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Portugal child sex abuse 'proved'

3 September 2010 Last updated at 12:09 GMT

Portugal child sex abuse 'proved'

Railings outside the Casa Pia college of Pina Manique in Lisbon (1 September 2010)Abuse at Casa Pia is said to have started in the mid-1970s, but was not discovered until 2002

Seven defendants in a paedophilia trial in Portugal have been found guilty of sexually abusing children in the care of a network of state-run homes.

The six men and one woman include Carlos Cruz, a former TV presenter, and Jorge Ritto, a former ambassador.

Organizations: Casa Pia de Lisboa, PEDOS/PERVERTS

Countries: Portugal

Minister Kenney’s visit to France, India, China, and the Philippines to focus on greater international cooperation on shared imm

News Release

Minister Kenney’s visit to France, India, China, and the Philippines to focus on greater international cooperation on shared immigration concerns

Ottawa, September 3, 2010 — Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney leaves tomorrow for an official visit to Europe and Asia.

On the Minister’s agenda are visits to Paris, New Delhi, Chandigarh, Hong Kong, Beijing and Manila. He will participate in meetings as part of the Government of Canada’s commitment to work with foreign governments to improve international cooperation on shared immigration concerns. Minister Kenney’s trip will focus on encouraging countries that are major sources of immigration to Canada to implement and enforce meaningful regulation of fraudulent immigration activity, such as marriages of convenience and crooked immigration consultants.

The visit will begin in Paris, where the Minister will meet the French minister responsible for immigration and various European ministers and discuss issues of common concern, including illegal immigration, border security, human trafficking and smuggling, and the resettlement of refugees.

Persons: Jason Kenney

Countries: Philippines, Canada, China, India

Welcome Seyhan & Reyhan! Adoption Update (Bulgaria)

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Welcome Seyhan & Reyhan! Adoption Update

Its update time and boy do we have some GREAT news to share! But first, let's start from the beginning....

Darryl and I started filing paperwork to adopt back in November of last year--about 10 months ago. When we filed for the adoption we had every intent of filling for one child. However, the social worker suggested that we put one to two children on the application... just in case! So we listened and put down one to two male children...just in case...

Ever since that day Darryl and I have felt that God would place two more children into our family. But I thought, na! There is no way they will find two boys together under the age of four! After all, two children are not on my radar...(But God had other plans! His radar and mine were different ). After a few months past we finished our paperwork and were told that it would be another year before we received a referral. So we prepared ourselves for the wait. But there was something inside of me that kept saying, "Its sooner than you think...Its sooner than you think..."

Then GOD happened..... An email came through from our adoption agency stating that there were brothers who needed to be adopted. One of the boys, Reyhan, is age 2 and the other, Seyhan, is age 3. These brothers needed a home and soon! Well the email went out to an entire group of people, including us. But once I saw the picture of the two boys, my heart leaped, and I knew deep down that these boys were ours! We feel in love! And Instantly God whispered... "there yours". But I thought, "Lord there are two!" God whispered, "there yours, I already told you two were coming." We were filled with joy.

So we emailed the agency and told them we wanted to look into the boys file. But sadly the boys had already been adopted out by another family. We were told that if that family canceled we would be next in line. So we waited days and it seemed to take forever...

Then GOD happened again...Something happened... THE FAMILY CANCELED.... and the boys were ours!! They were Ours! We were full of joy, nervous, and scared all at once... BUT--Oh yes there's a BUT--the agency was soon informed that there were now three other families who wanted to adopt the boys and since these families had been waiting longer then us, they got bumped up in line ahead of us and we got pushed back! We had gone from 2nd in line to 1st then to 4th! How does that happen? I was on a roller coaster of emotions! In fact we all were. Lord, "I thought you said they were ours?...Lord?" We were so ready to fight for these boys!! And I can't even begin to tell you what was going through my mind! But none the less it's in God's hands. And we must trust Him for that!

