Suddenly he appeared on the screen, the man who was her brother! Sarath, who became completely desperate when she was adopted 35 years earlier. Finally, Linn Sjöbäck had traced her roots in Sri Lanka. And now she would also get to talk to her biological mother…

Linn Sjöbäck grew up wondering about his roots. She had several siblings who were also adopted, but she did not share her curiosity and desire to know more. She wanted to know more, much more.

- I have had a need to get a background that they may not have had and my parents have always supported me in this, says Linn.

She was adopted to Sweden from Sri Lanka when she was only 14 months old, in 1985. Her biological mother was present at the handover and no orphanage was ever included in the picture, which is perhaps more common.

- There were real documents and court proceedings. When I got the chance to check this, I was relieved that everything went right. I had become a little worried after all the writing about kidnapped children in the 80's, says Linn.

A 25-year-old woman has lodged a complaint with the Pune City Police against her lover, claiming he may have done something harmful to their son, who was born two years ago.

Police have arrested the woman’s lover, Shubham Bhande (23) and his friend Yogesh Kale (26). They have been booked under Section 315 (Act done with intent to prevent child being born alive or to cause it to die after birth) of the Indian Penal Code. Police said the accused have been arrested and further probe is on.

As per the complaint filed by the woman, she met Shubham while they were working together at a private company in 2018. They soon got into a relationship and in July that year, the woman realised she was pregnant. Shubham allegedly told her that he would marry her soon.

On March 15, 2019, the woman gave birth to a baby boy at Sassoon Hospital. After she was discharged from the hospital, she went to stay in a rented house in Mundhwa with the baby.

On March 27, Shubham and his friend Yogesh came to the house. Shubham allegedly told the woman that he would keep the baby at an ashram for a few days and bring him back once they were married. The woman refused, but Shubham and Yogesh allegedly took the boy away.

Zakir Hossain/Dhaka Tribune

In Bangladesh Adoption is only approved for Hindus as it follows the principal of traditional Hindu Law

On February 21st, 2017, a group of Bangladesh Chhatra League activists found a newborn in a drain. They rushed the infant they named Ekush to Chittagong Medical College Hospital.

After 14 families applied for his guardianship, on March 29th that year Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge of Chittagong Jannatul Ferdous, also judge of the Children’s Court of Chittagong, granted custody of Ekush to Dr Jakirul Islam and his wife Shakila Akhter.

Since the family law in Bangladesh is dictated by religion, Muslims cannot legally adopt but be granted guardianship under the Children Act, 2013.

Troubled man, 22, who tried searching for his birth parents after leaving home was found hanged in his adopted family’s garage, inquest hears

Ben Murphy, 22, was found hanged in the garage of his adopted parents

He had previously been asked to leave the home in December 2019

Adopted mother claims their family had been 'walking on eggshells' round him

Ben contacted biological parents almost a year after being asked to move out

Gera ter Meulen, Knowledge Bureau ter Meulen, for Foster Care and Adoption

Wereldkinderen has been a member of EurAdopt for many years, a partnership between European adoption organizations. These organizations try to maintain high ethical standards, exchange information and sometimes collaborate on common problems. Such a common problem is adoption aftercare in the search for origin. However, this aftercare is becoming increasingly difficult, according to an inventory I did for EurAdopt at 24 EurAdopt adoption organizations in 11 countries.

For this inventory, we first checked what it says about aftercare:

According to the Hague Adoption Convention

The Hague Adoption Convention appears to oblige the Central Authorities to promote aftercare; the CAs may delegate aftercare to public or adoption organizations, but they remain accountable. Adoptees must be helped, among other things, to find their roots and be able to access their adoption information.

The second wave of COVID-19 ruptured families across India. Despite widespread media coverage, the conversation overlooked a demographic worst affected by it, namely children.

According to a Lancet study, 1.13 million children across the globe lost their primary caregivers to COVID-19 last year. This figure includes at least one parent or a custodial grandparent.

The National Commission for Child Rights recorded over 3,500 children who lost both their parents during the pandemic in India. However, The Lancet study documents a much higher number of children orphaned, reporting 1.16 lakh minors who lost their parents just between March 2020 and April 2021 in the country. In contrast, the number of children who lost their primary or secondary caregivers was 1.86 lakh. This trend led to a new sub-category of bereaved children, referred to as the ‘COVID orphans’.

Consequently, social media platforms were flooded with unwarranted pictures of children accompanied by requests for their adoption. However, legalities surrounding adoption in India are complex and do not provide for the direct adoption of a child without first being routed through a statutory body – thus, likening social media adoptions to child trafficking. Such viral messages have not only misinformed prospective parents looking for opportunities to jump the long queue but potentially exposed unregistered children to illegal flesh trade, human trafficking rackets and forced labour.

Curiously, the issue received minimal investigation from civil society gesturing towards the general lack of informed discourse surrounding adoption and lacunae in addressing misinformation about it.

