Expert panel on adoptions in the making

Parents or children who have doubts about their adoption procedure can have that procedure investigated. In addition, there must also be an in-depth and broader independent investigation into problems with adoptions from the past. To this end, an expert panel will be set up to formulate recommendations for future policy on intercountry adoption. That is what Flemish Minister for Welfare Jo Vandeurzen (CD&V) said in the Welfare Committee following a hearing about possible fraudulent adoptions from Ethiopia. In recent weeks, testimonies have been popping up about possible mistakes, such as parents who were wrongly declared dead or children who had to lie about their age. (belga)

Dutch:

Ouders of kinderen die twijfels hebben over hun adoptieprocedure, kunnen die procedure laten onderzoeken. Daarnaast moet er ook een diepgaand en breder onafhankelijk onderzoek komen naar problemen met adopties uit het verleden. Daarvoor zal een expertenpanel in het leven geroepen worden dat aanbevelingen formuleert voor het toekomstig beleid rond interlandelijke adoptie. Dat heeft Vlaams minister van Welzijn Jo Vandeurzen (CD&V) gezegd in de commissie Welzijn naar aanleiding van een hoorzitting over mogelijk frauduleuze adopties uit Ethiopië. De voorbije weken doken er getuigenissen op over mogelijke fouten, zoals ouders die onterecht dood werden verklaard of kinderen die moesten liegen over hun leeftijd. (belga)

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According to Kerala State Child Rights Commission, of the total 737 children in government-run child care institutions in the state, 300 had returned to their homes as part of the summer vacation.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With institutional care hindering the normal growth and healthy psychological development of children, the state government is mulling deinstitutionalisation. It will be the District Child Welfare Committees which will spearhead the deinstitutionalising efforts.

The DCWC while giving priority for reuniting children with their families and looking for alternative care, including foster care and adoption, has also been directed to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of children in residential care. The decision was taken during the one-day workshop on ‘A Road Map for Child Protection in Kerala’ at the Government Guest House, Thycaud, on Tuesday.

“Across the world, efforts are on to reduce the number of children in institutional care. The prime reason for the same is the impact of institutionalisation on children. Also, the statistics available with us shows that a majority of the children in residential care could, in turn, be reunited with their families,” said C J Antony, member, Kerala State Child Rights Commission.

According to him, of the total 737 children in government-run child care institutions in the state, 300 had returned to their homes as part of the summer vacation.

The eight-day-old infant who had gone missing from government general hospital in Sangareddy on Tuesday was traced by the police in Yellareddy of Kamareddy. According to the police, a couple, Bangari Santosh and Shoba whose baby died in Niloufer hospital in Hyderabad had inquired for a baby at Sangareddy hospital for adoption. Later, they stole the baby from Special Newborn Care Unit (SNCU) at Mother and Child Care Centre (MCCH). The police traced the couple in Kamareddy and brought them to Sangareddy to hand over the baby to the parents. The police later took the couple into custody.

Foster care, a system practised throughout the world, is another means by which the adoption scheme is being rejuvenated. The Service Center in Mumbai was the first to place Indian children in foster care in 1971. Foster care, a pet scheme of WCD Minister Maneka Gandhi was legalised in India through the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) Act, 2014. Until recently, only children in orphanages have been placed for adoption. Abandoned and surrendered children, while they await an adoption home, can also be allocated to foster families. The government provides the foster family with a maximum sum of 2,500 rupees a month. However, one of the criteria on which they are selected is that they are financially comfortable and do not need to rely on the money allotted to them. There is also a provision for group foster care in which a family can provide for more than one child, but no more than two. The families are generally from the middle-, and sometimes even, lower-income bracket. They are responsible for the children’s education, health, food and general well-being. Foster care ends when the child is eighteen but can be extended to twenty-one. The time frame for fostering is almost always unknown; it can be short, medium or long term. The foster family has the first right of adoption after a five-year period and it is only if the child is adopted that he has the same legal rights as a biological child. For children it is preferable to care which has thus far proven to be deleterious both emotionally and mentally for the child.

Among the children who can benefit from the programme are those under seven years of age who have not been adopted after a minimum of one year of being declared legally free for adoption, children whose parents are mentally ill and unable to care for the child, children having one or both parents in jail, children whose parents submit a request to the government asking to surrender their child due to terminal illness and children whose families are temporarily unable to provide for them. The foster parents must be Indian citizens, both above the age of thirty-five and having an income whereby they can provide for the child. They need to be in good health and show proof of not having HIV, TB or Hepatitis B. Lastly, they must be without criminal conviction or indictment.

Since Independence, with increased urbanisation, many Indians have moved from joint families to nuclear ones. Foster care is in a way replacing the role played by extended families. Foster Care India has been the most active organisation in promoting this form of childcare. It is based in Rajasthan and has placed children with success in that area. It has also created consciousness and influenced policymaking. As of now, however, there are some more organisations that place children in foster care: Kerala has fourteen and Maharashtra has eight.

