of foreign children boomed in the 1960s and 1970s thanks to parental couples fighting for their own happiness and that of the world. At first the government only works against it, but later seems to go to the other extreme.

'It has already been shown several times that false medical certificates regarding birth and false birth certificates are easily available in Uwent.' It is November 20, 1972 when a senior official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs writes this to the Ambassador to Brazil, Barn Leopold Quarles van Ufford.

The reason for this scrubbing, distributed on behalf of Minister Norbert Schmelzer (KVP), is an affair that took place the year before. Then a Dutch couple travels to the southern state of Paraná and has a Brazilian toddler of two months registered there. With the obtained birth certificate, the baby can effortlessly be registered as your own child at the registry office after returning to the Netherlands.

Skip to Content

Paperslip

Trigger Warning

About

About

British couples who travelled to Pakistan to adopt children have been left stranded after the Home Office told them to expect months of delays in processing visas because of the Ukraine refugee crisis.

The delays are part of wider failings in visa processing that have left families around the world stuck waiting to return to the UK.

Zainib* has been in Pakistan’s largest city, Karachi, since November. She told the Guardian that the delays had left her feeling abandoned.

“It’s 37 degrees here, there are shortages of gas and water, and the electricity goes off for several hours a day,” she said. “I’m afraid to go outside because of the kidnapping risk and political instability here.

“I’ve been here since November. Getting our baby took three weeks, then we applied for her visa on 18 January. Initially, the Home Office told us it would be 12 weeks – that was 21 weeks ago.

The Centre is soon going to make it mandatory to clear adoption requests within two months, a change that will bring succour to prospective parents who have to wait for years looking to adopt.

The changes will be brought about in the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Model

Rules, which will soon be notified, DH has learnt. The Rules, which were due for an amendment after

the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Amendment Act was amended in 2021, will be

notified soon.