It’s 2019, and we’re talking about birth search! In part 1 of our series, we break down some of the basics of birth search. We’ll cover the big things that we want Adoptees to know about this overwhelming and confusing topic.

In part 2 of our series on birth search, we talk about elements of the actual process to search. We break down a couple of the concrete steps that are taken to give you a better idea about what birth search may look like for you.

Buckle up everybody! In the third and final part of our series we sit down to discuss the possible outcomes of search. In this video, four adult adoptees sit down to have a candid conversation with each other about the possible outcomes of search.

Not all Adoptees have access to other Adoptees to discuss these heavy and complex topics so we invite you to take part in these candid conversations with us.

As always, please contact Holt International Post Adoption Services at pas@holtinternational.org for more information and support.

In a landmark judgement, Singapore High Court has ruled in favour of a gay man who sought to adopt his biological son, whom he fathered through a surrogate. This judgement overruled a 2017 order, which said that he could not legally adopt his son, as he was born via in-vitro fertilisation in the United States- a process not allowed in Singapore.

“We attribute significant weight to the concern not to violate the public policy against the formation of same-sex family units on account of its rational connection to the present dispute and the degree to which this policy would be violated should an adoption order be made,” Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon said, reported ABC News.

Eligible to be Singapore’s citizen

Same-sex marriages are not recognised in Singapore and gay sex is illegal. The child was considered illegitimate in the eyes of law as the biological mother and father were not married. This judgement, not only gives legal parental rights to the couple but also make the child eligible for Singapore’s citizenship.

The mother of the four-year-old waived all parental rights during surrogacy. The egg donor was never identified. The 46-year-old man, who has been with his partner for the last 13 years, will now have legal rights over the child.

Questionable family happiness on order

In the 1980s, around 700 children from Sri Lanka were brought to Switzerland - some with fake identities and on behalf of adoptive parents. A documentation is working on the scandal now.

It's a retrospective look at a dark chapter. Today, the babies of the past have become adults - people with a great many questions: Around 11,000 children were relocated from Sri Lanka to the West during the 1980s, some of them using very questionable methods. Apparently the babies had been taken away from their mothers. The filmmakers Madeleine Brot and Xavier Nicol reconstruct the path of young women who were once brought to Switzerland for the moving new documentary "DOK: Adoptive Children from Sri Lanka - a Swiss Scandal" - and are now seeking their roots.

Sarah Ramani Ineichen and her friend Olivia Ramya Tanner, both of whom have had a childhood with loving adoptive parents, finally want to know who they really are - and where they really came from. One thing is certain: the two women in their late 30s are among the approximately 700 adopted children who were once brought to Switzerland - sometimes with false documents. Like many others, Sarah and Olivia have a hard time shedding light on their ancestry. Together with other stakeholders, they have joined forces in the "Back to the Roots" association.

The mystery of the origin

European Neighbourhood Policy And Enlargement Negotiations

Syria

The EU suspended all its bilateral cooperation with the Government of Syria in May 2011, following the escalation of violence and unacceptable human rights situation. In parallel, the EU adopted various restrictive measuresSearch for available translations of the preceding link•••(sanctions). Syria’s participation in regional programmes was suspended in September 2011 and the provision of loans and technical assistance through the European Investment Bank (EIB) was ceased in November 2011. Given the volatile situation, there is no multi-annual programming of EU assistance in Syria. Nevertheless, the EU maintains a direct support to the Syrian population, both inside Syria and in the neighbouring countries.

Current EU Assistance to the Syrian Population - key figures

The EU and its Member States are the largest contributors to the international response to the Syrian conflict, having mobilised since 2011 almost EUR 10.8 billion for humanitarian, stabilisation and resilience assistance to those affected by the conflict inside Syria and in the region (Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Turkey). €1.05 billion is dedicated to assistance inside Syria, both humanitarian (66.8%) and non-humanitarian (33.2%).

The National Aid Fund (NAF), the European Union and UNICEF launched a new partnership today aimed at strengthening the national social protection system for the well-being of the most disadvantaged children in the country.

“I’m very happy to see so many partners gathered today as social protection for children in Jordan is a priority for all,” said the Minister of Social Development H.E. Hala Lattouf during the launch event. “Social issues need time. There’s no magic wand. We need longer term partnerships and we are grateful to UNICEF and the EU for their continued support,” Minister Lattouf added.

Funded by the European Union Regional Trust Fund in Response to the Syrian Crisis (the Madad Fund), the NAF-UNICEF project titled ‘Institutional strengthening of NAF and child cash grant for the most vulnerable children in Jordan’ includes a new child cash grant programme for most vulnerable Jordanian children.

