Sara Denbok is a happy wife and mother living in Collingwood, and every year she celebrates her birthday given to her by Mother Teresa.

Sara didn't come with a birthday, or anything, when she arrived at Nirmala Shishu Bhavan (Mother Teresa's orphanage in Calcutta). She knew only that her name was Bindu (water drop).

Sara was rescued by a police officer from the gutter, filthy and wounded, perhaps by wild dogs, in Calcutta, India in 1972. She was about three years old, but there was no way to know.

Sara doesn't remember anything from her life before the age of seven. Though the orphanage put up posters to find her birth parents, nobody came forward to claim the toddler.

"Though Mother Teresa was, to many people, simply a woman to be admired, to me she is much more," said Denbok. "For if it was not for her, I would probably not be alive today."

Ending child institutionalisation in Europe

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Published: 01/07/2014 - 08:29

The EU has spent hundreds of millions of euros aimed at improving the lives of children in programmes that ended up locking them up in dysfunctional state institutions, writes Georgette Mulheir.

Georgette Mulheir is the Chief Executive Officer of Lumos, a foundation which helps prevent abandonment of children and babies.

Holt's 2014 Heritage Tour of India; A Recap

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Dean Hale, director of programs in India, reflects on Holt’s first heritage tour of India.

Our inaugural heritage tour of India went off well! We had four adoptees on this tour, all of whom traveled with family members. All the adoptees visited the orphanage where they lived in India and met staff members who remembered them.

The India tour group in front of the Taj Mahal. “This iconic wonder of the world is up to the reputation, and a testament for a man’s love in honor of his late wife,” says Dean.

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Analysis: Denmark should adopt children from fewer countries

By Lisbeth Quass, Berlingske News

27 June 2014 01:12

Need to cut down on the number of countries that adopt children from Denmark, is the recommendation of an analysis by the Ministry of Social Affairs.

Denmark will in future adopt children from fewer countries. This is the recommendation of an analysis of the adoption system from the Ministry of Social Affairs, writes Politiken.

Gender Ministry to centralise child adoption

June 24, 2014 | Filed under: Latest news | Posted by: VibeGhana

The Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection (MoGCSP) has suspended child adoption to enable it to deal with challenges associated with the adoption process in the country.

The initiative is also to protect adopted children and their foster parents.

In view of that, the Ministry has commenced a review of the adoption processes to establish a Central Adoption Authority in line with mandated international regulation and obligations.

America’s Unseen Export: Children, Most of Them Black

BY REBECCA BUCKWALTER-POZA • June 24, 2014 • 4:00 AM

Sister Irene of New York Foundling Hospital with children. Sister Irene is among the pioneers of modern adoption, establishing a system to board out children rather than institutionalize them. (Photo: Jacob Riis/Public Domain)

The theories and policies that govern American adoptions are out of date. At least until they’re changed—to keep state and private agencies from applying the law in such a way as to prioritize heterosexual couples—you can expect the outgoing adoption industry to continue growing, raising important questions about race and rights.

“Just as the U.S. looks to China and other countries, Canadians look to the United States,” says Jane Turner of Adopt Illinois, a private adoption agency. Adopt Illinois is one of 26 agencies in the U.S. accredited by the State Department to handle adoptions involving an American-born child and foreign parents. This practice, known as outgoing adoption, is raising important questions not only about entrenched attitudes toward race and adoption, but the rights of our youngest citizens.

Failed adoption agency had little oversight, jurors told

By Brian Caldwell

KITCHENER — There was almost no financial oversight of an international adoption agency that collapsed amid scandal five years ago, jurors at a fraud trial heard Monday.

Chris Hughes, a founding board member at Imagine Adoption, testified directors had a largely "visionary" role as the Christian organization rapidly grew to include hundreds of clients.

That meant the board of directors, a legal requirement for a non-profit, had no involvement in hiring or firing, setting salaries or approving day-to-day expenditures.

L’orphelinat des petits Congolais menacé

Accueil Monde - lundi 23 juin 2014 08h00 - Catherine DEHAY - L'Avenir

Julienne Mpemba (à droite) espère sauver l’orphelinat que l’ASBL Tumaini a ouvert à Kinshasa.

Julienne Mpemba (à droite) espère sauver l’orphelinat que l’ASBL Tumaini a ouvert à Kinshasa.-Julienne Mpemba

Dans une semaine, faute de pouvoir payer le loyer, l’orphelinat de Kinshasa qui hébergeait les enfants congolais arrivés fin mai en Belgigue devra fermer ses portes. 36 enfants risquent de se retrouver à la rue.

As many endangered children as possible to be placed with foster families

July 23, 2014 4:52 PM

The Government’s objective is to ensure that as many endangered children as possible are placed with foster families, Minister of State for Social Affairs and Inclusion Károly Czibere, from the Ministry of Human Resources, told Hungarian news agency MTI on Tuesday in Szeged.

On the occasion of the opening of the 18th Foundation to Support State Cared and Endangered Youth (Ágota) camp, Mr. Czibere also mentioned that following the new regulations introduced in January, the Ministry will collect and evaluate their experiences concerning foster parents and financing networks during the coming two or three months, in view of which there might be certain corrections, but no significant restructuring is expected, he added.

János Kothencz, founder of the Ágota Foundation and head of the national meeting, who was also raised in state care, said that last year the Foundation successfully carried out an effective promotion campaign with the support of the Ministry. By the end of the year, over one thousand children in specialist care were placed with families and the placement of a further five hundred children is still ongoing. Adoption has become easier, and several bureaucratic elements have been eliminated.