Giovanna Ricciardi • 3rd+Children’s Rights Specialist at International Social Service (ISS)Children’s Rights Specialist at International Social Service (ISS)1yr • 1 year ago • Visible to anyone on or off LinkedIn

Follow

Last week I was delighted to represent the International Social Service (ISS) GS during the transnational roundtable on hashtag#kafalah in Paris in the framework of the Project FAMIMOVE. Together with Sandrine PEPIT - director of Droit d'Enfance (ISS France)- and Wiem Guedira - legal officer at Droit d'Enfance - FondationMéquignon (ISS France) – we joined the discussions on the challenges regarding the reception of hashtag#kafalah in legal systems that do not foresee this protection measure. Important insights on the Dutch system have been shared by Jolien Janse part of the FAMIMOVE Advisory Board, and the Dutch Central authority, as well as by Cécile Corso on the preparation of hashtag#kafils by the Femmes Informations Juridiques Internationales (FIJI).

This meeting has represented a great opportunity for the International Social Service (ISS) to recall the findings of its 2020 publication 'Kafalah - Preliminary analysis of national and cross-border practices' (available in French and English) and to propose possible avenues to ensure that hashtag#kafalah is indeed a child protection measure respectful of children’s rights, both domestically and across borders.

Thank you Fabienne Jault and Mayela Celis for having the International Social Service (ISS) on board!

Activate to view larger image,

The adopted son of former Kentucky governor Matt Bevin says he was abandoned in Jamaica after being rescued from a school accused of abusing its students. 

During his time in office from 2015 to 2019, the Republican and his wife Glenna often spoke of their four adopted children from Ethiopia and their desire to reform Kentucky's 'broken' adoption and foster care system. 

But one of the couple's adopted sons, 17, has now claimed he was abandoned by the Bevins after being rescued from the Atlantis Leadership Academy for troubled teens in Jamaica in February.

The boy, nicknamed Noah for his privacy, was one of eight American boys aged 14 to 18 who were removed from the school after a surprise inspection uncovered horrific abuse, per authorities.

Noah told The Sunday Times last month that while other parents traveled to Jamaica to pick up their children after the school was raided, the Bevins did not show up and he was made ward of the Jamaican state.

Letter from US Embassy re Zone info for health care worker, relinquishment concerns_Addis Ababa_10-5-11.pdf

The Flemish Centre for Adoption gave Portugal a positive assessment for intercountry adoption in 2023. However, there are quite a few questions to be asked about the Portuguese childcare system and the reason why many are offered for adoption abroad. It seems that especially children with care needs are no longer given a place.

'Our country has a long tradition of residential care,' says Guida Mendes Bernardo, director of SOS Children's Villages in Portugal. 'That is still ingrained, especially in the interior. There is a perception that children, especially those growing up in poverty, are better placed in a facility than staying with their parents, because that would give the child more opportunities.' 

In 2023, according to the Portuguese government, 6,183 children and young people were placed in care, compared to 263 in foster care. This represents 4% of placements. However, experts agree that a foster family is better for a child than a care facility. "We are concerned about how heavily the Portuguese system relies on residential care," warns Nigel Cantwell, an international expert in child protection. He writes this in an analysis by the International Social Service (ISS), an international network of NGOs focusing on children's rights and safety. This analysis was commissioned by the Flemish Centre for Adoption (VCA) in order to decide whether adoptions from Portugal, and a number of other countries, will remain possible in the future.

In response to the UN Guidelines for Child Protection, the southern European country passed a law in December 2023 that requires all large facilities to transform to a smaller, family-oriented model. The new rules stipulate, among other things, that centres may house a maximum of 15 children per ward, and that each child must have a trajectory supervisor . That transition is now in full swing. 

Foster care in its infancy

A woman “stolen” as a child and taken to Australia has revealed how she found her real family five decades later – in just 30 minutes.

Footage captured the moment Ken'Adi Nash screamed for help after a man tried to pull her away from her home.

A couple have spoken out after being tricked by an 'adoption scammer' - who made them believe they were going to become parents to her unborn baby.

Karli Johnson, 34, and husband, Blake, 35, from Nevada, have spent the past five years hoping to adopt a baby girl to complete their family after having two sons.

They were thrilled after being approached by a woman who said she wanted them to adopt her unborn baby girl - and excitedly awaited scan photos and updates on her pregnancy while they decorated the nursery and picked out names.

Britain's first three-parent baby has been born using a groundbreaking IVF procedure.

In the biggest leap forward since IVF itself, the technique, called mitochondrial donation treatment (MDT), protects children from a group of mitochondrial disorders, including muscular dystrophy, which can cause poor growth, muscle weakness, learning disabilities and early death.

These illnesses are inherited through faults in the mother's mitochondria - the tiny 'engine rooms' which power the cells.

• A Chinese-born teen is suing her adoptive parents and several New Hampshire government agencies over years of abuse she suffered in their home 
• Olivia Atkocaitis, 19, claims Thomas and Denise Atkocaitis, kept her in a 'dungeon, forced her to use a toilet as a bucket, and treated her like a slave'
• Olivia was let out of her 8 by 8 foot room only to do chores for the family and the abuse had been reported to school counselors by one of her adopted siblings

By HOPE SLOOP FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

A Chinese-born woman has filed a lawsuit against New Hampshire government agencies and her adoptive parents claiming they used her as a slave and subjected her to confinement and abuse for years. 

Another 237 cases will be looked into by the commission, which had already begun a probe into 34 cases in December 2022

Photos of William Vorhees in Korea that appear in his adoption file (left), and a current photo of him. (courtesy of Vorhees)

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Korea plans to investigate the adoption process in 237 cases between the 1960s and 1990s involving South Korean children suspected of having been adopted overseas under false pretenses.

This second decision to initiate an investigation comes after a prior one made in December of last year. Among those whose adoptions are being investigated is the US citizen William Vorhees, whose story was shared in a recent Hankyoreh report on fraudulent adoptions.

• A harrowing new documentary details an Indiana family's ordeal after suspecting their adopted six-year-old was secretly an adult
• Michael Barnett said he lost everything when he realized Ukrainian dwarf Natalia Grace may have conned her way into his family 
• READ MORE:  Natalia Grace's neighbors claim she ADMITTED trying to murder her adoptive family in 'chilling' conversations

An explosive new documentary into the bizarre tale of Ukrainian dwarf Natalia Grace features her sitting at a table reading a Bible, and telling her adoptive mother she is trying to 'get rid of evil thoughts'.