Furthermore, the joint project aims at strengthening NAF’s monitoring and evaluation systems; enhancing NAF staff capacities; reviewing the cash assistance targeting system and its impact on children and adolescents; and updating the ICT system for introducing technology for payment system for cash transfers to disadvantaged Jordanian families with children.

“In the context of the EU ‘Madad’ Fund – UNICEF cooperation, we are delighted to partner directly with the NAF in support of the most vulnerable families with children. The European Union and UNICEF will continue to support the commendable efforts of the Jordanian government in safeguarding children's rights and in addressing social protection and education needs of girls and boys,” said the EU Head of Cooperation, Ibrahim Laafia.

Who: Geert Cappelaere, UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa

Nadeem Karkutli, Manager, EU Regional Trust Fund in Response to the Syrian Crisis, the 'Madad Fund,' European Commission

Jad Rahbani, renown composer and producer

Juliette Touma, UNICEF Regional Chief of Communications, Middle East and North Africa

When: 11 March, 2019, 11:00AM (GMT +2)

May 17, 2017. Mouhamed Seif Mahmoud School, Sakhoor neighborhood in the east part of Aleppo. A UNICEF supported-school is an alternative space for learning.

AMMAN/BRUSSELS/NEW YORK, 20 June 2017 - On World Refugee Day, the European Union has renewed its commitment to a generation of children affected by the war in Syria. Through a donation of an additional €90 million, UNICEF will be able to provide critical services and support to vulnerable children and young people in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey.

Through the EU Regional Trust Fund in Response to the Syrian Crisis (the 'Madad Fund') UNICEF will continue working with host countries and partners to provide hundreds of thousands of children and young people with access to basic services including education and vocational training, as well as psychosocial support and protection against early marriage and child labour.

This latest contribution brings the total funding from the EU Trust Fund for UNICEF’s work on the Syria crisis response to nearly €200 million. The announcement comes on the heels of the appointment of UNICEF’s newest Goodwill Ambassador, Syrian Muzoon Almellehan, 19, the first person with official refugee status to become an Ambassador for UNICEF.

With the conflict now in its seventh year, around 2 million children from Syria live as refugees in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey, adding pressure on already stretched support systems. A unique feature and added value of the EU Trust Fund is its support for both refugee and host communities affected by this protracted crisis.

INDORE: Taking suo motu action into the case of child traffi ..

Read more at:

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/66677969.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

ed: November 18, 2018 19:11 IST

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“There is no difference between living in a brothel and staying in a shelter home,” says 23-year-old Farzana, who, after escaping a brothel in Pune, found herself in a ‘shelter home’ run by an NGO for the next 2 years. “In a brothel, we have no control of the situation, we cannot predict what is to happen to us the next moment; the same goes for these shelter homes, which are worse than prisons for us,” she adds, “In prisons, we know when we will be able to get out; in a shelter home, we have no information or certainty. When asked, I am always told things are in process, and it is a court order to keep me at the shelter, and without being ‘released’ by the court, they cannot send me back home.”

It is disturbing to see that brothels, shelter homes, prisons are synonymous in the minds of a survivor. The recent report about forced detention of women in a reputed shelter home in Hyderabad, and other recent reports of shelter homes in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh sexually exploiting children, raise serious doubts about the effectiveness of shelter home based rehabilitation approach for survivors of trafficking and sexual exploitation.

While the comparison of a brothel and a shelter home may surprise many, beneath the surface, examination of the two shows stark similarities. At a seminar at Antara, a mental health institution in Bengal, while lecturing on psycho-social impact of sex trafficking on victims, an “activist” from one of the prominent anti trafficking NGO in Kolkata that runs one of the largest shelters for trafficked girls and women in the city declared, “If human trafficking is eradicated, then we would have no job left do to.”

Notwithstanding the ‘joke’ in poor taste, her observation brings to light a few striking similarities between brothels and shelter homes. Both have an economic interest that is based on survivors of trafficking, wherein there is income, and salaries are generated. The brothel or shelter itself is an asset for its owner. The existence and business of both depend on the retention and availability of victims of trafficking. Both are closed institutions where survivors are kept in control, their mobility restricted and communication with family is prohibited or controlled.

Despite the fundamental difference between the two in its intent – one uses debt bondage and servitude of girls and women to earn profit for a few, and the other aims to free people from that bondage – to a young women who has survived both, the similarities are glaring.