After Kees van der Spek (59) revealed that participants of 'Spoorloos' in Colombia had been linked to the wrong biological parents, KRO-NCRV called in a detective agency. The investigation shows that there was no malicious intent. Adopted Diego, who did not participate in 'Spoorloos', finds that conclusion rather simplistic, because he is also a victim of Edwin Vela, the controversial fixer of the program.

WARANGAL: The death on Saturday of a six-month-old infant allegedly adopted illegally by a couple from the USA in Hanamkonda has raised several questions.

Kareem Veerani, originally a resident of Kompally in Medchal district near Hyderabad, had married an American citizen Ashama. Since the couple did not have any children they decided to adopt a child. For this purpose, they approached Kareem’s sister Rasheeda Bano, a resident of Warangal City.

Rasheeda got in touch with her friend Rani, who works at a private hospital in Kompally. On the suggestion by Rani, Kareem and Ashama rented a house in Kompally six months ago and started living there.

Rani, along with another hospital staff member Krishnaveni, got a six-month-old male child and gave him to Kareem and Ashama for adoption under Inter-Country Adoption. Kareem also applied to State Adoption Resource Authority (SARA) for adopting the child.

When Kareem and Ashama were taking the child along with them to America two days ago, immigration officials objected saying the couple does not have the No Objection Certificate (NOC) issued by Foreign Adoption Agency (FAA). Immigration authorities also lodged a complaint with the police and child welfare department of Warangal district.

GHAZIABAD: A Pocso court on Thursday sentenced a 30-year-old man to life imprisonment for the rape and murder of a 5-year-old girl he had adopted.
The crime took place in March this year. The convict's wife had adopted the child from a relative a month ago. His accomplice, Neeraj Kumar, was also convicted and sentenced to four years in jail.
 

Special public prosecutor Utkarsh Vats said a woman, Saroj, had filed a police complaint at Tila Mod police station on March 12.
“The woman said her brother’s daughter was adopted by a relative, Ajay Bhati, one month ago. However, she went missing on March 11. The family members launched a search and found her body in a bush on March 12,” she stated in her complaint.

She further said Bhati’s wife had adopted the girl.
“However, Bhati was not happy with this move. He used to thrash the girl,” the complaint further added.

Subsequently, Bhati was arrested on March 14.

Saleem Sheikh, a local and witness in this case, told the court that on March 12, he had seen Bhati carrying something like a body in a bag.
“Neeraj Kumar was also with Ajay Bhati on a motorcycle. They dumped the bag somewhere and returned home. The body of the child was recovered later in the same bag,” he told police.

Panchu Sheikh, another witness, said, “There was a CCTV camera in our office. On March 12, Ajay Bhati and Neeraj visited our office, deleted the footage of their movement, and fled the spot.”

Dr Anil Yadav, who conducted an autopsy on the body, stated in his report that the child had injury marks on her private parts and that she was raped before she was suffocated to death.

However, Bhati told the court that he was framed in this case.

“I had two children: a son (9), and a daughter (6). My wife had adopted this child, and I was taking care of her, too. That day I had gone to my shop while the three children were coming from home to my shop, and the third child went missing. I had informed Saroj about this,” he said.

However, Tendra Pal, special judge, Pocso relied on the testimonies of the witnesses and medical evidence on Thursday and convicted Ajay Bhati and Neeraj Kumar.

“Ajay Bhati is sentenced to rigorous life imprisonment and fined Rs 20,000 under Section 302 (murder) of the IPC and rigorous life imprisonment and fined Rs 20,000 under Section 5/6 of the Pocso Act. Neeraj Kumar is sentenced to four years of imprisonment and fined Rs 2,000 under Section 201 (causing disappearance of evidence) of the IPC,” the court said.

(The victim's identity has not been revealed to protect her privacy as per Supreme court directives on cases related to sexual assault)

Discussing our personal experiences as Korean adoptees, we noticed that communicating in a language that is not our own can be a barrier . The reality is that today, many organizations offer numerous services to adoptees but to access them you often need to be able to communicate in English.

In terms of communication, we have observed that there is a general lack of sharing of information and news among those responsible for the main associations of French-speaking adoptees. We have also witnessed the propagation and sharing of certain rumors or erroneous information (sometimes even false) on social networks. It is true that South Korea is evolving very quickly in terms of legislative elections, which can make certain procedures more difficult. This also makes it difficult to be aware of all the latest advances and information such as the F4 Visa, access to dual nationality and even the search for biological family to name just a few examples.

