On Friday, a newborn girl was found abandoned at 146B, Jain housing society in Sion. Soon after the police were informed, the baby was rushed to the Lokmanya Tilak hospital in Sion.

A local social worker, Chirag Shah, alerted the police who registered an offence against an unknown person for abandoning their baby. The baby has been admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) of the hospital for precaution and is healthy.

Shah, who runs the Sion Welfare Forum and Wadala Citizen Forum, informed that around 2 PM, his friend and a resident of the Jain society, alerted him about the baby. They then alerted the police and checked out CCTV footage which showed them that a lady left the little girl behind.

The baby's diaper indicated that it was born at the Sion Hospital. The police has reached out to the parents of all the babies delivered at Sion Hospital around a week ago. One set of parents, however, are untraceable. The police are currently tracing their location.

The baby's image has also been shared to the neighbouring police stations in order to find out the parents as soon as possible.

The government today presents a broad political agreement that will raise the children and social area by almost 800 million kroner.

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Jens Dresling

Photo: Jens Dresling

DENMARKMAY 11, 2021 AT 10.30

As media reports show heart-wrenching stories of children orphaned by the pandemic, social media started blowing up with posts calling for donations and offers for the adoption of such children. But while the public might be sympathetic, such posts and the demand for donation and adoption clearly violate the law.

The Juvenile Justice Act 2000 and the guidelines issued by the Central Adoption Resource Authority are very clear when it comes to children in need of care.

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Any child, who loses their parent, cannot simply be adopted or taken care of by an NGO or any person. Even for family members, there is a clear process in place under the Juvenile Justice Act (JJ Act) before they can assume guardianship of the child.

Under the law, the child will be taken before the district Child Welfare Committee, which would conduct an inquiry regarding the family prospects and consider whether the child can be put under ‘kinship care’- i.e. with family members/friends, or would need ‘institutional care’ and be sent to a childcare home.

TORONTO -- Hari Gopal Garg and his wife Komal Garg have been stuck in India since Ottawa banned flights from the country, which has been overwhelmed by its second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Gargs travelled to India to finalize the adoption of a 14-month-old girl, and had completed paperwork to return to Canada just days before flights were banned.

“We were just two days away from our flight, and it was disappointing that the Canadian government didn't give us any time, as other countries did,” Hari told CTV News Channel in an interview on Monday.

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He said part of the trouble with trying to return to Canada is receiving only automated email responses from government officials.

(Keystone-ATS)

A UN committee asks Switzerland for in-depth investigations into illegal adoptions in Sri Lanka during the 1970s to the 1990s. Berne must verify whether enforced disappearances have been perpetrated and guarantee reparations to the victims.

In their observations published Tuesday in Geneva, the independent experts of the Committee against enforced disappearances, who do not speak on behalf of the UN, welcome the regrets of the Federal Council last December. But during the recent hearing of the Swiss delegation, one of them said that a rich country like Switzerland "must do more" for these children now adults.

According to the committee, Berne must actively support these people in their search for identity. The Confederation must also verify that documents have not been falsified, concealed or destroyed. Reparations must be made, including if the violations were perpetrated in Sri Lanka.

In December, Federal Councilor Karin Keller-Sutter announced that the Federal Office of Justice (FOJ) would strengthen its relations with partner countries of origin and seek solutions with them for concrete cases. But she recalled that the task falls above all to the cantons.

The UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED) has called on Switzerland to conduct an impartial investigation into past illegal adoptions from Sri Lanka and pay reparations to victims.

In its review of Switzerland’s record on enforced disappearances on Tuesday, the CED raised the issue of illegal adoptions of Sri Lankan children that happened a few decades ago.

While acknowledging that the Alpine nation had accepted its failure to prevent the illegal adoptions, the committee said that a rich country like Switzerland “should do more” for these children who are now adults. Specifically, the Swiss authorities were asked to follow up on the cases to determine the gravity of the injustices committed during that period.

