BUDAPEST, Hungary — A string of infanticides and critical news stories on adoptions by foreigners have turned the plight of unwanted children into a hot topic in Hungary.

With more than 22,000 orphaned or abandoned children in state custody, people are asking questions about regulations and procedures in adoptions, as well as about Hungarians’ own willingness to adopt youngsters.

Economic distress and the loosening of social controls after the collapse of communism have exacerbated the problems of children without families--and of families with too many children.

Fifty-four infants have been reported killed in the last two years by parents who could not afford them.

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ublisher Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada

Author Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board, Canada

Publication Date 18 November 2002

Citation / Document Symbol HUN40383.E

Reference 2

After an appeal the Superior Court of Budapest has reduced the sentence given to the prominent Hungarian geneticist Endre Czeizel, who was found guilty in a lower court last year on four counts of being an accessory in a transatlantic infant adoption scheme, in violation of Hungary's Family Act (BMJ 2002;325:238 3 August). On 18 December the Superior Court dismissed three of the charges against Dr Czeizel, reduced the fourth to a violation of Hungary's adoption code, and fined him 200 000 forints (£540; $950; €760). Three of eight codefendants who were found guilty at the earlier trial also had their sentences reduced or dismissed. A July 2002 trial in Budapest Metropolitan Court culminated in Dr Czeizel being sentenced to 18 months in prison, suspended for two years. Six codefendants were given suspended sentences of one to three years, on jail terms ranging from three months to two years, and two were given reprimands. Dr Czeizel was originally accused of encouraging pregnant women—most of them impoverished and from the countryside—to give up their newborn babies for adoption in the United States in exchange for a trip to that country, where they would enjoy a few weeks of high quality accommodation, give birth, and receive cash for relinquishing their infants. Dr Czeizel's co-conspirator, prosecutors said, was Marianna Gáti, a Hungarian with American citizenship currently living in the United States. Prosecutors alleged that Ms Gáti, together with social workers and lawyers, set up an organisation to arrange adoptions of Hungarian babies for American couples, charging them tens of thousands of dollars for her services. Dr Czeizel steadfastly denied receiving any money for arranging adoptions. However, during the lower court's sentencing hearing the judge read a letter from Ms Gáti to Dr Czeizel's personal secretary saying, "$500 is yours and $1000 to Dr C." In January Ms Gáti pleaded guilty in a Californian court to one count of the federal offence of wire fraud (using interstate communication facilities to carry out a scheme to defraud), in connection with allegedly arranging the sale of as many as 30 Hungarian infants, some for as much as $80 000.

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In this radio broadcast of 'The public gallery', presenter Coen Verbraak talks to and about distant mothers and children who have been donated for adoption.

It still marks the lives of mothers and their children: forced renunciation. Until well into the 20th century, it was a disgrace in the Netherlands when unmarried women became pregnant. They had to give up their baby under pressure from the 1950s when adoption became legal. Because, the thought was, that is better for both mother and child.

Babies were often taken from their mothers immediately after birth, and some women were blindfolded during labor so that mother and child would not bond.

An estimated 13,000 mothers gave up about 15,000 children. This happened from the moment the adoption law (1956) was introduced until the legalization of abortion (1984). For many of them, it felt like they had no choice. Children feel unwanted, while traumatized mothers sometimes look for their child for a lifetime. It caused lasting embarrassment and sorrow to mother and child.

To this day, this black page in Dutch history is relatively unknown to people. The Ministry of Justice and Security recently launched an investigation to find out exactly what happened and whether there is anything to blame for the organizations involved. Children who have been relinquished are currently investigating whether they can sue the state. And reinforced by the stories of other distance mothers, more and more women are gradually telling their stories. Yet guilt and shame remain by far the majority of this group in the way.

Shareable link to voice recording: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1VOfHwe0Yh6YuUIsER-XYeMjSUGe3FBO2

Aid projects from our region: where the donation franc is in good hands

It's cold and uncomfortable outside. René Hofmann stands in the door of his family home in Safenwil and asks for a warm living room. Here Marcel Hauser sits at the dining table and looks at photos from Ethiopia on the computer. The Zofinger recently made them on a trip with René Hofmann. Hauser's son Julien (13) was also there. "He wanted to see Ethiopia and learn how people live there," says Marcel Hauser. The independent organizational consultant was with René Hofmann for the first time in the world's most populous landlocked country five years ago. The two men know each other through the Safenwil Association Aid Project Ethiopia. "The Reformed Church Oftringen has been supporting these projects for several years," explains Marcel Hauser, who works as a social deacon on a part-time basis. The 59-year-old is impressed by the wide-ranging commitment and direct help: "We live here like in the land of milk and honey, while the majority of people in Ethiopia have nothing." Hauser tells of the trip and the capital Addis Ababa.