Then when we finally came to grips with ourselves and gave it all over to God. The phone rang....(seriously...within seconds from when we gave it over to God the phone rang!)

And then GOD happened yet again.... Our agency called and told us after reviewing the files of the 4 families. They decided that our family is the best fit for these children. Usually they do not move families ahead of others, but in this case they did! They thought these kids fit our profile perfectly!!!

So please join us in welcoming our TWO SONS/Brothers... Our GIFTS from GOD!Reyhan Age 2 (he is in the blue). Seyhan Age 3 (he is in the white and orange)

On another note, please believe me when I say there is a lot more to the story, but for sake of space, you got the shorter version. God is so good and we are excited already!

By the way did I happen to mention that Ayva was praying for 'one brother for her, and one for Tessa?' God hears the prayers of the little ones doesn't He!

As for the boys names, we are not sure at the moment what we are going to do. Reyhan and Seyhan are there Bulgarian names, which we plan to keep somewhere in their names.

So What does that Mean Now?

This means that we travel soon to meet our two precious sons! We are required by Bulgaria to first fly down to file paper work, then 4-5 months later we will make a second flight to pick up our sons.

This also means that because there are two children now, instead of one, the price has gone from $33,000 to about $45,000, with only a few months left to raise it in. I am pleased to say that God has already brought us up to the $30,000 mark! God is good! So we are currently short about $15,000 (the cost of the second adoption).

We know God has brought us this far and He will continue to bring us through to completion! Please pray with us that God will continue to provide financially for this adoption, we know we serve a Mighty God!

Upcoming Fundraiser!

**In order to raise funds to bring home our 2 sons we will be having another Fundraiser Garage Sale on October 8th & 9th. We are asking for donations and will except anything: new, old, large, or small. We'll take it all. :) This is a huge way you can help support our adoption.

Please remember to keep our family in your prayers, as well as our sons in Bulgaria. Thank you all for continuing to embark on this journey with us, and please join us in this joyous moment! We will continue to keep you updated as we get information in and your updates will come a little more often now that we are on the 'fast track'.

“Remember the words of the Lord Jess, how he said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” Acts 20:35

If you would like to donate to the cause, you can make a tax deductable donation to: Kingdom Kids Adoption Agency at 1417 North Lincoln Street Spokane, WA 99201. You can mail it directly to them or contact them at (509) 465-3520. 90% of the proceeds go directly to the adoption fund. Please Do Not write our name on the check. Please Do include a slip of paper stating that you would like to donate the amount to: the Hill Family Fund. You can also do this on their webpage atwww.kingdomkidsadoption.org.

