Itunu and Samuel Oremade say video calls with their son Andrew bring pain as well as joy.

That's because the three-year-old keeps asking a question they are also desperate for an answer to: why can't their family be together in Canada?

The Oremades live in Airdrie, Alta., and their adopted son is being cared for by Itunu's 79-year-old mother in Lagos, Nigeria.

The first stage of Andrew's citizenship application was approved Dec. 7, 2018. But the second part, which would grant him Canadian citizenship and the ability to enter Canada, has been in the processing queue for 22 months with no updates to the file.

'It's so painful'

It's believed half a million British women were persuaded to give their babies up for adoption in the 1950s, 60s and 70s.

Campaigners from the Movement for an Adoption Apology want the government to acknowledge that many women may have been coerced into giving up their babies against their will, and apologise.

Those women have lived with the heartache ever since, and many never saw their children again.

These are their stories.

Jean's story

A few months ago, at the request of the government, the Joustra Committee presented its report on adoption from abroad. In a hard-hitting judgment on the Dutch adoption culture and the role of the government in it, there is talk of 'serious abuses'. The conclusion: the adoption of children from abroad must stop for the time being. Minister Dekker (Legal Protection) then announced that the adoption of foreign children had to be suspended immediately. As a result, 450 current adoption files will not be completed.

WAGENINGEN- A group of adoptive parents opposes the adoption freeze. This decision also provokes a lot of resistance from many adoptees. Here is the reaction of Nangi (38) from Wageningen. She explains: “As a very small girl from Sri Lanka, I was adopted in 1986 by a Wageningen couple, who raised me very lovingly. I am so very happy with that! That feeling is completely mutual! My adoption process went very well. I know who my biological parents are. I met them and I heard why I was adopted. My biological father, an abusive alcoholic, forced my mother to relinquish me because I have physical and mental limitations. My father saw me as a failure. That was very difficult for me to hear, but it also gave me peace and security. Today's knowledge of adoption is very different from what it was thirty or forty years ago. When I heard that Minister Sander Dekker apologized for denying the mistakes, I was happy. I sincerely hope that there will be a DNA bank as a possibility that adopted children and biological parents can find each other. The world of little children is small. It consists of family, relatives and friends. Nice and clear. But once they hit puberty, the shutters open. The children discover that there is more, they want to get to know the world, their world. They want to know what their own history is and where they come from. But for the adopted children, the shutters do not open, adoptive parents cannot open the doors. They feel trapped. The government can open the door by setting up a DNA bank.” Nangi continues: “I think stopping adoption is going too far. What happened in the past should never be the reason to hinder a child's future.” Nangi points to Ranjith Postma, a good friend of hers: “Ranjith is a good author, he has also been adopted. He immerses himself in stories of adopted people and adoptive parents. He interviews and writes about it. Ranjith gives them a stage to share their story. Because his stories are so well liked, he has decided to write a book. It's about five adopted women, all of whom have the same grief, but have found a way to live with it. In this way he also helped and supported me, gave me the strength to dare to speak about it. Ranjith told me a story about a couple, who adopted a child last year. They explained to him that they had adopted a child through an open procedure.” An open procedure is the connection of the triangle: child, biological parents and adoptive parents.

“When I heard that, I was amazed. That's another way to do it. I had thought of that, but didn't know it existed. I heard and read a while ago that there was a petition to keep adoption going. I'm glad to read that I'm not the only one who thinks this way. I regret that adoptees, who have good experiences, and their adoptive parents are not heard, are even ignored. Just because we think differently about adoption doesn't mean we don't want to see that mistakes have been made. We are very well aware of that. I understand that because of the many bad experiences there is not much confidence anymore. But I still ask to be open to the stories and emotions that we have. Trust that we do this with good intentions. Let's not sit with our arms folded, but get up and work on the future. Don't dwell on the past. A lot will have to change. Admitting mistakes is the beginning. By comparing errors and improvements, it is possible to see what can be improved. Make it public so we can track it. In this way we gain more trust in each other, because that is what we lack at the moment”.

