When Robert Joseph Taylor was a young child, he had a familial relationship with a child his aunt had taken in as her own. The child’s name was Pat. A friend had put Pat in the care of Taylor’s aunt because she wasn’t able to raise her herself.

Taylor grew up referring to Pat as his cousin, though they weren’t blood-related. And they shared all of the things families share together: vacations, meals, family ceremonies. It wasn’t until very recently that Taylor discovered the whole story.

“I [had] a cousin that I knew all my life was my cousin but turns out she’s really [wasn’t]. She was more of a play-cousin,” Taylor said.

“Pat passed away recently in her late 70s,” he said, “and it’s only a few years ago [that I asked] Pat how we are related. And then she explained it.”

Taylor is the Harold R. Johnson Endowed Professor of Social Work at the University of Michigan, and for years he’s studied informal social support networks among African Americans. According to data Taylor reviewed from the National Survey of American Life, the vast majority of African Americans reported having at least one fictive kin relationship — that is, a relationship with at least one individual who was unrelated by blood or marriage but was regarded as a relative. Taylor said fictive kinship networks have been shown to be key sources of social and economic capital for many African Americans.

New legislation guarantees adopted people the right to obtain their birth certificates

Joan McDermott, who grew up in Mitchelstown, Co Cork, fought for 16 years to track down her firstborn son, to whom she had given birth at the Bessborough mother and baby home in Cork when she was just 17.

The two finally met in 2015 when he was 47 years old.

“I will never forget it. Within an hour of meeting him he said: ‘How old am I really?’” McDermott, who now lives in Midleton, told The Irish Times.

Expressing “elation” at the legislation to guarantee adopted people the right to their birth certificates, she said her son had told her that he had spent a decade unsuccessfully trying to track her down.

President Rodrigo Duterte has signed the law on Domestic Administrative Adoption and Alternative Child Care, Malacañang announced Thursday.

The new law, numbered Republic Act 11642, creates the National Authority for Child Care, which will have original and exclusive jurisdiction over all matters pertaining to alternative child care, including declaring a child legally available for adoption; domestic administrative adoption; adult adoption; foster care under Republic Act No. 10165 or the Foster Care Act of 2012; adoptions under Republic Act No. 11222 or Simulated Birth Rectification Act; and inter-country adoption under Republic Act No. 8043 or the Inter­ Country Adoption Act of 1995.

Likewise, the NACC, which will be under the jurisdiction of the Department of Social Welfare and Development, will also have the authority to impose penalties in case of any violation of the new law.

"The NACC should ensure that the petitions, and all other matters involving alternative child care, including the issuance of Certification Declaring a Child Legally Available for Adoption (CDCLAA) and the process of domestic and inter-country adoption, foster care, kinship care, family-like care, or residential care are simple, expeditious, and inexpensive, and will redound to the best interest of the child involved," the law, signed by the President last January 6 but only released on January 13, stated.

"Towards this end, the NACC Council will act as the policy-making body and when convened as such, as an en banc appeals committee for contested denials of petitions issued by the Executive Director or the Deputy Director for Services," it added.

The newly created National Authority for Child Care (NACC) will soon take over the handling of all government matters related to childcare and adoption.

This after Duterte finally signed Republic Act (RA) 11642, or the Domestic Administrative Adoption and Alternative Child Care Act last week, which created the new quasi-judicial agency.

In the House of Representatives, Northern Samar Rep. Paul R. Daza, principal author of the bill, said about 1.8 million Filipino children, who are waiting for loving homes, will benefit from the signing of the new law. The new legislation, he added, finally resolves the problem on abandoned and neglected children who are waiting to be adopted.

“I’m calling on prospective adoptive parents; I enjoin you to give a life-changing chance for children who have long been waiting for the fulfillment of their dreams to have families!” Daza said.

The NACC will take over the previous function of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and the Inter-Country Adoption Board (ICAB) relating to alternative childcare and adoption.

The High Court has formally approved the adoption of a non-national teenager to the woman who had cared for the child for many years after the teen’s birth mother died.

