As COVID-19 has ravaged our nation, it has been particularly heart-wrenching to read stories about children who have become orphans, losing both parents to the disease. It’s impossible to know exactly how many are affected. Official numbers indicate we have lost more than 2.4 lakh people to COVID, with real numbers expected to be much higher. We can safely estimate that many thousands of young children have lost one or more caregivers, and the remaining family members may not be ready or capable to take them in.

Desperate WhatsApp messages have been doing the rounds, telling horror stories of young children left to fend for themselves and advertising children for ‘adoption’. While surely those who forwarded the messages meant well, every single one of us must know that it is irresponsible and illegal to offer or receive children in this way. In fact, such orphaned children are more susceptible, now more than ever, to land in the traps of traffickers or criminals as people scramble to ‘help’ without following proper processes.

It is a common misperception that child shelters are a better option to care for an orphaned child. While it is true many child shelters do a good job of taking care of kids in need, it is also a sad fact that most of them will never assess the children under their care for adoption. Where Are India’s Children conducted a survey in 2019-2020, and found that most shelters keep the children indefinitely, surviving on donations from the public until they are old enough to fend for themselves. While this fate is better than being abandoned on the streets, the child does not receive the same care, attention and sense of belonging that parents can give, has less chances of a good education and a stable future, and can be susceptible to abuse and trafficking. The shelters are also suffering during COVID, with workers not able to attend to the children and donations on the wane.

We must help orphans who don’t have relatives able or willing to take care of them to reach a legal adoptive ‘forever family’ instead, which is much more sustainable and provides permanent rehabilitation for children.

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Claude Griscelli and his lawyer at the opening of the Mediator trial at the Paris court in September 2019 (Photo Luc Nobout. IP3)

by Eric Favereau

published on September 15, 2020 at 6:21 p.m.

In the Mediator file, there is of course the central aspect of "industrial crime" , as Dr Irène Frachon called it at the origin of her revelation, but there are also other aspects, in particular that around the intensive lobbying that Servier was doing to impose its anorectic drugs, fighting against obesity. At the Paris Criminal Court, this week, it is a small extension of the great trial (which formally ended at the beginning of July, deliberation expected at the end of March) which is being played out, with a judgment on the “influence peddling” aspect. folder.

And since Monday, we are witnessing a marvel of human comedy. Because this story is a jewel, a textbook case, with all that is necessary of small arrangements between powerful. There is a great doctor there, a renowned ex-senator and, of course, a senior official in the pharmaceutical industry. All three are accused of having j ...

Claire and Ed adopted their sons 13 years ago. When the brothers found their biological family on social media aged 15 and 16, it took just three months for them to cut off all contact with their adoptive parents.

Claire and Ed say their children were sent "intrusive" messages from their birth family and withdrew from their parents. Both children no longer attend school and there have been reports the older boy is involved in drug dealing.

"For us, it's just been devastating to have our family broken," Ed tells BBC Radio 4's Today programme. "But the big tragedy and the big, human cost is theirs. Because they've just been manipulated."

Adoption UK says such complete breakdowns of relationships are rare - but unsupervised contact is becoming more common.

The charity's research suggests nearly a quarter of adopted children make direct contact with their birth family - often via social media - before they gain the right to access information about their origins at the age of 18.

A sessions court on Tuesday rejected the bail application of a woman booked for child trafficking. As per the case, she had sold one child at VN Desai hospital, Santacruz to an accomplice who had sold the child to a Pune resident.

The woman identified as Nisha Ahire had claimed that at the most it is a case where proper adoption procedure was not followed and that there is no money transaction between the parties.

Additional Public Prosecutor Sumesh Panjwani had opposed her bail and stated that the offence is serious, that of trafficking a newborn. The court in its order said that the nature of offence, human trafficking, that too of a newborn child is serious.

It also noted that a year ago, she had indulged in the business of selling a child. It said this is not a simple case of adoption, but that taking assistance from hospital staff, the medical officer has sold the child with the help of co-accused. If released on bail, it said, that the possibility cannot be ruled out that she will sell children again.

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State Secretary for European Affairs George Ciamba meets with Simon Mordue, Head of Dir. A Strategy and Turkey, DG Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations of the European Commission

On June 10th, 2015, State Secretary for European Affairs George Ciamba met with Simon Mordue, Head of Dir. A Strategy and Turkey, DG Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations of the European Commission, on a visit in Bucharest.

