Labour MP Simon Danczuck said the newly unearthed documents prove 'the full weight of the British establishment, including MI5, colluded in a cover-up'

The head of MI5 warned Margaret Thatcher’s Cabinet Secretary that an unnamed MP, understood to be a senior Tory, had “a penchant for small boys”, Government child abuse papers have revealed.

The newly unearthed documents link Mrs Thatcher’s former parliamentary secretary Sir Peter Morrison, former Home Secretary Leon Brittan, former diplomat Sir Peter Hayman and ex-minister Sir William van Straubenzee to the establishment paedophilia scandal.

All four men are now deceased.

In the bombshell letter written in 1986, MI5 boss Sir Antony Duff revealed two sources had accused an MP of child abuse.

At. New York City Idlewild Airport, Princess Sophie of Greece awaits a plane load of youngsters from her homeland - Orphans who have been adopted by American couples under the waif program of the International Social Service. Film actress Jane Russell founder of a Waif Division, is also here to greet the children. A good work that brings future citizens to the United States and which since its inauguration in 1953 has helped find American homes for thousands of orphans from Europe and the Far East.

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Added on July 16, 2015 12:46 pm

Over 58,100 children in Romania’s special protection system

by Irina Popescu

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Romania had over 58,100 children in the special protection system at the end of March this year, and only 4,063 adoptable children were registered in the National Register for Adoptions, according to data from the Labor Ministry.

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The Child Welfare Committee has decided to hand over the newborn girl - found abandoned at Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) on June 30 - to Prayas Bharti Trust, a government-authorised adoption agency.

The committee works under the state government's social welfare department.

The PMCH sources said the baby girl would shortly be handed over to the agency so that they could initiate the legal proceedings of adoption. "Around 15 people and families showed interest in adopting the baby girl but we were waiting for her health condition to improve. The baby had chest infection apart from some other problems. She was under constant monitoring of doctors. At present, she is absolutely fine. We would soon hand over the baby to Prayas Bharti Trust because the Child Welfare Committee has given instruction regarding the same," said an official of the PMCH paediatrics department on condition of anonymity.

The sources said the government-authorised adoption agency had told the committee that many had shown interest in adopting the baby and they had apprehended that the baby might go in wrong hands if the hospital did not abide by the rules of handing over the baby to some government-authorised adoption agency.

Suman Lal, president, Prayas Bharti Trust, said she had written a letter to the committee regarding the same.

4th Meeting of the Special Commission on the Hague Convention

NORDIC ADOPTION COUNCIL July 2015 Birgitta Löwstedt

4TH SPECIAL COMMISSION 8-12 June 2015

"20 years of the 1993 Hague Convention”

The objective of the 4th Special Commission (SC) was to review the practical operation of the 1993 Hague Convention; in the light of the 20 years that have passed since its birth. The discussions included presentations by some experts and some 'round table' sessions to introduce certain topics. After each presentation and round table sessions, there was time for discussions, questions and comments. Special for this year: A preparatory meeting was held on Saturday 6th June, for new States parties to the convention and for those States seriously considering ratification of, or accession to, the Convention. 19 States participated, with totally 33 experts. It was very successful and appreciated by participants.

When he was an attorney and administrator with the Florida Department of Children and Families in Tallahassee, Stephen Pennypacker helped write the new rules used by investigators that include gathering more information from families to assess their children’s safety.

Since returning to Gainesville as president and CEO of the Partnership for Strong Families in April 2014, he is now implementing those changes on the ground level.

If done right, he said the system will remove fewer children who don’t need to be removed from their families, will remove the right children and provide the right services to families “to teach them how to make their kids safe permanently so we can get out of their lives.”

The Partnership for Strong Families is one of 18 nonprofit organizations around the state that contracts with DCF to manage foster care and adoption services through 1998 legislation to privatize the foster care system. The organization — with headquarters in Gainesville — covers the 13 counties in the third and eighth judicial circuits in North Central Florida with 105 employees and another 150 subcontracted case managers. Most of the partnership’s $32 million annual budget comes from state and federal funding.

Pennypacker said the partnership takes over cases referred from DCF and determines what services and counseling families need. In cases where children are removed from the home, most are placed with relatives and family friends. Others are placed in foster care. After about a year, the partnership and courts may decide to terminate parental rights, leading to the potential for adoption.

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SUSTAINED EFFORT NEEDED TO CHANGE CULTURE OF INSTITUTIONALISATION OF PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES – MAIREAD MCGUINNESS

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Sustained efforts by the international aid community working with the EU are needed to address persistent problems of institutionalisation of people with disabilities in some European countries, according to Mairead McGuinness, MEP and Vice-President of the European Parliament who this week facilitated a discussion on advancing the issue with European Commissioner for Regional Development, Coriana Cretu, and Irish activist John Mulligan of Focus on Romania.

Concern was expressed that ways were being found to circumvent an initiative for which McGuinness was responsible, that is, the revision of EU structural fund rules that preclude the use of structural funds for the construction or renovation of institutions, so that funds can be directed towards projects that support community living.

Tuesday, July 07, 2015

THE INTERCOUNTRY ADOPTION DEBATE IS OVER

Despite what some may believe, the intercountry adoption debate is effectively over.

For years, the intercountry adoption (ICA) debate has involved a continuum involving three positions. One side, whom I will label the ICA cheerleaders, sees ICA as the best intervention for millions of children caught in destructive, dead-end situations with no adequate domestic solutions. Under the banner of “every child has a right to a family,” this position prioritizes ICA as often the only means of providing children living outside of parental care with a permanent family. The hope was there would routinely be hundreds of thousands of intercountry adoptions annually, such that there would no longer be “orphans” wasting away in orphanages or on the streets.

On the other side are the ICA opponents, who oppose any systemic practice of ICA as neo-colonialist exploitation which takes children from poor, usually non-white, vulnerable families and communities in developing and transition economies, and sends them to generally white, privileged families in rich nations. This perspectives emphasizes the child’s loss of family, community, culture, language, and nation. Some ICA opponents interpret the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) as opposed to any systemic ICA practice, and as incompatible with the Hague Adoption Convention.