Organizations: Kingdom Kids Adoption Ministry

Countries: Bulgaria

Dr. Ronald Federici: Humanitarian Efforts in Romania

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 09/02/2010 - 05:26

Dr. Ronald Federici has 20 years of experience completing complex neuropsychiatric evaluations with children having significant neurodevelopmental and emotional difficulties. He is a professional consultant to numerous schools, mental health clinics, pediatric and adolescent medicine clinics, court service units and adoption groups, and is frequently called upon to perform “second opinions” for the most difficult to diagnose cases. Dr. Ronald Federici also works extensively in forensic neuropsychology and has served as an expert witness in cases involving the assessment and rehabilitation of traumatic brain injury or other neurological disorders. Dr. Ronald Federici lectures nationally and internationally on matters pertaining to developmental neuropsychology and severe neuropsychiatric disorders of children, particularly children from post-institutionalized settings. He is regarded as the country’s expert in neuropsychiatric evaluations of internationally adopted children, particularly children from Eastern Europe. He has a special interest in Romanian and Russian orphans, and has evaluated well over a thousand Eastern European adoptees and those still residing in their respective countries. Dr. Ronald Federici has appeared on numerous national television and radio shows such as 20/20, Turning Point, Night Line, Good Morning America, British Broadcasting Corporation, as well as publishing in magazines and newspapers around the world regarding the institutional crises in various countries, particularly Eastern Europe. Dr. Ronald Federici has published various articles in addition to his book entitled “Help for the Hopeless Child: A Guide for Families (With Special Discussion for Assessing and Treating the Post-Institutionalized Child)”. He has developed the concepts of “Institutional Autism: An Acquired Syndrome” in addition to researching extensively the “Neuropsychology of Bonding and Attachment Disorders”. His second book entitled “Escape From Despair: Through the Eyes of the Child” is in press. Dr. Ronald Federici serves as President of the Care for Children International, Inc. which is a Humanitarian Aid Organization providing medical care, supplies, training and education to the Romanian Department of Child Protective Services. Dr. Ronald Federici holds an honorary position as Chief Medical Consultant regarding institutionalized children in Romania. He is held in the highest regard with the Romanian government and the Romanian Ambassador to the U.S. Dr. Ronald Federici’s humanitarian organization has worked for many years throughout Romanian institutions and has provided comprehensive medical and neuropsychiatric care in addition to being one of the leading groups in de-institutionalizing children. He is personally responsible for building multiple group homes, independent living situations and leading multiple medical missions and providing millions of dollars of urgently needed medical care, medication, supplies, food and training to address the child welfare/institutional crisis which has plagued Romania for a decade. Currently, Dr. Ronald Federici is working with several international humanitarian groups in providing a proposal for comprehensive-country wide change of the Romanian institutional system. Dr. Ronald Federici and his group of well over 30 committed medical specialists from all disciplines are frequently called upon by numerous institutions and governmental offices throughout Romania to consult and assist counties and governmental departments with the ultimate goal being the development of new programs aimed at de-institutionalization and stabilization of the Romanian social system, family and regional/county economic distribution of funds for institutionalized children. Dr. Ronald Federici has been involved in extensive lobbying efforts on Capital Hill to improve the policies and procedures for international adoptions, and also offered expert professional testimony on October 5, 1999 to Senator Jesse Helms and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee regarding the problems in international adoptions and issues with the Hague Treaty. Additionally, Dr. Ronald Federici has lobbied extensively to preserve the integrity and responsibility of USAID spending in Romania, and has provided multiple reports to USAID, Washington regarding Romanian child welfare reform, programs, funding and opinions regarding distribution of foreign aid. Dr. Ronald Federici continues to work aggressively to secure private funding and USAID funding for Romanian-specific child welfare reform programs and has completed an extensive “proposal” which is aimed at country-wide institutional reform.

Persons: Ronald Federici

Romania: la testimonianza di Azota Popescu

Romania: la testimonianza di Azota Popescu.

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PUBBLICATO IN NEWS

Di seguito riportiamo la lettera di Azota Popescu, Rappresentante della Associazione Il Conventino per le adozioni internazionali in Romania. E' una lettera che sprizza felicità e gioia da tutti i pori. Ci auguriamo che presto la situazione delle adozioni possa risolversi favorevolmente.

Buon giorno, carissimi Angeli protettori!
Vi ringrazio per la fiducia in me, in Catharsis !!! Vi ringrazio per l'aiuto !!!!Con i 3200euro, ricevuti da Voi, piu 1000 dollari ricevuti da Stati Uniti e più la mia pensione di 400 euro al mese, abbiamo girato il mondo ....

