Adoption Advocate No. 90

Every adoptee has their own personal and unique adoption story. That history is a part of who they are, and remains a part of them as they move from childhood through adolescence and into adulthood.

As intercountry adoption has changed over the years, more international adoptees have become interested in searching for information and trying to learn more about their families, countries, and cultures of origin. An adoption search and/or reunion for an intercountry adoptee may look very different from one undertaken by a person adopted in the U.S. Typically an international adoption search will require working with officials in another country and dealing with complex legal issues, language translation, and cultural differences. To better understand the international search and reunion process, NCFA asked Susan Soonkeum Cox, Vice President of Policy and External Affairs at Holt International and a Korean adoptee, to share some of her own personal experiences.

NCFA: When did you search for your birth family, and why did you make that decision?

Susan Cox: I began my “official” search for my birth family in 1992. Looking back, it is clear that a variety of circumstances and moments brought me to that decision. In the late 1980s, I was leading a family tour to Korea, my daughter was with me, and I wanted her to see my records. I had seen them many times before, but part of the information was written in Chinese characters – which are often used in Korea as well – and on that trip the person reading the file was able to read Chinese and give me additional information that I had never known before — including that I was from Inchon, and the name of the director at the time I was there. She arranged for me to meet him, and that answered many questions, but also created more.

RDC adoption

26 November 2015 ·

Suite à la réunion MAE/MAI, il faut continuer à interpeller vos députés. Exprimez-vous, nous pouvons tous demander de l'aide en faisant part de notre parcours et notre souffrance mais surtout celui de nos enfants. On pense très fort à eux mais plus en silence!!!

1- Assemblée Nationale :

1.1 Philippe Baumel (Président du groupe amitié parlementaire franco-congolais) + Claude Bartolone : pour l'organisation d'une mission parlementaire en RDC

Police ignore judge’s order, to help Latvian family escape British social workers

Foreign authorities have little regard for our increasingly notorious 'child protection' system

Lord Justice Munby, the head of the family courts Photo: BRIAN SMITH

Christopher Booker By Christopher Booker 28 Nov

Over the past three years, mounting alarm has been expressed by the Council of Europe, the European Parliament and various eastern European governments at the readiness of Britain’s social workers to seize an ever-growing number of children from foreign parents working in the UK for what they consider to be wholly misguided reasons. Foreign government figures show, for instance, that these include 1,000 Polish children; and the number of Latvian families reporting the removal of their children has risen from seven in 2012 to 40 in 2013 and 89 in 2014.

Access refused

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Exit from Adoption Sector

Posted on November 24, 2015 by arcadopt

24th November 2015

Arc Adoption decided on the 16th September 2015 not to seek a renewal of our accreditation under the Adoption Act 2010, when the current accreditation expires on 7th February 2016.

This decision was taken due to:

After searching for her birth father, Mariah Mills was shocked to learn his famous identity — and devastated to find out he'd died.

This article was originally published as "I Found My Dad...Too Late" in the December 2007 issue of Cosmopolitan.

I've always known I was adopted. My mom and dad explained that although my birth parents really loved me, they hadn't been ready to take care of a baby. I had a happy, "normal" childhood with a loving family, but a huge question mark remained.

In Saint Paul, Minnesota, where I grew up, adoptees don't have access to their birth parents' names until they turn 19. So I spent my childhood wondering what they were like. The social services agency provided some info about them at the time of my adoption, so I knew general details, like their ages (19 and 21) and hair color (both brown). The older I got, the more anxious I was to know where my ancestors came from and where I got my looks. Because I was raised as an only child, I especially wanted to find out if I had siblings.

I thought about my birth parents most on my birthday. I'd wonder if they were thinking Hey, whatever happened to our daughter? I had a recurring fantasy that when I finally found them, they'd invite me to dinner, and lots of family members would be thrilled to meet me. It sounds silly, but that's what I wanted to happen.

---------- Forwarded message ---------

From: Jin Vilsgaard

Date: Sat, 21 Nov 2015 at 13:58

Subject: documents reg. closing of Terres Des Hommes adoption agency in dk

To: arundohle@gmail.com

American families represent the 400 adoptive families of Congolese children express their happiness to live with their Congolese children and will celebrate in Kinshasa "the recent news of the 72 children who have been reunited with their adoptive families".

American families who have adopted Congolese children met on Tuesday, November 17 at his office with the Congolese Minister in charge of Relations with Parliament, Prof. Tryphon Kin-kiey Mulumba to whom they explained, on behalf of all the other adoptive families - a total of 400 families - the love they have for their little ones and the happiness they hope to be close to being grouped under the same roof in their country of origin, the United States. Some parents have mastered one of our four languages, Lingala, a sign of attachment to their children. They delivered a public letter to the minister.

