Having booked her dream vacation to Sri Lanka complete with an Ayurvedic retreat, Olivia Ramya Tanner (above), who grew up in a Zurich suburb, thought it might be fun to use the opportunity to find her birth mother.

This was back in April 2016. The Swiss woman who works for an IT company hired a private investigator to do some advance work. Tanner's sister, Géraldine, who's five years younger and also adopted, joined the search for her own mother.

Two days before they departed, the PI called. He had found Géraldine's mother. A reunion was arranged. He couldn't find any information on Tanner's birth mother, though, so Tanner decided to stop by Ratnapura General Hospital, where she was born, to see what she could find out.

That's when she learned her birth certificate was a fake.

"They told me I wasn't registered there and that the birth certificate wasn't even real," said Tanner. "I was numb."

Information EEG Page ( Page found 1/03/2019 )

Innovative Practices 2015 on Independent Living and Political Participation

Diverting EU funds towards community-based care

The European Expert Group (EEG) includes a wide range of stakeholders, providing training, guidance, and tools to EU officials, political representatives, and governments to inform them about the need of community-based care and the risks of institutional care for persons with disabilities. It has been initiated jointly by Lumos Foundation, European Disability Forum (EDF), Eurochild, Metal Health Europe, Inclusion Europe, UNHCHR, UNICEF, European Network for Independent Living (ENIL), European Social Network, and Coface.

“The EEG’s unique collaborative approach was instrumental in convincing the EU to put a stop to its funds being used on harmful institutions.”

From left to right: Peter Charles, Maria Venezia (Venice) Sto.Tomas, Amelie Saupe, Alice Kahane, Claudia Koch, Seema Mundackal, Martin Essl, Martin Habacher, Michael Fembek, Michael Pichler, Karin Praniess-Kastner, Doris Neuwirth, Thomas H. Butcher, Marina Vaughan-Spitzy, Wilfried Kainz

MARTIN ESSL

Essl Foundation, Klosterneuburg/Austria – Founder of the Essl Foundation

MICHAEL FEMBEK

Essl Foundation, Vienna/Austria – Director of the Zero Project

Elyse Schein and Paula Bernstein lived almost identical lives and followed the exact same career paths - without knowing the other existed.

Two identical twins have told how they were deliberately separated at birth as part of the same vile social experiment that saw a set of triplets ripped apart.

The story of Robert Shafran, Edward Galland and David Kellman, who had no idea they were triplets until a chance encounter at college, was told this week in Channel 4 documentary Three Identical Strangers.

They had been placed in three different homes less than 100 miles apart after prominent child psychologist Dr Peter Neubauer decided to study the effects of separating identical siblings.

But they weren't the only children used as guinea pigs in Neuabauer's cruel study.

Support Amy and her family's future

Amy was adopted in a late age from Ethiopia to Denmark. Donations must secure her a new home and help her get started with her studies.

SHORT DESCRIPTION

Sonntag Pictures is the film company that has been following the adopted girl Amy in her struggle for the past 5 years to recreate the family ties broken in her late adoption from Ethiopia.

We have previously seen that the audience for our films want to donate support to our contributors. It's possible here.

Objectives overview activities of Lions Club Hoevelaken

In addition to supporting a number of national and international Lions actions and projects, the activities of Lions Club Hoevelaken generally have a clear affinity with Hoevelaken itself. Below is an overview of causes that have been supported by Lions Club Hoevelaken over the years.

Children's home "Enfant Haïtien Mon Frére", Haiti

As this project has been campaigned for many years by the Lions in Hoevelaken, below a more detailed report on this project.

The impetus for this large and years-long campaign was a request in 1985 from the Hoevelaken couple Elly and Frans Holten for support of the Children's Home from which they adopted 4 orphans. The entire project has been realized in several phases. Initially, the Children's Home was thoroughly renovated in 1986 with the contributions of Lions Club Hoevelaken.

Today, the Council appointed Eamon Gilmore as EU Special Representative for Human Rights. Mr Gilmore will replace Stavros Lambrinidis, who was appointed in 2012 the first EU Special Representative. Mr Gilmore will take up his duties on 1 March 2019 and has been appointed initially for two years.

