CHENNAI: Social worker Shaila Samuel said, in a recent statement to TNIE, that baseless and vexatious allegations by the then Chennai Child Welfare Committee chairperson have completely undone her good work over past three decades.

She referred to a series of articles published in TNIE on June 23, 26, and 30, of 2010 in which the then CWC, Chennai chairperson was quoted as referring to Shaila as the “queen-pin of adoption ring” and an alleged “child trafficker” and “she used Guild of Service (GoS) name, stamp and other related documents to carry out the unlawful adoption when she was working with GoS.”

Rebutting the articles, Shaila said the allegations were made by a statutory authority without any inquiry or an explanation being sought from her. “Everything I toiled to build over 30 years of unwavering effort, unconditional social service and unyielding sacrifice, all came crumbling down solely due to such allegations,” she said. She said she was scorned by her peers and despised by members of her community. 

“All my good work was completely undone without any recourse to defend myself,” she said. According to Shaila, on October 7, 2009, the Commissioner of Social Welfare issued a letter to Cheshire Homes, India to grant permission to transfer five medically challenged children to rehabilitate them. On December 4, 2009, the then CWC, Chennai chairperson certified her to be the fittest person to take temporary custody of the children, she said. On April 7, 2010, the Probation Officer of Coimbatore declared the child legally free for adoption.

“Yet, out of the blue, the then chairperson of the CWC directed the Probation Officer, Erode to conduct further inquiries. The officer submitted a report dated June 16, 2010, stating he had traced the child’s parents and they had abandoned the child in the hospital as chances of the child surviving were very bleak. After five years, on learning that the child was still alive, the biological parents wanted the child back,” she said.

After her American foster mother died, Mahogany found out she was adopted and now wants to know more.

Over 23 years later, Mahogany has returned to Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh where she's running from pillar to post, trying to find her identity, roots, and any connection to her biological family in the city.

"I was given the name Rakhi at birth, said 26-year-old Mahogany who found out about her real name only a few years ago," she said.

Back in 2002, railway officials found her abandoned at the Charbagh Railway Station and sent her to an orphanage called Lilavati Munsi Bal Greh.

Speaking to The Quint, Mahogany said, "I was adopted by a US woman in America. I was taken there in 2002. I was taught to reject my culture and I didn't know anything about my history. She didn't tell me where I was adopted from or anything about it."

Maryland family faces international adoption nightmare: Their daughter is stuck in Nepal

Jimmy Lippert Thyden of Ashburn, Virginia told Chilean President Gabriel Boric during a visit to Washington: 'You can't make this right, but you can make it better.'

A group of U. S. citizens stolen from their birth mothers in Chile converged on the U.S. capital Saturday to confront visiting Chilean President Gabriel Boric.

They left with a promise.

"How can I help?" Boric told Jimmy Lippert Thyden, an Ashburn, Virginia man who was taken from his mother in Chile as a baby and adopted out to unsuspecting parents in the U.S. about 40 years ago.

It was a major victory for Thyden and other stolen children, who have struggled for years to get the attention of Chile's government.

A growing number of Indian couples are specifically requesting to adopt girls, according to adoption agencies in the country. Data from the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) shows that more girls are being adopted compared to boys. Some couples believe that daughters are more caring and attached to their families, while others want to challenge the traditional preference for male children.

