I have chosen to not disclose the identities of my sources, in order to protect them from possible retaliation. All of the people that I spoke to are children’s rights advocates working in the region. Apart from working as a freelance writer, I also work as a children’s rights advocate in Uganda. In this piece, I’m not sharing any information that hasn’t already been put out there publicly by Alicia Marie Harding herself.

The current situation

After writing about the Melanie Brechlin case a few weeks ago, I was recently informed about another possible adoption case in Zambia, by a children’s rights advocate in my circles. Again, the ‘adoption journey’ in question is being chronicled on a public Instagram profile — as is often the case.

On September 10 2020, Alicia Marie Harding published an Instagram post in which she announced that she and her family would be fostering a pair of newborn twins in Zambia. In an accompanying blog post that she wrote (which can be found here, on her blog girlgoestoafrica.com), Harding — who works as a missionary nurse — told her followers about how she was working at the clinic one day, when she received a call from a medical officer of a nearby district. The medical officer described an emergency situation in which a mother had just given birth to twins. The mother had passed away after giving birth, leaving behind a total of 8 children. There was no capacity for the family to also look after two vulnerable newborns, who had been welcomed into the world at just 36 weeks old.

Harding wrote about how the twins would live with them for the foreseeable future, but immediately stressed that they would want to eventually adopt the children — if the twins’ family would comply.

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In the midst of cries for oxygen, hospital beds and emergency drugs on social media, a desperate appeal that stopped people in their thumb scrolling tracks a fortnight ago was a message urging families to adopt two girls — one aged three days and another six months — with the claim that they had lost their parents recently to Covid. “Please help these kids get a new life, spread the word,” urged the post that quickly went viral.

Such emotional pleas for adoption of children orphaned by the virus have surfaced over the past few days. And though these forwards may be well intentioned, the request is unlawful and could even put a child in danger of being sold or trafficked.

Being a mother is not just a relation but an emotion. This Mother’s Day we got in touch with Bollywood choreographer, Shabina Khan, who is currently in news for her latest work, ‘Dil De Diya’ from Radhe. The idea was to shift the limelight from her personal achievements to something she seldom speaks about: her personal life, motherhood and adoption. Excerpts from the interview:

Adoption is a great choice but our society still has inhibitions about it. When you were making the decision, did this bother you?

Everybody knows that a good deed, is a good deed. But not everyone has the courage to do it. I was very young around 9–10-year-old when I told my mother that I will adopt 5 girls. The reason behind the number was that we're five siblings, so I always told her that I'll adopt 5 girls. My mother asked me if I don't want my kids. To which I replied: I want my kids, but that shouldn't stop me from adopting. That's a different thing. I'll have my child, with my adopted babies and will raise them equally. This is a true symbol of humanity.

I met lot of people who believe in adoption. I've also seen families who are blessed with a child after an adoption, and they raise both kids equally. After I adopted my first baby, the joy that she brought to us was hard to describe in words. At the same time, me and my husband both felt that we had so much more love to give, and wanted to give a family to another child. That's when we adopted my son. My two kids now share an unbreakable sibling bond, and are the pride and joy of our lives.

What is that one message you would like to give it to people who want to adopt?

Nagpur: Any person sympathetically taking part in adoption of orphans, whether the parents died due to Covid or otherwise,

may face serious legal implications if the norms are not followed. Any adoption without a court order is bracketed as a ‘crime’

under at least three different laws.The latest advisory has been issued by the Maharashtra State Child Protection Society,

operating under the women and child development department, alerting against participating in any adoption through

messages seeking support or shelter for Covid orphans.

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.

AUTOMATIC READING

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”.