“Adoption requires optimal transparency”

”

The Adoption Authority cannot lawfully refuse to register the separate Mexican adoptions of two young children whose lives here involve "a legal limbo", the Supreme Court has ruled.

The adoptions of 15 other Mexican-born children in a similar position to the two children, including a sibling of one of them, have been registered by the Authority in the register of intercountry adoptions, Mr Justice Donal O'Donnell noted.

It would be a failure to hold these two children equal before the law “in such an important feature of their human personality” if the law were to permit a different outcome for them, he said.

He was giving the five-judge court's judgment today dismissing an appeal by the Authority over the High Court's answers to legal questions raised in the Authority’s proceedings concerning the status of the two children.

Both have lived in "a legal limbo" here because their separate adoption processes began under the Adoption Act 1991, but were not complete before the coming into force on November 1, 2010, of the Adoption Act 2010, when the 1991 Act was repealed.

With Covid claiming many lives, people are trying to get foster parents for children who have lost parents to the pandemic. Experts warn child trafficking rackets can take advantage of such a situation

KOCHI: Have you received a WhatsApp forward like this: “If anyone wants to adopt a baby girl, please contact 0971******* (Priyanka). Three-day-old and six-month-old girls available. They lost their parents recently to Covid. Please help these kids get a new life, spread the word.” Many similar broadcast messages are making rounds, where ‘good Samaritans seem to be seeking help to arrange adoption of children, especially girls, orphaned during the pandemic. Experts claim that even though some of these efforts are genuine, they may trigger child trafficking.

Dhananjay Tingal, executive director of Bachpan Bachao Andolan, said the messages spreading on social media calling for prospective foster parents could be an attempt to traffic children and misuse the intention of those genuinely trying to help children. “Ideally, anyone willing to help should be calling government helplines to report on orphaned children,” he said.

“When a child is orphaned, he/she becomes vulnerable. Many kids are suffering because they lost their parents to the pandemic and their caregivers are hospitalised. There is no one to take care of them. Their neighbours or extended families keep away out of fear of contracting the virus,” he said. Dhananjay added that there are no relaxations in the adoption procedure due to the pandemic.

“People can’t just go and buy/take these children because their parents are dead. We have been receiving so many calls regarding adoptions related to Covid deaths of parents/caretakers. Prospective foster parents still need to register with the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) to become eligible for adoption. Though no cases of Covid death-related trafficking have been reported so far, we fear these types of forwarded messages are an indication, and even educated people are not aware of adoption laws,” he said.

Justin D’Silva

Daijiworld Media Network – Udupi (EP)

Udupi, May 21: A case is registered at Kota police station against a couple that illegally gave away a child for adoption and the doctor couple who adopted the child. The case is registered on the basis of a complaint lodged by the legal observer of the district child protection cell, Prabhakar Achar. Brahmavar child welfare project officer, Kumar, Anganwadi supervisor Laxmi, Kota police station sub-inspector Santhosh BP and assistant sub-inspector Muktha were behind the operation.

The female child that was born a year ago at a private hospital in Karkala. She was illegally handed over for adoption by the child’s parents Suresh and Sukanya to Hangarkatte resident Fayaz Shahista through Udupi resident Hussain. The birth certificate of the child was made to look like from it was from government taluk hospital, Koppa. It was obtained from Dr Balakrishna, the medical officer at the hospital. A case under the Child Justice Act is registered against six people. The year and two-month-old child was rescued and rehabilitated at Krishnanugraha adoption centre, Santhekatte.

“Do not be cheated over advertisements in the media offering children for adoption. Those who want to adopt children can contact district children protection unit Rajatadri, Manipal or children’s welfare committee Udupi or contact www.cara.nic.in,” requested legal observer Prabhakar Achary with people.

U.S. Senators Roy Blunt (Mo.) and Amy Klobuchar (Minn.), Co-Chairs of the Congressional Adoption Caucus, announced that they have reintroduced legislation to improve the intercountry adoption process.