Pune-based couple Protima Sharma and Shyne Kochuveed wanted to have one biological child and a second via adoption. When they were unable to conceive, the doctor suggested they go for in-vitro fertilisation. But the 30-somethings decided they would go for adoption right away. While filling the adoption registration form in 2015, they opted for a girl child — the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) which oversees adoptions in India allows parents to state a gender preference or remain neutral. Soon, they brought home a three-month-old baby girl and named her Ivanka.
In 2017, they registered for another adoption and once again ticked the box for ‘girl child’. After a wait of two years, they became proud parents to threemonth-old Verushka. “Friends and family members were surprised. They would ask us why we didn’t ask for a boy, at least this time around, to complete our family. But we didn’t feel the need to defend our choice. I would tell them, ‘this is our complete family’,” says Sharma.
Sharma and Kochuveed are among a small but growing number of Indian couples who prefer a girl child. A look at CARA’s statistics show that more girls are being adopted compared to boys. In 2021-22, 1,698 girls were adopted as op posed to 1,293 boys. While these figures also reflect an unfortunate reality — more girls are being abandoned and, therefore, landing in the adoption pool, senior officials in CARA and adoption counsellors in cities say they have witnessed an uptick in the proportion of parents who specifically ask for a girl child. “Over the past three years, we have observed that seven out of 10 couples who register for adoption opt for a girl child while filling the form. The other three are neutral and open to a child of either gender but when you ask them what their heart desires, two still say they yearn for a girl. Only one couple would perhaps say, ‘I would like a boy’,” says Sunil Arora, executive director of Bal Asha Trust, which is one of the leading adoption centres in Mumbai.
Arora, who counsels parents considering adoption, points out that while earlier this trend was seen only in urban centres, now a sizeable number of parents from smaller towns is also asking for girl children. This is heart-warming considering India has a long-standing obsession with ‘raja betas’, especially in the more patriarchal north where daughters are considered a ‘burden’ (thanks to dowry culture) and sons, a ‘boon’ as they take over the family business and produce heir/heirs who carry forward the family name.
 

Smriti Gupta, co-founder of a non-profit called ‘Where are India’s Chil dren’ which aims to change the mindset about adoption, says the landscape of adoption has changed in a big way. “Now, a lot of families adopt out of choice, and not because they are unable to have a biological child and have exhausted all possible medical treatments. They want to become ‘parents’ and are less fixated on gender,” says Gupta.
Some feel that daughters are more caring and attached to their families. “Others fear that a boy may not take the news that he was adopted positively when he is a little older and may not care for his parents,” says Parul Agrawal, founder of the Adoption Action Group, a support group for prospective adoptive parents. She adds that a few families also feel that if they are “elevating the lifestyle” of an orphan, they would rather help a girl. “We have a history of believing that looking after a kanya gets you more punya; agar savarni hai to ladki ki zindagi savaro,” she says.

NAVI MUMBAI: A newborn girl was found in a duffle bag. She was abandoned by a masked man in the common passage of Laxmi Hospital and fitness club in Ghansoli on Friday.
The incident has been captured by the CCTV camera. The baby’s cries were heard by the gym members who informed the owner and summoned the Koparkhairne police. Since the baby was alive, the cops took her to NMMC hospital, Vashi for a medical check-up. All health parameters were normal, the cops kept her at the NGO Vishwa Balak Kendra in Nerul.
 

An FIR has been registered against the baby's mother and the masked man who abandoned her.
Constable Priti Nehe said, “I am willing to adopt the abandoned girl child.”

Sushant Parte, gym instructor said, “I want to adopt the abandoned girl child and shall follow the legal process.”

We also published the following articles recently

 

Jharkhand: Abandoned child gets new home and family in Italy In a historic move, an adoption agency in Jharkhand's Dumka has granted international adoption for the first time in the district. An Italian couple, residing in Italy, has adopted a child whom the mother and family had rejected. The couple, who had been trying to have children for years, registered on a website and went through all the necessary legal procedures to bring the child back to Italy. This is the 18th inter-country adoption from Dumka since 2018.103747215

No HC relief for 2 abandoned girls in med seat quota The Bombay High Court has refused to direct the Directorate of Medical Education and Research to consider two abandoned girls for admission to undergraduate medical courses under the 1% horizontal reservation quota. The court stated that granting interim relief would deprive other orphans of seats in the medical courses. The petitioners argued that the government resolution discriminated between orphans and abandoned children, violating the Right to Equality. The court rejected the interim application and stated that the issues raised would require further examination at the final hearing.103770616

Hundreds of traumatised children are thought to have lost their families in disaster

People in western Libya have rallied round to provide care and breastmilk for young children orphaned by the devastating floods that hit the coastal city of Derna on 10 September.

Hundreds of traumatised babies and young children are thought to have lost their parents in Derna, where whole neighbourhoods were wiped out after two dams broke.