In the shadow of luxurious hotels and shiny high-rise buildings, thousands live in the slums on the brink of existence. One-room corrugated iron huts often serve as homes for entire families. Not even that had a widowed mother, who lived with her four daughters on the street makeshift under a small tarp. Unprotected from violence and against cold nights and rain. "She was so friendly, calm and never asked for help," recalls Hauser and continues: "Thanks to René Hofmann and the association, the family now lives safely in a modest apartment." Like this family, many people in Ethiopia lack adequate access to drinking water and there is no sanitation or sanitation. Most are also excluded from state health care.

Helping people help themselves

The aim of the Safenwil association is to help people to help themselves. Since 2006, the focus has been on the construction of toilet facilities that improve the hygienic conditions of hundreds of people. The construction of wells and wells also guarantees hundreds of people access to clean water and helps reduce child mortality.

Alabama officials failed to protect multiple children who were abused and neglected for years while in foster care, a series of lawsuits filed today allege.

Foster children who lived with Daniel and Jenise Spurgeon were sexually, physically, verbally, mentally and emotionally abused, according to the four lawsuits. While the children were starved, isolated, tortured and assaulted, the lawsuits allege, the Alabama Department of Human Resources ignored signs of abuse and neglect.

The lawsuits, each of which seeks $25 million and changes at DHR, were filed in Lauderdale County Circuit Court on behalf of four victims, including three who are still minors. To protect their identities, the victims are identified only by ages and initials: J.J., A.R., I.S. and H.S.

The defendants include DHR, Commissioner Nancy Buckner, eight other unnamed DHR employees and the Spurgeons. (Daniel Spurgeon is serving a 25-year prison sentence for criminal charges brought in connection with the abuse. Jenise Spurgeon is awaiting trial.)

Daniel and Jenise Spurgeon

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The authorities have uncovered a multimillion dollar international ring in which hundreds of poor Andean children were kidnapped or bought from their mothers and sold under forged birth certificates and adoption papers to childless couples from the United States and Europe.

A Bogota lawyer has been jailed on charges involving the smuggling abroad of 500 to 600 youngsters from Colombia and possibly 100 more from Peru. In neighboring Ecuador, officials have turned up more than a hundred questionable adoptions by Italian families.

The fate of the children sold from Sri Lanka

In the 1980s, hundreds of Sri Lankan babies were adopted by Swiss parents - many illegally. There is little hope for those affected.

Anja Konings would like to simply disappear into the crowd, make herself invisible. Something the 38-year-old has never succeeded in doing. She stood out as a child. At school they called the other children "Schoggistängeli", the teacher showed her in a mirror that they were right to say that Anja was different.

Her parents told her that she was not from her mother's womb. She was born to another woman in another country called Sri Lanka. Pictures from July 1982 near Colombo show how her adoptive mother held her in her arms for the first time. She only wore a Lümpli. Anja Konings did not learn more about the how and why of her adoption. "But I always felt that something didn't go together."

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Amajor discrepancy between Nepal government and foreign records of the number of Nepali children adopted in North America and Europe has exposed a trafficking ring that involves various child welfare agencies in Kathmandu.

The Ministry of Women, Children and Senior Citizens has records of only 64 children from Nepal sent for adoption to ten western countries from 2010 to 2019. However, a list submitted to the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH) by the US Department of State and the nine other countries reveals that 242 Nepali children were taken for adoption in those nine years.

The ten countries are the United States, Denmark, France, Norway, Switzerland, Canada, Germany, Belgium, Italy and Sweden. There are 178 more Nepali children adopted internationally than the government has records for. Why the discrepancy?

“The data we have is authentic,” maintains Ministry spokesperson Gyanendra Paudel. “We have no idea how the details in other countries showed more numbers.”

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