What exactly is happening in Congo for the 11 adopted children who were to be transported to Belgium after, on Monday, the Congolese justice agreed to lift the moratorium on adoptions by foreign couples. At the beginning of the afternoon, via the site of the daily "Vers l'Avenir", we learned of the arrest by the Congolese police of the director of the orphanage where the children were staying. An arrest which should "facilitate" the return of the children. Explanations.

Yesterday evening, guest of the program "Jeudi en bonus" on Une Télé, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. R. Didier Reynders explained that "everything was ALMOST settled"in this file. Almost indeed. Word was needed after the impressive series of ups and downs for two years and so many twists that have already put the nerves of the adoptive parents to the test. Return on the last episodes of this saga: Monday, after long international negotiations, the Congolese justice decided to finally lift the moratorium imposed for two years on the adoptions of Congolese children by foreign couples - the DRC advancing the fear of mistreatment or of adoptions by same-sex couples. On Monday, the Congolese green light therefore unblocked the files of 69 children eagerly awaited by foreign couples, including 11 intended for Belgian couples. Tuesday, the Minister of Foreign Affairs Didier Reynders received the parents and reassured them. Their case would soon be resolved - Didier Reynders who discouraged any future adoption linked to the Congo. In this case, Foreign Affairs promised to take care of the plane tickets for the children, the Wallonia-Brussels Federation agreed to pay part of the costs caused by the prolonged stay of the children in their orphanage.

Financial fears of orphanage staff

Because behind the scenes, intense negotiations were also taking place between Congolese and Belgian authorities and the director of the orphanage. Juliette Mpemba came back regularly with the question of the financial arrears to be paid (health care, food, miscellaneous purchases, staff costs, rent of the building); it was about $ 25,000. The director who evoked a "certain tension" with her staff, awaiting payment, a staff very worried and fearing that nothing would be paid, once the children left. However, the Belgian authorities officially promised that the financial situation would be resolved once the children arrived in Belgium.

Surprise arrest

KRO's Brandpunt has decided to make a broadcast about adoptions from Ethiopia. The broadcast will be next Sunday, January 9. In addition to a general picture, one mediation will probably be explored in depth. It concerns the case of two girls, whose adoptive parents and biological parents have given full consent to the adoption and also met each other in Ethiopia, but where the court has ruled that the biological parents have died.

The reason for this report lies in the fact that Wereldkinderen conducted a study in 2009 into the background information of adopted children from Ethiopia. This internal confidential investigation was handed over to Brandpunt by the researcher against the agreements!

Wereldkinderen has been mediating for adoptions from Ethiopia since 1985. In order to learn from our work in the past and to continuously improve the quality of our work, Wereldkinderen commissioned an investigation in 2009 into the background of 18 randomly selected mediations from the period 2004-2008. In 2009 the conclusions of this investigation gave rise to the temporary non-processing of new adoption applications. Questions about the results of the investigation were also asked in the House of Representatives at the time. The result was a stricter procedure for new mediations from Ethiopia. The tightened procedure means, among other things, that the backgrounds of the children are examined extra before their adoption is dealt with in court. And that information about distance and adoption is given to the biological relatives at an early stage to make them aware of alternative care and the impact of giving up.

As indicated, Wereldkinderen has not accepted any new requests since 2009. However, an extra examination was carried out for the children who were already included in our Foster Home. The adoption procedure has now been completed for the children whose second background request was positive.

The research initiated by Wereldkinderen has had many consequences. In addition to temporarily halting procedures and tightening up background investigations, measures have also been taken in Ethiopia. The Ministry of Women's Affairs responsible for international adoption has also conducted its own investigation. The guidelines for international adoptions have been tightened and some children's homes no longer play a role in the international adoption process.

GRAND RAPIDS, MI – A man who lost custody of his newborn son, only to have an appellate court reverse termination of his parental rights, is suing Catholic Charities West Michigan for placing the child with an adoptive family.

The child was put up for adoption shortly after birth three years ago.

The lawsuit alleges Catholic Charities committed fraud and failed to look for the biological father, Peter Kruithoff. In separate proceedings, a Kalamazoo County judge terminated his parental rights while an Ottawa County judge awarded him custody.

“The conduct of Defendants was extreme and outrageous and beyond the bounds of what is acceptable in civilized society,” attorneys John Moritz and Michael Villar wrote in the lawsuit.

They had originally filed the lawsuit in Ottawa County Circuit Court but Catholic Charities asked that it be moved to federal court.

THE family of Martina Anderson have accused Sinn Féin of "publicly humiliating" her.

Ms Anderson and fellow Foyle MLA Karen Mullan announced last week they would not be standing for re-election next year following a party review.

While she admitted it had been a “body blow”, Ms Anderson accepted the decision.

However, in an unprecedented attack on the Sinn Féin leadership last night, the former IRA prisoner's family appealed for help to "correct what we believe is a massive miscarriage of justice".

"The British could not do to our Martina what her comrades and friends have done," they said.