“Infant children do not wish to use artificial feeding bottles, which forced us to search for breastfeeding mothers,” said Mona Alashi, a volunteer.

Nawal Alghazal, a 62-year-old resident of Benghazi, has started a campaign to collect breastmilk from women already breastfeeding their own children and distribute it to children whose mothers are dead or missing.

Are You Ok Baby Twitter Review: Directed by Lakshmy Ramakrishnan, music by Ilaiyaraja and produced by Monkey Creative Lab, Are You OK Baby movie is released worldwide today.

Samuthrakani In Lakshmi Ramakrishnan Film

Are You Ok Baby starring Samuthrakani, Abhirami, Mysskin, Pavel Navageethan, Mullai Arasi, Uday Mahesh and Aadukalam Naren is the fifth film from director Lakshmy Ramakrishnan. CS Premkumar is the editor of this film. Cinematography is done by Krishnasekar TS.

It is important to note that the film has got positive response from the special media premiere which was organized by the film crew in Chennai recently. Checkout this space for more interesting twitter reviews about the film Are You Ok Baby:

"Majority of audience were tuned to watch only those films with blood, drugs and violence. It is rare to see small films wining big at the box office. This film 'Are You Ok Baby?' has the scope to become a hit like Sillu Karuppatti and Good Night. And I'm sure that 'Are You OK Baby?' movie will stir up debates and controversies. There are multiple layers in the film with ruthless dialogues and adult content, censored with a clean U/A certificate.

Alison Christiana was able to track down her history with the help of Banet, a group of Korean women supporting and helping Korean adoptees

Alison Christiana, aged 40, is being reunited with her family 38 years after she was sent to the US for adoption at the age of 2.
Christiana said Wednesday she was planning to visit Cheongju, a city in North Chungcheong Province, the next day to be reunited with her older brother. She managed to ultimately locate her family with the help of Cheongju municipal officials.

Christiana, who works as a photographer in California, has visited Korea twice since 2008 in the hope of tracking down her family.

Born in 1983, Christiana stayed at North Chungcheong Hope Center, a now-closed orphanage in Cheongju, from May to October 1985. That November, she was sent to the US for adoption. The only adoption record in her possession listed her name as Lee Ja-yeong.

After various attempts to find her family turned up nothing, Christiana got in touch with Banet, a group that helps adoptees find their roots. Banet in turn asked the city of Cheongju for assistance.

The Committee on Enforced Disappearances today co-hosted an event at the Palais des Nations in Geneva to mark the first anniversary of the joint statement on illegal intercountry adoptionsOpens in new window.  Speakers discussed the content and objectives of the joint statement, highlighted its importance for victims and identified future actions to promote its implementation. 

Olivier de Frouville, Chair of the Committee on Enforced Disappearances, said that the purpose of the joint event was to consider how to implement the joint statement and how to ensure that victims’ rights were protected.  Mr. de Frouville stressed the importance of listening to the voices of victims, who went through great personal stress to tell their stories.     

Mr. de Freuville said there was a rising tide of people adopted during the 1970s and later who were now looking for their relatives.  States needed to respect human rights conventions and instruments, and the joint statement constituted a practical guide in that regard.  The treaty body system offered several procedures that could be triggered to help persuade States to implement effective measures.  In closing, Mr. de Freuville said the practice of illegal intercountry adoptions was a multilateral and a societal issue, and needed to be treated accordingly. 

The joint event was co-hosted by the Committee on the Rights of the Child; the Special Rapporteur on the Promotion of Truth, Justice, Reparation, and Guarantees of Non-recurrence; the Special Rapporteur on the Sale and Sexual Exploitation of Children including child prostitution, child pornography, and other child sexual abuse material; the Special Rapporteur on Trafficking in Persons, especially women and children; and the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances. 

During the session, two panel discussions were held, the first presenting testimonies of victims and States’ experiences, and the second discussing the relevance of the joint statement.  In addition to the co-hosts, representatives of the Governments of France and Ukraine, civil society organisations and persons affected by illegal intercountry adoptions participated in the panels.