“There are millions of children around the world without a safe, stable home,” said Blunt. “We can help connect these children with the families they deserve by making sure intercountry adoption remains a viable option. This bipartisan bill will give the Secretary of State a valuable resource to develop and implement policies that promote intercountry adoption. I urge my colleagues to support this bill and join us in our efforts to make it easier for loving families to adopt a child.”

“Around the world, there are so many children who need loving homes – but too often, the process of intercountry adoption is filled with challenges,” said Klobuchar. “Creating an Intercountry Adoption Advisory Committee will promote the development of best practices to support those looking to adopt. I’m proud to introduce this bill to help American families and children worldwide.”

The bipartisan Intercountry Adoption Advisory Committee Act provides the Secretary of State the authority to establish an Intercountry Adoption Advisory Committee within the Bureau of Consular Affairs to focus on coordinating the development, refinement, and implementation of policy and programs on intercountry adoption. The Advisory Committee will develop recommendations to enhance the intercountry adoption process and to ensure that the diverse voices within the adoption community are considered in advance of new policies being developed and programs being implemented. The legislation is also co-sponsored by U.S. Senators Bob Casey (Pa.), Jim Inhofe (Okla.), John Boozman (Ark.), and Roger Wicker (Miss.).

For years, Blunt and Klobuchar have worked to improve the adoption process for Americans.

KALYAN: A former social worker has been arrested in connection with an

illegal adoption racket along with the parents of a seven-month-old child.

The Thane police, with help from the child protection officer of Thane

district, arrested 28-year-old Manshi Jadhav, who worked with a child care

centre in Dombivli, where she would conduct surveys of parents wanting

SALEM: Tamil Nadu Commission for Protection of Child Rights (TNCPCR) member V Ramaraj has appealed to the public not to forward fake social media messages about child adoption.

Pointing out one such fake message asking the people to adopt a two-year-old girl and a two-month-old baby whose parents died of Covid-19, he said, "The particular message has a fake mobile number.” He also said that no one could easily adopt a child or children without the government's consent.

Ramaraj said people who were forwarding such messages did not do it purposely. “At the same time, they have forwarded the message with an intention to help the deprived children,” he said.

Ramaraj said people could adopt a child with government’s consent from another person who is willing to give his child for adoption. Otherwise, they could approach the government agencies and get adoption from the adoption centres. “People should register themselves with CARA and SARA before they adopt the baby or the child,” he added. Ramaraj said it would be a crime if people are involved in illegal adoption.

People who have doubts on child adoption could get details from the district child protection office in their concerned districts.

For the greater part of the 20th century Ireland was marked by a culture of shame that separated thousands of women from their children, many of whom were forcibly given up for adoption. The trauma inflicted by these separations was compounded by legal barriers that prevented adopted people from accessing information about themselves.

However, on Tuesday May 12, the Irish government published a draft bill that would give those adopted the right to access their birth information. This comes in the wake of decades of activism by adopted people and their supporters, and has the potential to significantly reform an adoption system historically marked by secrecy, shame and the trauma arising from institutionalisation.

In modern Ireland, institutions such as mother and baby homes and the Magdalene Laundries were tasked by the state to deal with “fallen” women who had transgressed ideals of Irish femininity, especially by becoming pregnant out of wedlock. Their children were either boarded out to foster parents, institutionalised, or adopted by families of the same faith, some as far away as America, and – as survivors, advocates and researchers have long maintained – often under questionable circumstances.

Many searches by birth parents and children have been thwarted (as poignantly captured in the Oscar-nominated film Philomena), and adopted people in Ireland have been denied information about themselves – if it still exists – that is readily available in other jurisdictions. Although there have been media investigations and the government commissioned a 2019 review into a small sample of illegal adoptions, and published its mother and baby homes investigation in March, there has never been a fully fledged investigation into adoption practices in Ireland.

The information we do have, including testimony from adopted people and their birth parents, calls into question the legality and morality of such practices. A recent RTÉ Prime Time investigation showed how familial relationships were deliberately and systematically severed, with children taken and given away – all to enforce a particular moral code.