They discussed topical subjects on the European agenda which at this time engage in-depth reflection and discussion in the European Union, such as developments in the Eastern Neighborhood, the ongoing review of the European Neighborhood Policy, EU enlargement and relations between the EU and Turkey.

They also had a wide exchange on the main challenges facing the European Union and its Member States such as migration, as a multifaceted subject in terms of adopting an approach that agrees with the European values and the principle of solidarity; they also discussed the development in a substantive, differentiated manner of the relation between the EU and partners in its vicinity. Also approached were the current debate in the UK concerning its EU future, and economic developments in the EU from the perspective of developments in Greece.

As regards the Eastern Neighborhood the two officials underlined the complexity of strategic challenges in the region, seeing the implications of the current security situation, and the need to have a uniform EU approach and a collective effort to bring security and stability needed to reinstate normalcy in the region. They noted the importance of seeing progress in implementing the Association Agreements (AA/DCFTA) with the Republic of Moldova, Ukraine and Georgia, so the signatory states can receive the full range of benefits those agreements bring.

NEW DELHI: Civil society organisation Save the Children expressed its concern about the growing number of children who lost their parents to Covid-19 in the country. The growing number of pleas to adopt orphaned children circulating on social media which have left them vulnerable to trafficking and abuse, it pointed out.

While some children who lost their parents are taken in by relatives or guardians, others were left to fend for themselves, putting them at risk of child trafficking. Save the Children urged people not to share details about orphaned children online, and instead to contact 1098- helpline to protect children from falling prey to child traffickers.

In order to prevent illegal adoptions, hospitals have reportedly been told to take declarations from sick parents, to confirm who their children should go to in case of their deaths, the civil society organisation pointed out. The organisation has been receiving around 80 distress calls from children in Rajasthan alone where it runs a helpline with the state commission. The helplines provide psychosocial support and redirect cases of children who need protection to the concerned authorities.

“Children who lose their caregivers and left to fend for themselves are extremely vulnerable to exploitation and abuse, and we’re doing everything we can to protect them from falling victim to illegal adoption or trafficking,” said Sanjay Sharma, deputy programmes director, Save the Children.

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In the wake of experts warning that the possible third wave of pandemic will affect children, the Karnataka State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (KSCPCR) has recommended that the State government form task forces involving paediatricians at the district level.

In a letter addressed to the Chief Secretary, the commission has asked that infrastructure be put in place to treat children before the next wave strikes. This includes reservation of beds for children in both government and private hospitals.

The committee has also asked the State government to form supervisory committees to protect the rights of children who have lost both their parents owing to COVID-19.

“There are many cases of children losing both their parents in the State. Because of the lockdown it is becoming difficult to protect the rights of those children. There are chances of them becoming victims of human trafficking, illegal adoption, and others,” stated the commission in the letter, adding that hospitals should be established along the lines of those launched by the Maharashtra government to treat orphaned children.

It also underscored the need to form a supervisory committee at both the district and the State levels. Members of the supervisory committee should include officers from the Women and Child Development, the Education, the Social Welfare, the Health and Family Welfare Departments, the police, and others.

They left for India a fortnight ago. The mission of Simonetta Filippini and her husband Enzo Galli was a mission of love: to take their two-year-old daughter, just adopted and, after having completed the procedures for adoption, to return to Italy. That love mission has turned into a nightmare for the Florentine couple. Left for India 15 days ago with the International Adoption association of Florence for an international adoption together with 70 other Italians, the couple who lives in the province of Florence, in Campi Bisenzio, asks for help to be able to return from New Delhi . The woman tested positive for Covid, which is why she was first taken to the hospital and is now in a health hotel while her husband is in a hotel with the 2-year-old child she had up for adoption. The story is told by The Nation to which wife and husband, Simonetta Filippini and her husband Enzo Galli, explained what is happening.

The adoption process took place in a very short time. No boarding, however, then on the plane that should have brought them home : «Wednesday morning - says Enzo - Simonetta tested positive at Covid while I» and the child «were negative. At that point the situation precipitated ». Simonetta was taken to the hospital and then transferred to a Covid hotel, returning reachable by phone. «I was in a room of two meters by two meters with seven people - his words reported in the newspaper - and some died before my eyes. Our policy provides for the possibility of a quota flight and the embassy and the government must help us ».

