One woman's story of not wanting to have a relationship with her biological daughter sparked a conversation on social media about the challenges that arise with adoptions.

Shared in Reddit's "Am I the A**hole" forum by the anonymous user u/unwantedchoice_78, the post amassed over 6,000 upvotes and 1,200 comments at the time of writing.

Specifically, u/unwantedchoice_78 wrote about her experience with a "closed" adoption—one where "the adoptive family and the birth parents will never have to see each other again," and the child has no contact with their biological parents. Today, closed adoptions are relatively rare, consisting of only about five percent of all modern adoptions.

In her post, the self-identified 38-year-old woman explains that at the age of 15, she had a baby who she gave up in a closed adoption. "I don't want children and was made to birth her after becoming pregnant," she wrote.

But recently, her biological daughter, now 23, has attempted to contact her. "I've ... began receiving numerous messages via social media and letters from my bio daughter," wrote the woman.

Last week, a crowdfunding campaign was launched in Ten Boer to reunite Muniz Dekker with his biological family.

More than EUR 750 has now been raised of the intended EUR 5,000. The money must be used to pay for the travel and accommodation that will reunite the 29-year-old Muniz with his biological family, and to continue the search for his still missing brother. The search for his biological family started in the spring of 2021. 27 Years ago Muniz was given up for adoption from Brazil, and ended up in Eenrum. He now knows who his biological mother is, and how old he really is. He also discovered that he has two sisters who were also given up for adoption and who live in the Netherlands.

Muniz is happy that he managed to get so close in his quest. Unfortunately due to setbacks it is impossible to finance the trip independently. More information about the crowdfunding campaign can be found on this page .

Hello my name is Muniz Dekker, 29 years old. Last year I started the search for my biological family. 27 years ago I was given up for adoption from Brazil and I ended up in Eenrum in Groningen. I now know which woman gave birth to me and how old I really am.

My search starts with vlogs on Youtube. As a result, I soon got in touch with people who knew how to make a difference in my search. My search took place from my office converted into a detective room. From here I started networking. (You can follow my story step by step on my Youtube channel. 'Muniz Searching for the truth',)

The Kerala High Court has recently laid down that the Family Court with the respective territorial jurisdiction is empowered to give a child in adoption

After perusing the provisions of the Juvenile Justice Act 2015, the 2014 Rules framed

thereunder and the Adoption Regulations 2017, Justice M.R. Anitha observed:

"In the said circumstance, the finding of the learned District Judge that the court

is not a proper forum and they have to approach the Child Welfare Committee is

LGBTQ+ activists in the country called on the government to extend adoption equality to all same-sex couples

TAIPEI – Weeks after a historic ruling in Taiwan allowing a married gay man to adopt the non-biological child of his husband, LGBTQ+ activists in the country called on the government to extend adoption equality to all same-sex couples.

The family court’s historic Dec. 25 ruling, made public last week, found that it was in the best interest of Wang Chen-wei’s (???) adopted child, nicknamed “Joujou,” for his husband Chen Chun-ju (???) to become a legal guardian, as well.

It marked the first time in Taiwan that a same-sex couple has been allowed to adopt a child that didn’t have a biological relationship with either person.

The couple fought for Chen to be able to adopt Joujou for over two years.

'Can you quickly reform a system that has turned out to be rotten for decades,' asks Renate Van Geel on the eve of the hearings on the theme that will be organized in the Flemish parliament this week. 'Why do the adoptees themselves and the parents from the sending countries have so little to say?'

At the beginning of December, the new decision framework for intercountry adoption, intended to strengthen ties with the sending countries, was approved by the Flemish government. This framework can provide a slightly hopeful starting point for the reform of intercountry adoption. Everything will depend on how this policy framework is further specified and implemented. The success of this policy framework can only be measured by its effects at the micro level, namely in the opportunities it brings for children and their families in the sending countries, in respecting their rights and whether they perceive this reform as an added value. Something to which intercountry adoption has contributed nothing in the past 60 years.

Hearing days are still scheduled for January in the Committee on Welfare, Public Health and Family. So-called stakeholders (and stakeholders?) can share their experience and vision with the committee members. Each group could invite those involved to do so. Although we have read and heard rumbling statements in recent months about the interest of the child and the interest of the adoptee, I note that there are exactly two adoptees who are given speaking space. Adoption services, adoptive parents and candidate adopters do get, as is 'good' custom, a podium in the form of several people to defend their 'interests'. They even looked across the border to give a Dutch adoptive mother the floor.

Intercountry adoption reform: when will the government dare to look into its own pockets?

It would be interesting to ask the young respondents from that study again about their experience in 10 to 20 years' time. What irks me even more, if anything, is the fact that no parent (originally) has even been nominated and there is therefore no one to represent them in an important political forum where input is given on the future of intercountry adoption in Flanders.

Meet Jim De, Holt’s new India country director! From caring for foster children in his childhood home, to finding families for children orphaned by the 2004 tsunami, to greeting Holt adoptive families at the Delhi airport, he has always followed his life’s passion — advocating for his country’s orphaned and abandoned children.

It was 2:00 a.m. and 7-year-old Jim De sat awake in his home with his mother. She changed a baby’s diaper while he held another one in his arms, feeding her a bottle of formula. Tonight was their turn for “night duty,” a task in which they stayed up all night to care for the 30-40 children living in the care center that the De family ran out of their home. Jim and his mother were on night duty about once a week — and he loved it!