The only stipulation which one can seriously question is why the programme limits itself to children under seven years old when there are so many older children in the same predicament…

According to the Juvenile Justice Act, children who are considered to be distressed fall in one of two categories: those in conflict with the law and those who need care and protection. The act mandates childcare institutions in every district. Yet, many of these homes under the auspices of the federal and state governments and the NGOs are emblematic of abuse, especially of a sexual nature. Children, both male and female, are frequently raped, usually by staff or older boys... A great number of these institutions where sexual abuse has been reported are registered under laws, such as the Societies Registration Act, the Charitable and Religious Trusts Act, the Women and Children Institutions Act, but not under the Juvenile Justice (JJ) Act. In fact, many of the homes and orphanages are not registered at all, and thus they avoid government and police inspection. However, Maneka Gandhi appealed to state adoption bodies to ensure that all orphanages were registered under the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015, before the end of 2017. She reported that four thousand of the total nine thousand childcare institutions were still not registered under the JJ Act and were thus operating illegally. She also stated that forty thousand boys and girls were abiding in these unregistered homes. Gandhi’s constant attention to these issues will certainly pay off…

Children are not merchandise

Last week there was plenty of news about the fraudulent practices in adoptions from Ethiopia, which will also be the subject of a parliamentary committee this week. More and more stories are being published about malpractice in adoptions. Time to ask us whether international adoption is a good child protection measure.

Danger of exploiting global inequalities

At the end of April we - academics and professionals working on the topic of adoption from different perspectives - took the initiative to organize a symposium entitled "Intercountry Adoption: How should it go on?" Which focused on this question. The aim of this symposium was to make socio-scientific - anthropological, sociological, historical, legal and ethical-philosophical - insights into adoption more widely known. In Flanders, adoption has until now mainly been studied from a psychological and pedagogical perspective.

Such research yields valuable insights into the interactions within adoptive families, but social science research has the characteristic that it studies transnational adoption as a social and social phenomenon, and therefore encounters faster the unequal global power relationships and socio-economic inequalities underlying these. practice.

To clarify, for those who are reading the misinformation spread about me personally and ICAV’s position since June this year, with regards to a stance on UNCRC and Hague Convention on ICA:-

As stated to the entity spreading the misinformation, as the Founder of ICAV, I have always supported the UNCRC and it’s position with regards to intercountry adoption. I have tried to openly educate adoptees and the adopted community about it. I have continually encouraged people to understand the Hague Convention and it’s pitfalls in intercountry adoption. I have pointed out for US based intercountry adoptees, it’s harder to fight for what the UNCRC represents because their adopted country hasn’t even been a signatory and therefore not legally bound – so their first and foremost guidance on intercountry adoption is the Hague Convention on ICA. Of course, it would be awesome if the US were ever to become a signatory to UNCRC and why this isn’t the case? I’m sure is another essay in itself and I am no expert on that!

Personally, I believe the Hague & UNCRC fails to protect us intercountry adoptees for fundamental key reasons:

1. We are never checked up on (protected) for more than the minimum timeframe (sometimes specified by our birth country) once the adoption transaction occurs. The post placement report is provided by the adoptive parents but no followup is ever done by the adoptee themselves at an age where they can give a true account at a mature age. Intercountry adoption cannot be argued to be a child protection measure as compared to foster care, permanent care or any other alternative form of care where the child is still within the State’s control and care. No receiving country even gathers statistics on how our adoptions turn out.

2. We have NO rights – legally or economically – for any representation or help if our adoption turns out to be a failure (either from abusive families, deportation, lack of citizenship, falsification of papers, and being rehomed), or if we are lost or stolen for intercountry adoption. We are left to the whims of whichever country has taken us in, whether they be merciful or not. What message is given by the world’s largest receiving country who actively allows the deportation of adoptees back and treats them as “less than” citizens. Not to mention birth countries who receive the deported adoptee back AND continues to send more of it’s children after this occurs.The Hague and UNCRC both remain toothless tigers for there exists no entity or process to investigate any questionable actions by signatories.

Back in 1953, New Zealand was rocked by an enormous scandal when a group called the Motherhood of Man Movement were caught running a baby farming scheme.

The movement was originally set up to help unwed mothers, but it turned out its chair and treasurer had been forcing the women in their care to give up their babies to rich donors and they were pocketing the cash.

The scandal led directly to the foundation of New Zealand's modern adoption laws.

Ione Cussens is the curator of Papakura Museum, who has written an academic paper on the scandal.

Motherhood of Man was established in 1942 by a woman called May Harvey, she says.

CB-CID, on Tuesday, took into custody the three suspects arrested in connection with the child adoption racket case.

NAMAKKAL: CB-CID, on Tuesday, took into custody the three suspects arrested in connection with the child adoption racket case. Led by DSP Krishnan, the CB-CID officials moved the district court on Tuesday and sought the custody of the retired assistant nurse, a middleman and an ambulance driver, who had all been lodged in Salem Central Prison.

Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) M Karunanidhi allowed two-day custody of the retired nurse and three-day custody of the other two. CB-CID officials were directed to produce the suspects in court on Thursday and Friday, respectively.

NEW DELHI: Central Adoption Resource Authority (https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/Central-Adoption-ResourceAuthority) (CARA (https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/CARA)) — India’s only designated body for child adoption — has

urged the Delhi high court to make a no-objection certificate (NOC) from the agency mandatory for any inter-country adoption.

Recently, a division bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice V K Rao agreed to examine the concerns raised by

CARA.

In its plea, CARA has challenged a 2016 order by a single judge for setting a wrong precedent by holding that a NOC by CARA was not needed in inter-country adoptions as long as other requirements were met.

Commissie Welzijn houdt extra zitting over mogelijk gesjoemel met adopties uit Ethiopië

ttr 02 mei 2019 18u10 Bron: belga

DEEL VIA FACEBOOK TWEETREAGEER

Wege en Chucha (links en midden) werden geadopteerd, hun oudste zus Emebet bleef achter in Ethiopië. Sinds ze haar eind 2014 terugvonden, bezoeken ze haar elk jaar.

RV Wege en Chucha (links en midden) werden geadopteerd, hun oudste zus Emebet bleef achter in Ethiopië. Sinds ze haar eind 2014 terugvonden, bezoeken ze haar elk jaar.