AHMEDABAD: In a strange case, a 39-year-old man, a resident of Vadaj, approached the Gujarat high court seeking custody of his just 3-year-old daughter, who was abandoned by his ex-wife and the child’s mother, at an orphanage in Nadiad.

After hearing the case, Justice V P Patel on Monday stayed the Matruchhaya Orphanage in Nadiad and the superintendent of the Children’s Home, Kheda (https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/Kheda), from initiating any adoption process for the child.

The HC intervened after the father placed before the court the ‘swaichhik parityag patra’ (deed of surrender) that the mother

signed while leaving the girl at the orphanage. One condition in on the deed says that the signatory who surrendered the child “understands that my child may be adopted by person(s) residing in India or abroad and give my/our consent for this purpose”. It also said that the mother would not object if

the child was handed over to anybody for adoption.

Adoptions were not always "in the best interest of the child"

It is not easy for adopted children to find out the story behind their adoption. Prakash Goossens believes that there is a need for independent historical research in Flanders.

Belgian by adoption from India

Testimonials about fraud concerning adoption documents of Ethiopian and Indian children, an Unicef ??interim director who has to step aside because of "irregularities in the adoption of children from Guatemala" (DS May 13): heavy accusations have recently been made against of adoption services and to the Flemish Community. A "exchange of views" about fraudulent adoptions took place last week in the Flemish Parliament. The conclusion was to acknowledge the testimonials, to extend aftercare for adopted persons and to set up an "expert panel" that investigates irregularities and places them in a historical perspective. Competent Flemish minister Jo Vandeurzen (CD&V) referred to a similar investigation to historical (sexual) abuse in relationships of trust. He also referred to the research conducted on forced adoptions and the harrowing treatment of metis in the colonial period.

Why is that demand for openness just now? No one can give a ready-made answer, not even after the hastily convened session in parliament. It seems that everyone is doing their best, but nobody wants to take full responsibility.

In good news for couples looking to adopt children, the Women Development and Child Welfare (WD&CW) Department has set itself a target of ensuring 1,000 adoptions this year.

Nearly 1,350 applications for adoption are pending in Andhra Pradesh, it is learnt. The move will benefit hundreds of orphans and half-orphans living in Child Care Institutions (CCIs) in the State.

About 32,000 children are living at more than 900 registered CCIs (shelter homes) in Andhra Pradesh.

A few months ago, officials of the WD&CW and the Juvenile Welfare Department conducted special drives on CCIs and identified about 2,700 children, who were fit for adoption, but were staying at shelter homes for the last few years. Unconfirmed reports state that many unregistered homes were illegally operating as children’s homes, without furnishing any information to the government.

“Every year, we are giving about 120 to 150 children for adoption from 14 Sishu Gruhas, also known as Specialised Adoption Agencies (SAAs), run by the WD&CW Department. Now, we want to place the children staying in CCIs, who are legally fit for adoption, under foster care,” said WD&CW Special Commissioner H. Arun Kumar.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: An in-depth study about the adopted children in the state since 1990 has revealed that 42% of the parents who adopted the children have not disclosed to their children that they are adopted children. The hesitance to reveal the truth generates mainly from the fear that the child may search for their biological roots and they may not accept the adopted parents.

The study, conducted as a joint initiative of the department of women and child development and Rajagiri College of Social Sciences (https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/Rajagiri-College-of-Social-Sciences), also revealed that 31% of the children who have come to know about their adopted status, have expressed keenness in finding their biological parents, while the remaining 69% had no such desire.

The study was conducted by handing over a questionnaire to adopted parents and children across the state, and then analysing the response using a statistical analysis software. The study has been prepared on the basis of response from 462 parents and 90 children who have adopted and who are adopted, respectively. The study found that the number of adoptions in the state has been on the rise, and more than 6,400 children have been adopted in the state since 1990.

While half of the parents did not reveal the truth to the children, 93% of the children responded that they are aware of their adopted status. Half of those among who know their adopted status (49%) have come to know the truth from their adopted mother, 36% from their adopted father and the remaining 15% from other relatives, peers and friends.

The majority of (91%) adopted parents have stated that they are proud about the fact that they are adopted parents and 68% of them had no problems with their adopted children. Though the minority, 32% said that they faced some problems with their adopted children. Among these, the highest number said that the children were disobedient (21%), hyperactive (17%), stubborn (16%), performed poorly in academics (13%), were in the habit of lying (11%), were lazy (8%), aggressive and had learning disability (5%) and had stealing tendencies (3%).

The UK's £1.7billion foster industry has seen a growth of firms backed by huge private equity funds raking in taxpayers' cash. They are cashing in on the anguish felt by parents who lose their children into care.

ANGUISHED parents of children taken away by social services have slammed fat-cat businessmen whose firms earn tens of millions from selling foster care.

