325Kamra plans to gather DNA from Korean women and biological relatives who have relinquished children to international adoption.

Sarah Savidakis, 55, lived in South Korea until she was nine years old, at which time she was adopted by a Connecticut family.

For Savidakis, who says she has grappled with the effects of early childhood trauma, memories of her life in Korea — including those of her birth mother — vanished around the time she arrived in the United States in 1970.

“I have some flashbacks here and there,” Savidakis, who lives in Tarpon Springs, Florida, told NBC News. “But to this day, my mother is [like] a ghost or a silhouette.”

Savidakis is among the thousands of mixed-race children born in the aftermath of the Korean War to American or U.N. soldier fathers and Korean mothers — many of whom were adopted into American families.

When Viktor Adolfsson was very young, he and a sister were adopted from Romania, and they grew up together in a family in Örebro.

But many more siblings remained in Romania, and in 2009 Viktor received help from the TV program Spårlöst to find them.

Not a day goes by without Viktor thinking about how grateful he is that he was adopted, and how much he wants to help his siblings to a better life.

Anna Björndahl

anna.bjorndahl@sverigesradio.se

Six Congolese orphans who were adopted by Belgian families arrived in Brussels today after months of being held in limbo in Kinshasa. The Congolese authorities kept the children in the country’s capital since November following a Congolese moratorium on adoptions, according to Foreign Minister Didier Reynders.

“Several diplomatic efforts with the Congolese government have paid off,” said Reynders, who has said that he understands that the local authorities want to make sure the adoptions are in the best interest of the children, but reiterates that Belgium follows stringent and strict procedures when it comes to adoption. The children left Kinshasa yesterday aboard a Brussels Airlines flight, and arrived this morning in Zaventem.

The Congolese government established the moratorium on international adoptions in November because of suspicion of fraud and human trafficking. Unable to take their children home, seven adoptive parents were temporarily stuck in the Congolese capital, despite favourable court rulings in Belgium and the DRC. A Belgian woman who ended up in jail after trying to flee the country with her adoptive child is still detained, reports VRT.

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The Democratic Republic of Congo has agreed to lift its suspension on international adoptions for "about 70" families, including all 11 cases in Belgium, the Belgian foreign affairs minister told local media on Tuesday.

Belgian public broadcaster RTBF reports that Belgian families have been waiting two years to be united with the Congolese orphans they adopted, after the central African nation's president Joseph Kabila ordered in September 2013 that exit permits for adopted children should be suspended.

Belgian foreign affairs minister Didier Reynders told RTBF: "We have received confirmation from the Congolese justice ministry that the children can come to Belgium."

He said that "about 70" cases involving adoptive families from several countries had been resolved. Some of the 11 children due to head to Belgium will arrive in Brussels later this week.

Reynders said the Belgian embassy in Congo was in the process of organizing the children's journey to Brussels and he would be meeting the parents on Nov. 4.

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.