Then, reached on the phone by Corriere Fiorentino , Mrs. Simonetta added: "I saw dead people lying on the floor in the corridors of the hospital, I saw panting bodies on makeshift stretchers, I saw corpses burning on the sidewalks and in the parks of New Delhi, I stayed in a two-by-two-meter hospital room with other people with Covid. Here is the apocalypse, horror movie scenes are experienced every day, please help us get back to Italy ».

«From the hotel windows - says Enzo - we see that the corpses of the dead of Covid are burning in the street. It is impressive and we are concerned. We have all been separated, with us there are couples from various areas of Italy and also have children in need of care in Italy. We have the permit exit from the Indian state to get out but they don't let us leave: staying here waiting for a negative buffer means making us die. Outside there is the smell of death and it is indescribable ». The Italian embassy in India took action by identifying the hypothesis of the Air France New Delhi Paris flight but the Indian authorities would not decide to take positive foreign people on board.

"Currently, the situation of the lady and her husband Enzo Galli is complicated, but under control," says Andrea Zoletto, general manager of International Adoption, the association that followed the couple . "We are constantly in contact with Mr. Galli - explains Zoletto -, he and the child are in a 5-star hotel in absolute safety and are well. The lady is in a health hotel, in a room with another person. This morning, thanks to the doctor of the Italian embassy, ??he was able to do another swab, the result is expected in 48 hours: if it is negative, the ambassador guarantees boarding on a KLM or Air France flight, but if it is positive he will have to stay there at least ten days, the Indian authorities are extremely strict on this ». If it is positive, the next tampon should be done in 8 days, during which time the woman will remain in the facility. To complicate the situation, according to what has been learned, there are also problems of understanding by language and "unfortunately their companion, one of our men - adds Zoletto - was stuck with the lockdown and can only provide remote assistance". However, the situation seems to be calmer thanks to the intervention of the embassy. "The consul hears from her husband several times a day - confirms Zoletto - I must say that the Italian authorities provide maximum assistance". «When the gentlemen left - said Zoletto - the situation in India was not so dramatic:« It is suddenly mentioned and we have blocked everything. The other couples are returning because no one tested positive ».

The fun starts when the interview ends. Jim Cockburn has sat through a two-hour inquisition.

There’s been laughter aplenty. There’s also been more self-analysis in an afternoon than this exceptionally successful businessman is used to in a year. From the airy confines of his light, minimalist, Edwardian office, the man who single-handedly transformed the fostering system not just in the UK but around the world has reflected on his improbably successfully career. It began in the West Midlands and saw him make tens of millions of pounds.

Having opened newsagents, the worst thing he ever did, he went on to buy supreme race horses in a bid to win the Derby. Having started with nothing he built a business and bought out his fellow directors for £25 million. He’s lost large sums of money on failed ventures, the inevitable misdirected punt on Chinese imports among them, while generating considerable wealth that has bought him a valuable collection of contemporary art and two stunning homes.

When we get to the end of the interview, Jim’s shoulders relax. “Have you seen the Tipton Monkey?” he asks. I shake my head in apology. I’ve not. “Have you? He’s brilliant.” We’ve spent two hours talking about protecting children from abuse, dozens of business ventures and art. But at the end there’s a swell of relief as he gets back to the banter he loves.

“It’s hilarious,” he says, describing a YouTube video of a Black Country man whose face is converted through the magic of computer software to that of a monkey. “He says he’s been in Dudley Zoo for years but he goes home every night, to Tipton. He loves living in Tipton. He doesn’t stay in the zoo overnight, he just turns up each day to make a few quid from the punters then he goes home.”

The investigation into forced adoption between 1956 and 1984 has ended in painful embarrassment. The advocate of the Dutch Distance Mother Foundation has stated its confidence in the investigation led by the outgoing Minister for Legal Protection Sander Dekker.

Dekker admitted last summer that mistakes had been made in the investigation and apologized for this. Stories of children and parents who have had to deal with forced adoption turned out not to be safe at the 'registration point' that was set up for them. A committee was set up to see what went wrong, but now that the mothers have not heard anything for months, the measure is full for them. The DNA Foundation is even pushing for a parliamentary inquiry to expose the errors.

Researchers estimate that it concerns about 15,000 Dutch children who were handed over to an adoptive family during this period. This often happened under great pressure, for example because their mothers were not married or were still minors. Committing an abortion was not an option at the time.

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