“The Committee urged the State party [Switzerland] to conduct thorough and impartial investigations to determine whether children adopted from Sri Lanka during the 1980s and 1990s may have been victims of enforced disappearance and wrongful removal, and whether other offences, such as falsification, concealment or destruction of identity documents were committed in these cases,” the CED stated.

The committee also recommended that Switzerland should “guarantee the right to reparation to any person who has suffered from such acts”.

When Pune-based school teacher Jyothika Sawant* and her college professor husband Shirish*, both in their mid-30s, decided to adopt a daughter, their family was taken aback. This was because Jyothika and Shirish were already parents to a healthy son; also, age and health were on their side to give birth to a second child if they wanted to. But as Jyothika tells us, “I have always wanted to adopt, right from my college days, and when I met Shirish, one of the reasons why I decided to take our relationship ahead was because he shared my wish. We planned to have two children, and after our son was born, we decided to extend our family by bringing our daughter home.”

Jyothika and Shirish are among a growing tribe of parents and families, wherein couples with biological children are deciding to extend their families via adoption. They see adoption as “just another way of bringing a child in their lives”. Bengaluru-based mental health counsellor Gayatri Abraham admits, “In the last few years, many families are coming forward to adopt and hybrid families are growing. New family formations are generally on the rise, which is heartening.”

Adoption second child

‘Giving birth is not the only way of making a family’

“We always wanted to adopt as we feel, and propagate, that giving birth is not the only way of making a family,” says Gurgaon resident Shruti Haksar, who is a mother of two daughters, nine-year-old Zara and three-year-old Zoya. Shruti and her husband had adopted their younger daughter.

Adopted people will be able to access their birth certificates irrespective of the wishes of their birth mothers under a law to be introduced by the Government.

Access to birth certificates is to be facilitated by way of a mechanism where surviving mothers can register their consent or their opposition to being contacted, but cannot veto the process, Minister for Children Roderic O’Gorman said.

In cases where the mother has registered her opposition to being contacted, the person seeking their birth certificate will attend a meeting where the wishes of the parent will be outlined, and the need to respect the mother’s privacy rights will be emphasised, prior to the information being released.

There will be no sanctions for anyone who contacts their birth mother against her stated wishes, the Minister added.

Mr O’Gorman was speaking at the publication of the General Scheme of the Birth Information and Tracing Bill, which will encompass a right of access to birth, early life, care, and medical information.

Terre des Hommes reageert op uitzending Nieuwsuur over Biafra-kinderen

27 oktober 2017, 23:00

Carel Kok, directeur van Terre des Hommes: 'Als we de notulen teruglezen, zien we dat het toenmalige bestuur geen voorstander was van de zogenaamde luchtbrug.'

Carel Kok, directeur van Terre des Hommes: 'Als we de notulen teruglezen, zien we dat het toenmalige bestuur geen voorstander was van de zogenaamde luchtbrug.'

In reactie op de uitzending van Nieuwsuur van vandaag bevestigt Terre des Hommes dat de organisatie ten tijde van de burgeroorlog en hongersnood in Biafra (Nigeria) op verzoek van de Nederlandse minister van Justitie Polak de evacuatie en medische verzorging van tien hulpbehoevende kinderen heeft ondersteund.

The Vidyagiri police in Dharwad have arrested six persons, including a couple, over the alleged sale of an infant and remanded them in judicial custody.

The arrested have been identified as Bharati Manjunath Walmiki, 48, Ramesh Manjunath Walmiki, 48, Ravi Bhimsen Hegde, 38, Vinayak Arjun Madar, 27 — all from Dharwad — and Vijay Basappa Negalur, 41, and Chitra Vijay Negalur, 37, residents of Udupi.

According to the police, the accused had given a hand loan of ?50,000 to a couple and had demanded ?1,50,000 in return. The couple could not pay back the amount and the accused forcibly made them sell their one-month-and-ten-day-old baby boy to an unidentified couple for ?2.5 lakh and had taken back their money. Subsequently, the distraught mother complained to the police on Friday about the incident.

Payment for custody

Following this, the police arrested the six persons. The infant has been entrusted to the custody of the Child Protection Committee in the district. The couple from Udupi had allegedly paid money to get the child’s custody.