These families, who are very active on social networks, represent the four hundred American families who have adopted one or more Congolese children. Parents have made the trip to the Congo and some have been staying there for several months, far from their spouses but alongside their adopted children according to the legislation in force. But they cannot cross the national border with these young Congolese, departures having been suspended by the Government which suspects cases of trafficking in human organs taken from adopted children or, starting from the precautionary principle, it wants to shed all the light around the allegations which report cases of children falling into networks of prostitution or pedophilia.

The Government is examining a new updated legal framework expected in Parliament. A preliminary social inquiry into the moral aspects of the candidate family in the candidate's country of origin would be required. Similarly, the question of nationality and the right of visit of biological parents appears to be at the center of the debates. Meanwhile, in the United States, families are mobilizing, President Barack Obama and the State Department are sensitized. Just like in the Congo. Friday, December 20, these families will give a dinner in Kinshasa at the house of one of them - Lee and Bercky Ward - in the presence of the ambassador for children, our compatriot Solange Ghonda. Members of Parliament, senators, ministers, diplomats, trade representatives, etc., will be present and will “interact with several adoptive families and their children”.

At the end of October, the government announced that 72 files of adopted children had been released and that the parents were now authorized to leave the country with them. It was the Minister of Justice and Keeper of the Seals Alexis Thambwe Mwamba - a sign that the file is eminently political and no longer falls within the family sector - who made the announcement to the ambassadors of the countries of origin.

ISS-USA Reflects on National Adoption Month with Thomas Waterfield

November is National Adoption Month: a time to increase awareness about the need for adoptive families for thousands of children in the U.S. waiting for permanent families. This November, National Adoption Month sheds light on the critical need for finding families for older youth. More than 20,000 children age out of the U.S. foster care system every year without ever having found a permanent family. For more information on National Adoption Month, please see the Children’s Bureau’s Adoption Month page.

There is no specific day or month dedicated to intercountry adoption, yet there are millions of children around the world living without the care and protection of a family. We believe that our work is not done until every child is reunited with a family whose only goal is the safety and well-being of that child. It matters not where that family is from, nor whether they are biologically related to the child. If it is in the child’s best interest to be placed with a particular family, then all necessary steps must be taken to ensure that the placement occurs. It is the right of every child to have a family, and domestic and intercountry adoption are two ways to promote and protect that right.

ISS-USA became involved with intercountry adoption in the 1940s but substantially decreased its involvement through the 70’s and beyond. Yet, ISS-USA remains linked to the past through our archived adoption records and requests for assistance to find and connect adoptees to their biological families. At our recent 90th Anniversary celebration, we were honored to meet the grandson of the Hollywood icon, Jane Russell. Ajaye and his wife, Taylor, attended our 90th Event on behalf of his family, and in particular on behalf of Thomas Waterfield, Ajaye’s Dad, who was adopted by Russell in 1951.

Thomas was 15 months old in 1951 when Russell and her husband, Bob Waterfield, former Los Angeles Rams NFL star, adopted him. Thomas’ biological mother, Hannah Kavanagh, was living in London at the time and wanted to give her son a better life. Her family was living in deep poverty, and Hannah wanted better for her son. Hannah’s family migrated from Scotland to Ireland. They barely survived living in Northern Ireland, as they were living in extreme poverty with limited access to food and other basic necessities. Hannah eventually met her husband near Galway, Ireland, and together they immigrated to London. It was while the Kavanaghs were in London that Hannah read about Jane Russell’s scheduled command performances for the Queen of England. Hannah reached out to Jane Russell by letter, and the two met to arrange the informal adoption of Thomas. Jane Russell went on to establish her own adoption foundation to help orphans around the world find homes. This organization, the World Adoption International Fund (WAIF), was initially the international adoption and fundraising branch of ISS-USA. While ISS-USA’s focus shifted and the organizations parted ways to focus on their respective missions, their history is intertwined.

Wereldkinderen legt de experimentele adoptieprocedure in Senegal stil. Geheel buiten de procedure van onze organisatie om heeft een aanvrager een kind uit Senegal meegenomen. Omdat het onduidelijk is hoe de aanvrager het kind Nederland binnen heeft gekregen, doet het ministerie van Veiligheid en Justitie momenteel onderzoek.

Wereldkinderen zet daarom per direct alle lopende aanvragen on hold en heeft de direct betrokkenen daarover geïnformeerd. Adoptie is een goede manier om een kind te helpen, maar uitsluitend als dat in het belang van het kind is en volgens een betrouwbare en transparante procedure verloopt. Juist over de legitimiteit van de adoptie mag geen twijfel bestaan.

Wereldkinderen beschouwt deze illegale overkomst dan ook niet als adoptie en distantieert zich nadrukkelijk van deze zaak. Totdat volstrekt helder is hoe dit buiten Wereldkinderen om heeft kunnen gebeuren, leggen wij alle procedures in Senegal stil.

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