“I was very excited about doing that kind of stuff,” Jim says now, during his visit from India to Holt’s headquarters in Eugene, Oregon. “It was so much fun to stay up all night — but by 4:00 in the morning, you were out!”

Throughout his years growing up in India, serving children — growing up with them as friends and welcoming them into his home as family — was a normal part of his life. Jim’s father worked as treasurer for the Church of North India and his mother was involved with child welfare organizations. What started as his family fostering just one child — Tom, who needed somewhere to stay while his international adoption was finalized — soon turned into the De family fostering many children out of their home and eventually opening up an official care center for these children.

“They were my friends,” Jim says. “For us, it was exciting! There was always a new child in the house, a new friend — we always welcomed them.”

Around the world, over 80 percent of children in orphanages have at least one living parent. So how do these children end up in orphanages rather than with their families? Unfortunately, there are countless families across the globe who face circumstances like the death of a parent, the loss of a job, or conflict that that threaten to separate them.

People like Gladys know that firsthand. When Gladys suddenly lost both her husband and brother in a short period of time, she found herself caring for seven children; alone, with no income.

Many parents who find themselves without support from family or friends are faced with a series of impossible choices. Out of desperation, some families believe they have no alternative but to place their children in the care of an orphanage where they will have food and shelter. But institutions like orphanages are not equipped to provide the individual love, care, and sense of belonging that only a family can offer. The parents and children experience significant loss from family separation in addition to the grief and trauma they have already experienced.

At a time when her children and her brother’s children were already suffering the loss of their fathers, Gladys did not want them to suffer again or risk losing them forever by placing them in the care of an orphanage. A local district government referred her to the family preservation and empowerment program run by Bethany Christian Services in Ghana, aimed at helping families stay together and keeping children out of institutions.

Through the program, social workers walked alongside Gladys and the children, offering connections to direct services as well as mental health support while they continued to cope with the death of their loved ones. Gladys initially received financial support and access to services to meet the family’s immediate, critical needs including food, medical care, and payment of school fees. Next, the program helped her become financially self-sufficient through business training opportunities that she could access while caring for the children.

If biological babies are not on the cards – sometimes it’s a choice one makes – adoption could be. But, taking on a child not biologically yours can prove challenging. We asked the experts about things to consider before making that commitment. Here’s what they had to say.

1. Why do you want a child? Lavina Ahuja, clinical psychologist at the German Neuroscience Center, says both partners need to think about this. Why do you want to adopt? Is it because you want a child or because you want to be parent? Or is it because you feel it will change your dynamics or relationship with the world?

2. Mourning: Asma Geitany, Clinical Psychologist at Openminds center, says: “In case of infertility, have you and your partner, grieved the chance of having a biological child?” Finding closure isn’t easy, but it is important when it comes to de-clogging your mind and heart and making space for a new person.

3. Biological hang-ups: she adds, “Can you share your love with a kid who is not biologically yours?”

4. Consider past traumas: Can you provide a safe and stable environment? Ask yourself, says Geitany, “How are you as a person, psychologically? Do you have any trauma from your past which have a huge negative impact on your life? Is your relationship with your partner stable? You have a welcoming family-oriented relationship?”

Jaipur: Even as the international adoption increased steadily from 2019 to 2021, the overall adoption of children from government Shishu Grah in city went down marginally in the same period.

While in 2019, only one child was adopted by international citizens, in 2021, total eight children were adopted by foreigners. Officials claimed that international citizens were open to the idea of adopting special children while Indians were not. In 2019, a total of 27 children were adopted which came down to 24 in 2020. Out of which four were international adoptions, while in 2021, 20 children were adopted.

Panwar Kiran, superintendent, Gandhinagar Shishu Grah, elaborating on this trend, said, “The number of international adoptions did go up in the past two years as people from abroad are keen to adopt even special children. This might be because the medical facilities abroad are possibly better and more importantly the international governments bear their medical expenses so it makes it somewhat easier.”

The adoptions are processed through Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) which is a statutory body of Ministry of Women & Child Development, Government of India. It functions as the nodal body for adoption of Indian children and is mandated to monitor and regulate in-country and inter-country adoptions. CARA is designated as the Central authority to deal with inter-country adoptions in accordance with the provisions of the Hague Convention on Inter-country Adoption, 1993, ratified by Government of India in 2003. CARA primarily deals with adoption of orphan, abandoned and surrendered children through its associated /recognised adoption agencies.

Most of the adoptions were of girl children which included both domestic and international adoptions. In the latter, people from countries like Spain, Canada and others adopted children from India.

The Stormont Executive must take urgent action to move towards a public inquiry into the mother and baby homes scandal.

Sinead McLaughlin, chair of the Assembly committee which monitors the Executive Office, said a decision must be made on appointing a lead civil servant as well as the structure and framework for the way forward.

Executive officials are due to appear before the scrutiny committee in the next few weeks after ministers were told they must “come down hard” on those who ran the homes.

SDLP Foyle MLA Ms McLaughlin said: “It is over to us and the Executive Office to make sure that we do you justice and that your truth is told.”

Her promise came as Eunan Duffy, of the campaign group Truth Recovery NI, said it was difficult to gauge how many victims of the institutions there are but there were estimates that 10,500 women went through the mother and baby homes.