News & Events (archive) Three States join the 1993 Hague Intercountry Adoption Convention 20-12-2013 In December 2013, the following three States have joined the Hague Convention of 29 May 1993 on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption: Croatia (5 December), Haiti (16 December) and Serbia (18 December). The Convention will enter into force for all three States on 1 April 2014.

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Is it a School or Adoption Agency?

Is it a School or Adoption Agency? thumbnail

By: SEM Contributor on December 19, 2013.

The Law on Adoption in Sierra Leone is quite clear, and in line with various restrictions imposed by other countries in the interests of the children concerned, and their relevant culture. Significant in our case is the fact that it is not deemed appropriate for a single man to adopt, and if not a single man, presumably the question of two men acting as an adopting couple would be out of the question.

As Sierra Leone increases her contacts with the outside world, and a vibrant Diaspora, it is inevitable that prospective eligible adoptive parents living abroad should seek to adopt a child thus providing the prospects of a life overseas in a different country. In such cases, there is a requirement for the adopting parent to demonstrate an ability to look after the child in Sierra Leone for a period of six months prior to final permission being granted for emigration.

Malcolm Sweeting, Roger Leese

Leading international law firm Clifford Chance has named Hope and Homes for Children as this year's winner of its annual Access to Justice Award.

Hope and Homes for Children is an international charity that works to transform childcare systems in order to uphold and protect the rights of children. Specialising in the global eradication of children’s institutions, it supports governments in establishing modern family-based care systems. The charity’s ‘Opening Doors for Europe's Children’ campaign operates in 12 countries across Europe and calls on the EU and national governments to prioritise moving children out of institutions and into loving families – a process called deinstitutionalisation.

Hope and Homes for Children has won a donation of £50,000 from the Clifford Chance Foundation and 500 hours of pro bono volunteering. It plans to use the donation to fund a national audit of the childcare system in Ukraine to inform its Opening Doors campaign and the development of legislation, policy and best practice guides to drive change. The funds will also support the delivery of training to 30 professionals and government representatives in child rights and deinstitutionalisation. These professionals will train a further 370 who will be the 'engine' of the reform of the Ukrainian childcare system, leading the implementation of changes set out in legislation and policy.

Pro bono volunteering hours from the firm will be used to provide vital legal expertise to the Opening Doors campaign in Ukraine, including the delivery of the national audit. It will also support the training programme and will come from lawyers and business services staff from the firm's offices in Kyiv and around Europe.

Vertrek Marc Tijhuis

Algemeen directeur van Wereldkinderen, drs. M. (Marc) Tijhuis, zal de organisatie verlaten per 1 januari 2014.

De afgelopen jaren heeft Marc Tijhuis succesvol de organisatie door een moeilijke periode heen geloodst en Wereldkinderen weer 'op de kaart' gezet. Sterk teruglopende aantallen adopties hebben er helaas toe geleid dat begin 2013 een omvangrijke reorganisatie heeft moeten plaatsvinden. Door de geringere omvang en complexiteit van de huidige organisatie is in onderling overleg, om bedrijfseconomische redenen, besloten de positie van algemeen directeur aan te passen aan de huidige situatie. Wereldkinderen blijft voor u dezelfde professionele en flexibele kinderwelzijnsorganisatie die zich inzet voor de individuele rechten van het kind onder het motto ‘ieder kind heeft recht op een thuis’.

De taken van Marc Tijhuis worden vanaf 1 januari 2014 waargenomen door Inge Prenger. Inge Prenger is sinds 2000 in dienst bij wereldkinderen en is vanaf 2010 manager van de afdeling Adoptie.

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Orphanages to be re-examined

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By Martins E. Ssekweyama

Posted Monday, December 16 2013 at 02:00

The police say a number of orphanages in the souther region are illegally operating.

From: JUST-CHARTE@ec.europa.eu [mailto:JUST-CHARTE@ec.europa.eu]

Sent: Mittwoch, 11. Dezember 2013 10:58

To: arun.dohle@gmx.de

Subject: Reply to your letter addressed to the European Commission_Ares(2013)3694510

Please find attached a reply to correspondence to the European Commission.

interviews started with the two longest secondments

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Court upholds suspended jail terms for illegal baby adoption

6 December 2013

The appeal court in the Belgian city of Ghent has given suspended jail terms to a Dutch couple involved in an illegal adoption, according to Belgian media reports.

The Dutch couple were given eight months suspended jail terms for buying the baby, known as Donna, in a complicated law suit involving cross-border surrogacy and illegal adoption.

Baby Donna was born in February 2005 in Belgium via a surrogate on behalf of a Belgian couple where the wife was infertile. However, instead of handing the baby over to this couple as agreed, the surrogate mother sold the baby to a Dutch couple in Leusden for €15,000.

Italy steps into international adoption battle in U.K. after woman’s baby removed in forced c-section

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Nick Squires, John Bingham, Claire Duffin, The Telegraph | December 6, 2013 | Last Updated: Dec 6 1:39 PM ET

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The mother’s lawyers and Italian politicians said Thursday they had not expected the development.

Adoption row: Govt takes note, issues notice to Child panel

DC |5 December 2013

Mysore: Taking suo motu action on reports which appeared in Deccan Chronicle, the director, Department of Women and Child Development (DWCD) has ordered an investigation into the move to give two orphans from Mysore for adoption to an Italian couple without the knowledge of their guardians and has served notices on the Child Welfare Committee of Mysore and Bapuji Children’s Home.

Vatsalya Charitable Trust(VCT) in Bengaluru has been ordered to shift the children to a government home for boys in Mysore. The DWCD director perused records pertaining to the children before taking action, they revealed. The CWC Mysore and Bapuji Children’s home have reportedly been asked to explain why they failed to conduct an inquiry before declaring the children free for adoption and the department’s deputy director was asked why he failed to see the flaws.

Arun Dhole, a researcher from Germany, notes that although the Mysore CWC ordered the children to be shifted to VCT on May 15, 2012, certified copies obtained from the City Civil and Sessions Court in Mayo hall reveal the children were declared as legally free for adoption only on September 29 that year. “ it is astonishing, that the children were transferred to VCT, an inter-country adoption agency, before being declared free for adoption,” he contends.