Krushna and his family members could barely recognise Mamina till she narrated, through a lawyer, that she was his biological daughter.

PHULBANI: When 29-year-old Mamina met Krushna Chandra Rana on Tuesday, it seemed like Saroo Brierley's memoir 'A Long Way Home' - later adapted into the heart-warming Hollywood film 'Lion' - had come alive in Kandhamal's remote Gujapanga village.

Krushna and his family members could barely recognise Mamina till she narrated, through a lawyer, that she was his biological daughter. The emotions that followed were a blend of disbelief and ecstasy. The 29-year-old woman had traveled all the way from Belgium to trace her family in the small village under Raikia block. And it took the story 29 years back in time.

She was all of three months when a Belgian couple adopted her in 1993. Krushna had lost his wife and worried about raising the baby, he left her in custody of Subhadra Mahatab Seva Sadan, a childcare centre at G.Udayagiri, hoping she would get a better life.

Destiny had other plans and a couple of Belgium legally adopted Mamina and took her to their country where she grew up to become a software engineer and married a Belgian. Though Mamina cannot speak Odia, she has retained her original name.

The story of Mamina getting separated from her family is equally moving.

The scenes unfolded at Gujapanga village under Raikia block in Kandhamal district after Mamina, who stays in Belgium, met her family members, relatives after long 30 years seem to be straight out of typical Bollywood family reunion scenes.

The story of Mamina getting separated from her family is equally moving.

Cut to 30 years back when Mamina was born as the fifth child to Krushnachandra Rana at Gujapanga village. Unfortunately, she was barely three months old and not even able to recognise her parents when her mother left for her heavenly abode.

As if it was not enough, Mamina’s father had to leave her at Subhadra Mahatab Ashram located at G Udayagiri. He had to take this decision to save her life as then it was an uphill task for him to feed six empty stomachs.

NEW DELHI: From promoting family-based non-institutional care for children in difficult situations to creation of “Cradle Baby Reception Centres” for receiving abandoned babies vulnerable to trafficking, the new guidelines of the goverment’s ‘Mission Vatsalya’ lays out a roadmap for child protection for future. That includes the role of the district magistrate who will be responsible for ensuring execution of the “mission” at the district level.

The restructuring of the existing helpline for children ‘1098-Childline’ that has been in the works for long in the WCD ministry appears imminent now. While the guidelines make no mention of the existing helpline number and its future, it states in a section on child helpline that “Mission Vatsalya” in partnership with states and districts will execute a 24x7 helpline service for children and it will be integrated with the Emergency Response Support System 112 (ERSS-112) helpline of MHA.

Also, an Integrated Home Complex of child care institutions called Vatsalya Sadan shall be located within single premises for implementation of the Juvenile Justice Act.

Besides this the Mission envisages setting up ‘Cradle Baby Reception Centres’ fully equipped to care for infants in at least one specialised adoption agency (SAA) per district. Their objective shall be to rescue the abandoned children and look after them till they are adopted. Also each SAA shall install one cradle with an alarm bell at the doorstep to receive abandoned babies.

The WCD ministry said the mission seeks to promote family-based non-institutional care of children in difficult circumstances based on the principle of their institutionalisation as a measure of last resort.

In 2020 the European Commission put forward a proposal to “ensure that parenthood, as established in one EU country, is recognized throughout the EU so that children maintain their rights in cross-border situations, in particular when their families travel or move within the EU.” When the Commission consulted associations and citizens, it stated that the initiative is not intended to harmonize national legislation for establishing parenthood.

Indeed, each Member State has national competence for establishing filiation. However, a recent decision of the European Court of Justice appears to circumvent Member State legislation, under the guise of freedom of movement within the EU, without blatantly requiring the Member States to establish filiation that it has no intention of recognizing.

This judgment concerns a case where two women got married under Spanish law – one Bulgarian and the other a resident of Gibraltar – and a child born in Spain, the country that issued the birth certificate registering both of them as mothers. According to Spanish law, a child cannot be issued Spanish nationality if neither of the parents is Spanish. On the other hand, Bulgarian law grants de facto Bulgarian citizenship if one of the parents has Bulgarian nationality. However, Bulgaria does not recognize same-sex marriages, therefore its administration could not issue the birth certificate. Hence the resulting imbroglio for establishing identity documents for the child. In its decision, the European Court ordered the Bulgarian authorities “to issue a Bulgarian identity card or passport, listing the child’s surname as indicated on the Spanish birth certificate, regardless of the dispute over establishing a new birth certificate”. The Court has declared that such a document, on its’ own or together with a document issued by the host Member State, must ensure “the child’s right to free movement, with each of his two mothers, whose status as parents of that child has been established by the host Member State”, (referring to the Directive https://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2004:229:0035:0048:fr:PDF on the right of EU citizens and their family members to move and reside freely throughout the territory).

Currently, since Member States retain national authority for establishing filiation, it is crucial that these disputes be assessed on a case-by-case basis.

Alliance VITA issued a recommendation, as an answer to the consultation of the European Commission, to warn against systematically recognizing filiations within the EU while maintaining the principle of subsidiarity for Member States in this matter. Such practices could put children in increasing jeopardy due to the acceleration in the reproductive business and the risk of human trafficking.

ADOPTION

Mangelware Kind

22.07.1958, 13.00 Uhr • aus DER SPIEGEL 30/1958

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Five 'metis women' - all children of Congolese mothers and Belgian fathers - are appealing a ruling by the Brussels civil court that the Belgian state is not guilty of crimes against humanity.