Additionally, as many already know, traveling alone in Korea can be complicated. It is for all these reasons that we consider it important that all French-speaking adoptees as well as French-speaking adoptee associations can benefit from the latest information and news, in the same way as if they were on site in South Korea or if they were able to get by in English.

In 2016, I began to take initial steps to begin searching for biological relatives. This process initially involved seeing a therapist with adoption expertise and trying to locate other Indian adoptees who had conducted their root searches. Over the next two years I uncovered stories that showed me which paths I could follow and who out there were leading the way. I quickly realized that, just as I needed a therapist to help me process the emotional complexity of searching, I needed a guide in India too.

For that reason, I started looking for organizations that were seasoned in conducting searches in India. I witnessed second-hand a few searches that other adoptees conducted on their own, oftentimes without even interpreters, and although I applaud their courage, knew I could not do the same myself. I was quite fearful that given the social stigma against having a child out of wedlock that if I were to initiate my search without guidance on how to do so sensitively, I could harm the very people was looking for.

To complicate matters, India, as a country and its central government, let alone each state, did not provide support for returning adoptees to search for their roots, in contrast to some countries with high historical occurrences of intercountry adoption. This means adoptees are on their own to search by themselves or to hire an organization to help them. In my case, I have been fortunate to have access to many records related to my adoption which meant my task was to validate those records, rather than try to gain access to them. This focus meant I was less in need of a lawyer to petition my case to my orphanage or adoption agency and more in need of navigators to help explore the details in the files I already had.

With these items in mind, I settled on negotiating a contract with two organizations that work together, the Adoptees Right Council (ARC) and Against Child Trafficking (ACT). They are, run by Anjali Pawar and Arun Dohle. According to ARC’s website they are focused on “the rights of adult Indian adoptees and searches.” ACT, in contrast, is focused on “the prevention of child trafficking for intercountry adoption. ACT advocates child rights based social policies that are in compliance with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which is the universal standard and the best safeguard against child trafficking.”

I have come to believe in the missions of each organization. I belief that intercountry adoption is a version of child trafficking and should be eliminated entirely. I also belief that adoptees need support in searching for their roots if they so choose. In an ideal world this would be funded by the government of both countries involved in the initial adoption. That, however, is not the case, hence the need for organizations like ARC and ACT to step in and provide these services. I wish there were a dozen organizations who were as well equipped and seasoned as ARC and ACT, but there are very few options for Indian adoptees unfortunately.

Shirley Sagin was among those who helped war orphans find loving homes in the U.S. after the Saigon Airlift at the end of the Vietnam War.

There is likely no one in the Greater Philadelphia area who is responsible for finding more loving families for orphaned children, including many who had been considered unadoptable, than Shirley Milner Sagin, 97, who died of Alzheimer's disease June 12 at the Joseph Scott Health Center of Rydal Park in Jenkintown.

Sagin, a revered social worker and adoption specialist who served as the “stork” for hundreds of families throughout the Delaware Valley, raised her own family for two decades in Springfield Township and lived with her husband, Jerome, for 10 years in Wyncote, and then for many years at the Hill House in Chestnut Hill. After that, they lived at the Wesley Enhanced Living at Stapeley facility in Germantown.

Through a long tenure at Jewish Family and Children’s Services (JFCS) of Greater Philadelphia, where she was the director of adoption services for more than two decades, Sagin helped place babies with loving families throughout the region. When Jewish babies available for adoption became scarce, she worked to help other agencies find homes for hard-to-place children.

The Registration of Births and Deaths (Amendment) Bill, 2023, which was passed in both Houses of Parliament during the Monsoon Session, has received the President's assent.

The law will allow the use of a birth certificate as a single document for admission to an education institute, issuance of a driving licence, preparation of a voter list, Aadhaar number, registration of marriage or appointment to a government job.

According to a notification issued by the Ministry of Law and Justice, President Droupadi Murmu has given assent to the legislation.

The law will help create a national and state-level database of registered births and deaths which eventually would ensure efficient and transparent delivery of public services and social benefits, and digital registration.

Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai said in Lok Sabha that the original Act had not been amended since its inception and to keep pace with the societal change and technological advancements during the period of its operation and to make it more citizen-friendly, there is a need to amend the Act.

Companies are racing to accelerate and commercialize in-vitro gametogenesis, or IVG, which would make human eggs and sperm in the lab from any cell in the body containing anyone's DNA.