The UK's £1.7billion foster industry has seen a growth of firms backed by huge private equity funds raking in taxpayers' cash.

They charge huge fees to councils for fostering which last year was at a record high of 53,420 children - three-quarters of all those in care - with 78,000 placements.

Thousands of parents across the country are being dragged into secretive courts each year where social services are removing children in record numbers.

For sale: Guatemalan baby for 150 Gulden Adoption babies from Guatemala

Every Friday, when the visiting hour has ended, María Catarina Socop-Cobosh has to say goodbye to her daughter for a week again ....

GUATEMALA CITY

Once a week, María travels to the other side of Guatemala City to visit her daughter in a highly secure daycare center. "It's just like a prison. I am not allowed to bring any food or candy, because the management says that it will make the children sick. I can't go for a walk with Clarisa, because the management is afraid that I will abduct her or something. As soon as I am outside again, I can no longer keep up. "

María Socop-Cobosh (25) fell victim to the adoption Mafia in Guatemala last May, immediately after the birth of Clarisa. A small network of corrupt lawyers, civil-law notaries, civil servants, doctors, nurses, midwives and 'mediators' pays an estimated twenty million dollars every year to deal with illegal adoptions abroad.

An attempt to remove a baby from a teenage mother at Hawke's Bay Hospital last week needs to be investigated independently, a health board member says.

The hospital was put into lockdown after a stand-off between midwives, social workers and police, as they tried to take a newborn baby from its 19-year-old mother due to family violence concerns.

The baby was eventually allowed to remain with its mother under a care plan originally put together by her midwives and wh?nau.

Hawke's Bay District Health Board member Jacoby Poulain said she was concerned about how the incident was handled by all agencies.

Ms Poulain said she believed the hospital failed in its duty of care to look after the young mother.

Boss Unicef ??steps aside due to "child trafficking"

Bernard Sintobin, the new CEO of Unicef ??Belgium, has to step aside one week after his appointment. He appears in a federal prosecutor's investigation into the trafficking of children from Guatemala. They were allegedly taken away from their parents and then offered as orphans in our country by a Belgian association. The payments went to the sister-in-law of the then dictator in Guatemala.

The 67-year-old Sintobin was appointed last week as CEO of Unicef ??Belgium, the children's rights organization of the United Nations. He started to combine that with his current position as business manager of Wereldmediahuis, the publisher of global magazine MO. In the meantime, however, the man has been discredited for dealing in children from the third world and he has to step aside again. There is a judicial investigation into a non-profit organization in which Sintobin played a prominent role for years. The federal public prosecutor confirms this.

The non-profit organization Hacer Puente organized adoptions of orphans from Guatemala in the late 80s and early 90s. The Bargoens One program recently brought the testimony of two women who suspect they were taken away from their parents as children and brought to Belgium via this non-profit organization. One of them, Coline Fanon, came to Belgium at the age of one and now, almost thirty years later, found her parents back in Guatemala.

Even in 2014, Guatemala was upside down when a Flemish woman, Dolores Maria Preat, discovered that her mother had not given her away from poverty, but that she had been kidnapped. She also came to our country via Hacer Puente. The Guatemalan who had abducted her at the time was sentenced for this a few years ago.

Acting director of Unicef ??Belgium dismissed after accusations on Twitter

The interim director of Unicef ??Belgium, who has been in the job for only a week, was temporarily removed from office on Sunday, the organization's president, Eddy Boutmans, said in a statement.

Messages posted on Twitter brought heavy charges against the replacement, claiming he was involved - as a former treasurer of the Hacer Puente association - in a case of fraudulent adoptions in Guatemala.

"After reading some of the messages on Twitter that make heavy accusations against the acting director of Unicef ??Belgium, Bernard Sintobin, the president has asked Mr Sintobin to withdraw temporarily" for the time that clarity is made on these accusations. "The president is personally convinced that Bernard Sintobin is in good faith and is not involved in fraudulent adoptions," said Unicef ??Belgium in a statement.

An open investigation

MO * has a new business leader

Bernard Sintobin will be working as a business leader at Wereldmediahuis from January 2016, the publisher of MO * magazine and MO.be. His main task is to ensure a solid financial and economic foundation for the association, so that the valued media initiatives can be further expanded in a sustainable way.

Bernard Sintobin has been active in commercial and general management for 35 years. In addition, he had an important voluntary commitment as an international treasurer of Amnesty International until August 2015, a mandate that has now expired.

Bernard was born in 1952 and studied civil engineering at the KULeuven. He also holds a postgraduate degree in management from S.P.S.O. (now Vlerick Leuven Ghent).

Bernard worked as a commercial director or manager for Holvoet NV (textile), Brouwerij Haacht and Varia-Pack (packaging).