The adoption approval was granted by Mr Justice Max Barrett who in a written judgement said while case arose from sad and tragic beginning it was “one of those life-affirming cases” which sometimes crop before the courts that suggest that goodness and happiness were still abundant in the world.

The judge said he was making the order without the child’s father having being consulted about the proposed adoption. This was because the despite extensive efforts the identity of the teen’s father remains unknown, and was therefore not possible to contact them.

The child cannot be identified for legal purposes.

The court heard that the teen, when very young, came to Ireland with the child’s non-national mother over a decade ago. However shortly after their arrival in Ireland, the minor’s mother died after giving birth to another child. Tragically, the newborn infant also died, the court also noted.

Wang Chen-wei and Chen Chun-ju sign papers after ruling allows Chen to register as parent alongside Wang

Helen Davidson in Taipei

@heldavidson

Thu 13 Jan 2022 13.17 GMT

A married same-sex couple have become the first in Taiwan to legally adopt a child neither of them are related to, after they challenged local laws in court.

The report "Racism, discrimination and belonging among foreign adoptees" shows that half of Norwegian foreign adoptees experience being discriminated against.

On 15 November, the research report "Racism, discrimination and belonging among foreign adoptees" was launched. The report from NIBR shows that half of Norwegian foreign adoptees have experienced differential treatment due to their appearance or adoptive background.

NIBR has examined foreign adoptees' experiences of racism and discrimination, how they understand and define this, and what strategies they use to deal with situations where they encounter racism, discrimination and discrimination. In addition, the study has explored how foreign adoptees experience their belonging to Norway, to their country of birth and to the family in Norway.

- Most of the people we have spoken to emphasize the need to tell as soon as possible that they have been adopted, so that people will understand that they are not immigrants. Not because they themselves have anything against immigrants, but because they know that this group is met with discriminatory attitudes, said researcher Tone Maia Liodden during the report launch.

The researchers behind the report are Mariann Stærkebye Leirvik, Vilde Hernes, Tone Maia Liodden and Kristian Rose Tronstad.

Under-fire social services being probed over Star Hobson's murder pay out five-figure settlement over botched adoption that left boy with a 'family waiting for him' in long-term foster care

Caring parents Sonny and Sarita Simak spent three years fighting for the boy

They were told he could go back to them but then Bradford Council made U-turn

The Simaks took legal action and the council settled with them a five-figure sum

The council that missed numerous chances to stop tiny Star Hobson being murdered by her evil 'stepmother' have been ordered to make a 'very significant' payout to a couple they wrongly deprived of their child.

FAYETTEVILLE -- The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday affirmed the sentencing of an adoption attorney who ran a human trafficking ring in which he paid pregnant women from the Marshall Islands to come to the United States and give up their babies.

Paul Petersen, of Mesa, Ariz., received a prison sentence of six years and two months from U.S. District Judge Timothy L. Brooks in December 2020. Brooks also levied a $100,000 fine on Petersen.

Petersen appealed both the sentence and the fine, arguing Brooks shouldn't have gone above the sentencing guideline ranges. A three-judge panel said both the sentence and fine were reasonable.

Brooks found the guidelines "failed to adequately account for Petersen's role as an attorney and public official, his role as a leader and organizer of the offense, and the duration of his crime," according to the opinion. "The district court did not commit a clear error of judgment."

Peterson was federally indicted in October 2019, accused of running the baby-selling operation in three states: Arkansas, Arizona and Utah.

A couple have received an apology and a "very significant" financial payout from a council over a failed adoption.

Sonny and Sarita Simak spent three years fighting to be reunited with a boy they planned to adopt after he was wrongly removed by Bradford Council.

They were approved by an independent expert and two adoption panels - but the council then told them he wasn't suitable for adoption.

The council said it put the "interests and wellbeing" of children at its core.

The young boy was a toddler when he was first placed with the Simaks. He is now going to school and is likely to now stay in long-term foster care.