ADRIAN FLORIDO, HOST:

One of the most cutting-edge and controversial fields of biomedical research right now is the quest to create eggs and sperm in the lab for anyone with their own DNA. And now, private companies have jumped into the race to revolutionize the way humans reproduce. NPR health correspondent Rob Stein reports on what these startups are up to.

ROB STEIN, BYLINE: It's a cloudy day in Berkeley, Calif. I turn onto a gritty side street near the San Francisco Bay and ring the bell on a low concrete building with big frosted glass doors.

(SOUNDBITE OF DOORBELL RINGING)

New Delhi, Jul 12 (PTI) Most "journey to the roots" stories conclude in easy reconciliation, says Cambodian-French director Davy Chou, who wanted to offer a counter perspective through "Return to Seoul", his critically-acclaimed film about an adoptee's search for connection and meaning.
    The film, currently streaming on MUBI India, revolves around Freddie, a 25-year-old French-Korean played by artist-sculptor Park Ji-min. On a whim, Freddie lands in Seoul, a trip that may look unplanned but what she is actually looking for is a way to connect with her biological parents.
    Chou said as someone who grew up with two cultural identities, he understands the confusion that comes with trying to make sense of one's origin.
    "In the 'journey to the roots' classical story, (there's) always some kind of happy, full closure happening at the end of the film. I just feel like, 'Guys, it's not that simple!' I was excited to offer a counter perspective on that kind of a classical film," he told PTI in an interview.
    Chou co-wrote "Return To Seoul" with his childhood friend Laure Badufle, who as a Korean-French adoptee, is also the real-life inspiration behind the movie.
    The director, whose parents fled Cambodia just before the Khmer Rouge genocide in 1975, recalled how it all started when Badufle asked him to accompany her to meet her biological father in South Korea in 2011.
    "If I was to imagine, I would have maybe imagined more tears and more like people sharing experiences. But it was very different. It's something that really shocked me because it was so emotional, but also maybe so different from what I would have expected from such a reunion," he said.
    Chou said Badufle, who is a yogini, life coach and artist, confided in him that she also felt frustrated with films and documentariese around the theme of adoption always ending in reconciliation "with yourself, all your identities and your culturally different families".
    "She said that was not her experience of meeting her biological father, which just brought up more questions. I relate to that because even though I'm not adopted, I myself have a different origin. Like Cambodia, which I decided to visit when I was 25, which is the same age as Freddie's in the beginning of the film," he said.
    Chou said he understands why the story of "Return To Seoul", which opened to glowing reviews at its Cannes Film Festival premiere in 2022, found a connection with the audiences.
    "A lot of us are like second generation or third generation of immigrants who are curious because they also have the chance to be able to travel, to go to the country where they're supposed to come from, but you often know nothing about or you believe you know something and you find out that you know nothing," he said.
    "That's very contemporary and thematic, but I rarely find it treated in the way that will speak to my own experience. So that's basically why I wanted to make the film," he added.
    Chou said it has been more challenging for Badufle to see "the chapter of her life re-emerge for two hours" on the big screen.
    "She watched the film at the same time with 1,000 people at Cannes, which is a bit brutal, and it was not a good experience, I would say," he admitted.
    Weeks after the Cannes screening, he said, they had coffee in Paris and the filmmaker thought his friend felt "a bit down" with all that was happening around the film.
    "Then, she came back to another screening. Participating and talking with the audience was an important moment for her to get back the ownership of her story. She felt good afterwards," he added.
    The success of the film and the way the story has resonated with other adoptees has also been comforting for Badufle, said Chou.
    "Even now, I think it's still a rollercoaster emotional thing for her, which is normal. It's not easy to see your life on the big screen and people discussing it everywhere. You don't really have control on that."

As the frequency of DNA paternity tests surges, the umbrella Human Rights Organization (CLADHO) has issued a stark warning, highlighting the potential risks faced by children in the absence of adequate protective measures.

A recently released report by Rwanda Forensic Laboratory shows a significant increase in the number of paternity tests, soaring from 168 in 2018/19 to 780 in 2022/23.

Lab records show that 246 paternity tests were performed in 2019/20, 424 tests in 2020/21, and 599 in 2021/22, and then 780 tests in 2022/23.

An official from the institution explained to The New Times that the surge in DNA paternity tests can partly be attributed to the accessibility of DNA services and greater awareness campaigns across the the country.

Established in 2018, the Forensic Science Laboratory is an autonomous body under the Ministry of Justice.