The civil court of Brussels acquitted the Belgian state in December in the trial of the metis children. Five women had charged Belgium with crimes against humanity. Between 1948 and 1961, numerous metis were kidnapped by colonial officials. They often forced the mothers to say goodbye to their child and the children were placed in orphanages or missions. According to the judge, it is not about crimes against humanity, and the case is also time-barred.

The five women are appealing the ruling. The case has been brought before the Brussels Court of Appeal. A calendar has yet to be established later.

The case also interests the special committee that investigates the Belgian colonial past in the House. One of the lawyers of the five metis children, Michèle Hirsch, will be heard on Monday in the Commission, which has meanwhile started work on rectifying the mistakes of the colonial period. She pleaded for reparations in court in December.

In 2018, Charles Michel, as Prime Minister, on behalf of the Belgian state, apologized to the metis children of Congo, Rwanda and Burundi.

Our oldest son, Samuel (10), was five weeks old when we picked him up from Chicago. Last summer we went back to his hometown for the first time. Very exciting, how would it go? There was a meeting with his birth mother and a goodbye. It went well, it turned out to be a dream trip.

More than ten years ago, we were preparing for an open adoption, where we would keep in touch with the biological mother of our child. Every year we sent photos and letters to Samuel's birth mother in the US. No response, unfortunately. When we asked about it, Samuel replied that he would like to meet her.

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We have told Samuel from infancy that he was born of different parents, and that through adoption he became our child forever. Samuel is brown. My husband, our two youngest children and I are light pink-beige. People often ask, “Are those your kids?” “Yes”, I smile pityingly. “All three?” “Yes, all three.”

We tried to teach Samuel about African-American culture, but we didn't know his birth mother. In the summer of 2010 we found her on Facebook. We asked through the adoption agency if she wanted to contact us. She replied, "I think about you daily, I love you, I will think about it, thank you, you are a blessing in disguise . " After a few months, Samuel said disappointed: "She must think very long."

Jagatsinghpur, June 23: An adopted son and daughter have allegedly killed their mother over illicit affair between them at Bandar village in Jagatsinghpur on Tuesday.

Bandar police has seized the woman’s body wrapped with polythene bag and nabbed the two accused from the spot.

The deceased has been identified as Rumila Kandi(60) whereas the two accused are Rajesh Kandi and his beloved one.

Sources said, Rumila Knandi had adopted Rajesh Kandi as her son. However, one of Rumila’s married daughters was staying with her since long.

Meanwhile, Rumila spotted the illegal affairs between Rajesh and her daughter and opposed it strongly. As a result, Rajesh and his lover decided to get rid of Rumila.

While helping Peruvian police with an investigation in the early hours of the morning, forensic genetics expert José Lorente was struck by the sight of children milling around in the streets of the country’s capital without their families.

“I asked the police what the children were doing up so late,” he said. “Some were lost, some had disappeared, they said, but there was nothing they could do to identify them. This got me thinking.”

Professor Lorente wondered if DNA could help reunite these children with their families – and the idea for DNA-ProKids was born.

The programme uses our unique genetic footprint to trace thousands of missing children around the world. Some have been stolen from their parents and trafficked for sex or as slave labour, others sold in illegal adoptions, and some lost in hospital mix-ups.

Now, 20 years after Professor Lorente’s flash of inspiration, DNA-ProKids works with governments in Peru, Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Paraguay, Thailand, Brazil, India and Malaysia.

On May 28, 2021, NCFA met via video conference with several African country adoption authority representatives to discuss transparent and ethical intercounty adoptions. I am currently a NCFA intern focused on communications and intercountry adoption policy, so I was very grateful to be invited to join the meeting to observe and learn, and to share a little bit about my family’s experience with intercountry adoption from an African country.

Meridian International Center arranged the meeting with representatives from Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Madagascar, Republic of Congo, Senegal, South Africa, Togo, and Zambia. The virtual meeting centered around the emotional, physical, and psychological benefits of family permanency, misconceptions about intercountry adoption, and the foundations for an ethical adoption program.

NCFA’s Director of Strategic Initiatives and Communications, Kristen Hamilton, began by reviewing the trends in intercountry adoption and why a strong adoption program is vital. Unfortunately, in recent years, intercountry adoption has significantly declined worldwide, while millions of children remain vulnerable or institutionalized globally. Adoption provides children and youth with the opportunity to achieve family permanency so that they can become healthy, thriving members of society.

NCFA President Chuck Johnson provided an overview of the Child Welfare Continuum, explaining that the continuum of care for a child does not begin with intercountry adoption. Ideally, the child could be reunified with a birthparent or a biological family member. If neither of those options are available, domestic adoption becomes an option. Finally, a child can be adopted by a family outside their country of birth. This range of care works best when there is common recognition that family permanency is always in the child’s best interest and should be the driving goal for all decisions.

Research has consistently shown myriad detrimental effects on children, who live in institutions and group care, including negatives impacts on their physical growth, emotional developments, and language acquisition. Inadequate caregiver attention delays or weakens children’s behavioral and social competencies. While group homes and orphanages can supply a child’s basic needs, they lack the resources to provide the type of nurture and attachment that only a permanency family unit can provide. Even with the best intentions, the majority of children living outside permanent, parental care experience a cycle of neglect and impaired development. Conversely, a permanent family, properly trained and supported, allows children the stability and care to thrive and grow.