Dear PAO,

I am 16 years old, and I just discovered that I have a brother who is an illegitimate child of my father. He is almost the same age as me. His mother recently died, and now my father wants to make up for the years he wasn't able to be a father to his illegitimate child. My father is convincing my mother to jointly adopt his illegitimate child to give him a chance of having a whole family. However, this is a lot to process. I cannot believe that after all these years of being an only legitimate child, I have a brother. This may sound selfish but if my parents proceed with the adoption, do I have any right to say no?

Emmanuel

Dear Emmanuel,

With regard to your concern, Section 23 of Republic Act (RA) 11642 or the "Domestic Administrative Adoption and Alternative Child Care Act" provides:

NO KIDDING My terminally ill sister has asked me to adopt her three kids – people think I’m selfish for refusing but it’s MY life

PICTURE the scene - you've barely spoken to your sister in 10 years when she gets in contact to say she's suffering with a terminal illness.

And if that wasn't a big bombshell, she's also asking you to legally adopt her three kids - who you've never met - when she passes away.

If you found yourself in this scenario, would you A. agree to anything she asks out of sympathy or B. put your own happiness first?

Well one woman who is facing this dilemma in real life has sparked fierce debate online after admitting she's opted for the latter option.

The Ohio Supreme Court has ruled that a man can fight the adoption of his children, even though he killed their mother.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — An Ohio father can fight the adoption of the children whose mother he killed, after a divided state Supreme Court said there was a good reason he hadn't been in touch with them since the slaying: He was following a judge's order not to contact them.

Under Ohio law, parental consent is not required for adoptions if proof exists that a parent had little or no contact with the child for at least one year before the filing of adoption papers.

In the current case, the father had previously lost his attempts to block the adoption of his daughters by the girls’ maternal grandparents, who took custody of the children after their mother was killed. An appeals court agreed the father couldn’t use his imprisonment to justify his failure to contact the children, since his actions led to the prison sentence.

Then in 2019, the state Supreme Court ruled in a different case that a woman couldn't stop the father of their child, who was not paying child support, from objecting to the child's adoption by her new husband. The reason: The father was following a court order that eliminated his responsibility for support payments, an order requested by the mother.

The Allahabad High Court has observed that for adopting a child, a marriage certificate is not a sina-quo-non and even a single parent can adopt a child under the Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act, 1956.The Bench of Justice Dr. Kaushal Jayendra Thaker and Justice Vivek Varma observed thus while dealing with a plea filed by a Transgender person and her husband who sought a direction upon the...

HB22-1153

Affirm Parentage Adoption In Assisted Reproduction

Concerning affirming parentage by adoption for a person who did not give birth when the child is conceived as a result of assisted reproduction.

SESSION: 2022 Regular Session

SUBJECT: Children & Domestic Matters

A Texas couple marooned in a blizzard of Ukrainian bureaucracy narrowly escaped the embattled nation this week — with their newly-adopted son near death and thousands of Russian troops massed at the border.

Four-year-old Ruslan, who Kelci and Theron Jagge saved from a Dickensian orphanage in Eastern Ukraine, was suffering from severe pneumonia and malnourishment as they frantically tried to get him back to their native San Antonio.

“If we had been stuck there one day more, I don’t know if he would have made it,” new mom Kelci Jagge, 33, told The Post.

Ruslan, who has cerebral palsy and has required a feeding tube, was also suffering severe withdrawal symptoms after being treated with opioids by the orphanage.

“He never cried. Later we realized it was because he was sedated,” Kelci Jagge said.

NAVI MUMBAI: The Nerul Police have arrested a husband-wife duo staying on the pavement outside Nerul railway station for allegedly selling their two newborn girls to two women for Rs 90,000 each in 2019. A complaint was lodged on Wednesday after a legal officer who learnt about the "illegal" adoption alerted the police.

A police officer also said that they have learnt that the parents had similarly sold their newborn son or given him up for adoption earlier.

The two buyer women, aged 60 years and 35 residing in Belapur and Mankhurd have been made accused persons in the case for allegedly illegally adopting the newborns.

API Rajendra Ghevdekar said, "As of now, we have arrested only the accused couple for selling their newborn girls. The two women who purchased the newborns have not been arrested but served a notice due to which they will have to remain present in court when summoned."

Ghevdekar further said, "The incident came to light after the Child Protection Officer of Thane district's Women and Child Development department, Thane, lodged a complaint at Nerul police station on Wednesday. The mother of the newborns revealed the name the buyer from Belapur who had bought the infant for Rs 90,000. The mother claimed that her husband had sold the newborn to the Belapur woman as they needed money and were unable to feed their four other children.

Arrested include the mother and a couple from Madurai

Virudhunagar District Police have arrested nine persons in connection with illegal sale of a one-year-old baby girl on Thursday.

The police said besides the baby’s mother, grandfather and a childless couple from Madurai who adopted it, two of their relatives and three persons offering matrimonial service — Karthik, Maheswari and Nandakumar, all from Erode district — were arrested.

The police said the baby’s mother lost her husband sometime back. As she was raising the baby with her family’s support, her family members started looking for an alliance for her second marriage.

“It was then that Karthik, who was approached for the alliance, reportedly told the woman’s father that it would be difficult to find an alliance for a woman with a child. He advised them to sell the baby,” a police officer said.

"The transition of CCIs to FBC helps promote the NGO sector. There are some great ideas coming from the workshop which will strengthen family services access"

Vikas Sawant, UNICEF

On Thursday 27 February 2020, a unique event took place in Pune: an immersive simulation lab that allowed child protection allies in Maharashtra a hands-on look at transitioning from a system relying on child care institutions (CCIs; orphanages) to a system based on a range of family-based care (FBC) and family strengthening services. This was the first pilot of this conference model in South Asia and our report below shows it to have been a huge success!

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Snehalaya's credibility allowed us to approach the Maharashtra Commission for Protection of Child Rights (MSCPCR) and secure Chair, Pravin Ghuge’s support. Another important party in this venture was Children’s Emergency Relief International (CERI)’s Global Director of Advocacy, Ian Forber-Pratt, who is one of the people involved in drafting the guidelines for FBC at the national and state level. Mr Forber-Pratt has been providing Snehalaya with guidance on the move towards family-based care over the preceding 18 months.

https://www.unicef.org/eca/media/19756/file/UNICEF-DataCare%20Policy%20Brief.pdf