GRAND RAPIDS, MI – The attorney for a couple whose adopted 3-year-old son is at the center of a legal fight told state Supreme Court justices that the family is the only one he knows.

Attorney Liisa Speaker said that the boy, who is nearly 4, must stay with his adoptive parents. They have the same rights as any biological parents, she said.

“They are his family,” she said.

The court is reviewing an appeals court finding that birth father Peter Kruithoff’s parental rights were wrongly terminated – potentially giving him a chance at obtaining custody.

Justice Richard Bernstein said: “This is a very difficult case.”

Susanne Sahlgren has been adopted from Greenland, but people's prejudices made Susanne distance herself from her origins. Until she received a letter from her biological sister.

- Where are you from?

Or worse:

- Do you drink?

55-year-old Susanne Sahlgren has no figures on how many times she has been asked those questions.

Scandal at Foster Parents Netherlands

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newspaper

Publisher / broadcaster

The standard

If the Democratic Republic of Congo is better known for its political instability and its incessant wars, in particular, in the east of the country, there is one of the terrible consequences of which we speak little, it is the trafficking of minor children.

There are countless children reported missing in the DRC to date. Worse, the authorities do not seem to be taking drastic measures to fight against this scourge which nevertheless affects many countries in sub-Saharan Africa. But foreign networks (homosexuals and pedophiles) act discreetly and with impunity, with the complicity of the Congolese, attracted by the sums of money offered. They organize human trafficking, children, in this case, for wealthy Western clients.

In 2013, around 20 children aged 2 months to 5 years were found in an orphanage in Mbuji-Mayi, capital of the eastern province of the DRC, by residents who ransacked the place. They suspected the “pseudo” orphanage of selling children to gay Americans, cover from an NGO called FAGEDAS.

Seven supervisors of this orphanage had been arrested, while the representatives of the NGO are still not found.

Another terrible affair that began in 2015. A dozen Congolese children aged 3 or 4 had been taken from their biological parents, supposedly sent to summer camp by the NGO Planet Junior. In reality, they had been sent to an orphanage in Kinshasa, before being put up for adoption in Belgium with false papers. At least 3 children were affected in Belgium.

SINGAPORE: Four years ago, Mr Christophe Montane welcomed an adopted baby into his family – only to have the child taken away after 10 days.

Speaking to CNA about changes to adoption laws that were tabled in Parliament recently, Mr Montane was emotional as he recounted his family's ordeal.

A permanent resident who has lived in Singapore for about eight years, he and his wife went through months of applications and a home study before qualifying to adopt a local child.

The newborn came to live with them before the adoption was formalised. It was the “greatest joy”, he said, and he didn’t think too much about the paperwork at that point.

Then five days later, the birth mother texted Mr Montane saying that there was a “problem” with the payments to the hospital where she gave birth. But there were no issues with the payment, he said.

BIOETHICS PROJECT

Cloning

Egg Bank

Embryo Adoption

Embryonic Stem Cell Research

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International Agreements

IAVAAN seeks to support the drafting, implementation and the improvement of various international agreements which have as their goal the betterment of conditions and services for children and families. A listing of international agreements IAVAAN is presently focusing on appears below.

Hague Conventions

United Nations Conventions

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Background

IAVAAN was founded in 1991 as an international NGO. Beginning in 2001, because of interest expressed by groups and individuals in a number of countries in having their own national "Committees" for IAVAAN, work was done to restructure IAVAAN and to provide for the creation of these Committees. The first Committee to be organized was the U.S.A. Committee for IAVAAN, which held its initial organizing meeting and elected its officers in Washington, D.C. on March 28, 2001. Committees are in formation or being considered in each of the following locations. Groups or individuals domiciled outside the U.S.A. should contact the USA Committee in the interim, and they will be put in touch with the appropriate organizers by USA Committee volunteers or staff.

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Country Affiliates

History Fiom

Fiom stands for freedom of choice in the event of an unwanted pregnancy and for the right to parentage information. The current Fiom organization originated from many predecessors and has existed since 1930.

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