The tasks of the Special Representative for Human Rights are to enhance the effectiveness and visibility of EU human rights policy. The Special Representative has a broad, flexible mandate, which provides the possibility of adapting to evolving geopolitical circumstances. The Special Representative will work closely with the European External Action Service, which will provide full support to his work.

As former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ireland, Eamon Gilmore had government responsibility for the implemention of the Good Friday Agreement, including its core human rights provisions. Since October 2015, he has been the High Representative's Special Envoy for the Colombian Peace Process. His work and contribution to the peace process were greatly appreciated by all sides.

EU Special Representatives promote the EU's policies and interests in certain regions and countries as well as issues of particular concern or interest for the EU. They play an active role in efforts to consolidate peace, stability and the rule of law. The first EU Special Representatives were appointed in 1996. Currently, eight EUSRs support the work of the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini.

The decision was adopted by written procedure on 28 February.

PFORZHEIM

Beleidigung oder Meinungsfreiheit?

Angeklagte bezeichnet Rechtsanwältin als „Kindertrafikantin“ – Verhandlung wird fortgesetzt

Von Christiane Viehweg Erstellt: 28. Februar 2019, 00:00 Uhr

Pforzheim. Ist es eine Beleidigung und üble Nachrede, eine Rechtsanwältin – Dr. Oana Krichbaum, Ehefrau des Bundestagsabgeordneten Gunther Krichbaum – als „Kinderfabrikantin“ und „Kindertrafikantin“ zu bezeichnen, die Kinderhandel betrieben habe, und dem Ehemann Kenntnis zu unterstellen? Sie mit Pädophilen und Kinderhändlern zu vergleichen? Oder gehört das zur freien Meinungsäußerung? Mit dieser Frage beschäftigte sich am Mittwoch das Pforzheimer Amtsgericht.

On Thursday, February 28, 2019, Congressman Langevin (D-R) and the Congressional Caucus for Foster Youth held a briefing on “Unregulated Custody Transfers of Adopted Youth: Understanding and Preventing “Rehoming.” Panelists included Maureen Flatley, Former Ambassador Susan S. Jacobs, Department of State, Nhi Nguyen, Government Accountability Office (GAO), Trish Maskew, Department of State, Julie Rosicky, International Social Services, and Joy Alessi, Adoptee.

Flatley, who moderated the briefing, stated that adoption is seen as a state issue when it should be an intrastate issue. She said that there must be a federal response to the issue. Jacobs said the “rehoming” of children needs to stop. She discussed the importance of protecting children, strengthening home studies, and studying the families who are adopting. She also said that there are more protocols when adopting a dog from a shelter then there are on adopting a child.

The topic received some national recognition after a 2013 Reuters report that analyzed posts over the internet over a five-year period. The posts involved making children available online from one family to another. The vast majority of children subjected to such postings were adopted from overseas. The State Department oversees accreditation requirements for agencies and other parties that facilitate international adoptions. Child welfare agencies focus on the adoption of children from foster care. The adoption requirements are more rigorous regarding these child welfare adoptions including minimum training and home studies of perspective parents.

According to the GAO report,

“Many stakeholders we interviewed—including officials from selected states, child welfare and adoption organizations, and adoption agencies— expressed concern with the adequacy of the information provided to prospective parents on the behavioral and mental health conditions of a child adopted internationally. Access to accurate information is critical to ensuring that a family is aware of the type of ongoing support they may need for the child. However, officials from 11 of 19 child welfare and adoption organizations and 5 of 15 adoption agencies said families who adopt internationally often do not receive complete information on a child’s medical and behavioral needs before adopting. State Department officials explained that some low-income countries lack sufficient mental health care providers, making it difficult for international adoption agencies to ensure that children are accurately evaluated prior to adoption.”

Adopted people will no longer have to sign an undertaking that they won’t contact their natural parents

Adopted men and women will no longer be forced to sign an “undertaking” saying they won’t contact their natural parents in order to get access to their birth cert information under proposals approved by Cabinet on Tuesday.

TDs and lobby groups expressed concerns with the provision contained in the Adoption and Information Tracing Bill which is currently making its way through the Oireachtas.

The proposed law would give adopted children access to information on their birth as well as providing access to birth certificate information for adopted people who found out that they had been wrongly registered as the biological children of their adoptive parents.

Ms Zappone received the backing of the Cabinet on Tuesday to draft amendments on the controversial aspects of the law.