d'appertutto , per informare la gente, per cambiare la mentalita, per aiutare l'infanzia rumena condanata a una vita senza l'amore, senza la luce, senza futuro......Ecco, finalmente, sono arrivata alla fine della campagna- maratons di raccogliere le 100.000 firme per l'appertura delle adozioni internazionali in Romania. una vera ''aventura''. Per favore, scusate, per il mio silenzio. Sono stata impegnatissima, ho visuto un esperienza inimaginabile, conoscere l'oppinione della gente di strada, la credibilita di me e di Catharsis, l'aiuto della comunita (medici, insegnanti, assistenti maternali, le coppie che hanno adotatto e anche quelli che aspetano adottare, i studenti delle varie facolta, i turisti, i giornalisti, le partite .......Vorrei ringraziare a Voi,per il sostegno morale e finanziario, vorrei ringraziare al Signore per iluminarmi, per la forza fizica e morale di andare avanti, durante tre mesi , quasi, insuportabili....ascoltando in ogni giorno gli stessi commenti teribilli sul trafico di organi, la vendita dei bambini per prostituire, ....ma, anche belle parole di incoraggiare per continuare raccogliere delle firme on line, e di piu, sulla strada....Alla metta di agosto, doppo aver raccoglto oltre 70.000 firme,ero, quasi disperata.
Il Signore mi ha iluminato , di andare a Bucharest, per cercare - incontrare il Presidente della Comissione per Diritti del Uomo, della Camera dei Deputati del Parlamento rumeno, il 17 agosto. Lui e' ramasto impressionato del Progetto - -Petizione di Catharsis.....e mi ha incoraggiato moltissimo : ,, complimenti, signora, per tutto che stai facendo per i bambini- orfani rumeni ! Basta, non dovete piu raccogliere le firme, io prenderro il vostro progetto e preparerro l' iniziativa legislativa per riappertura delle adozioni internazionali in Romania".
Ci vediamo il 01 settebre nella Camera dei Deputati, con tutte le firme, il progetto, la petizione, tutto, tutto sui motivi per promuovere la vostra iniziativa.Ieri, 01 settebre, una delegazione Catharsis-9 persone( 2 ragazzi , 30 e 22 anni, in dificolta doppo l'uscita dal orfanotrofio, 2 assistenti maternali, io, la giurista e l'assistente sociale da Catharsis, un volontario e la Mirabella, ragazza di 24 anni, adotatta in Italia, 10 anni fa, oggi, felicissima di avere , insieme la sua sorellina -15 anni, la loro famiglia, due medici italiani, abbiamo parlato piu di tre ore meso, abbiamo motivato tutto con prove( fotografie), abbiamo lasciato tutte le firme (85.000),e dobbiamo ritornare, tra due- tre settimane, per presentare davanti ai 10 deputati membri della Comisione per Diritti del Uomo, anche altre prove sulle adozioni, grandi successi. in UE.... (...)Spero , che, la Grazia Divina, mi aiutera per vincere questa teribille battaglia!!!
Ciao, a tutti e, un abbraccio affetuoso, Azota

Organizations: Lobby to Re-open Romanian Adoptions (2001- ), Associazione il Conventino, Catharsis

Persons: Azota Popescu, Marco Arisi, Mirabella Arisi

Countries: Romania

More convicted for human trafficking

08:23, September 01, 2010

Countries: China

Single mothers to get apology

Single mothers to get apology
Published: Sept. 1, 2010 at 1:27 PM

PERTH, Australia, Sept. 1 (UPI) -- Single mothers who had their children taken from them by the state of Western Australia will get an apology in October, a government official said Wednesday.

In what is believed to be a worldwide first, single mothers will receive an official apology from the government of Western Australia for the forced adoption of their children by the state between 1940 and the mid-1980s. Children were taken from their mothers at birth and were given up for adoption without the mothers' consent.

While there is debate about the legality of the practice, it was "reflective of the times," Peta Rule, senior media adviser to the Minister for Health, told United Press International.

"But what was done was terrible and these women were so badly treated," Rule said.

Oct. 19 has been named as a potential date for the apology to unmarried mothers adversely affected by past adoption practices, Rule said.

Countries: Australia

'I was stolen from my mother': The heartbreaking story that raises disturbing questions about forced adoption

By Julia Lawrence
Last updated at 11:24 PM on 1st September 2010

On a sunny station platform in a pretty Cornish town this summer, holidaymakers may have witnessed a touching, but at first glance unremarkable, scene.

A mother and teenage son were nervously watching a train pull onto the platform, scanning the emerging crowd for the face of a loved one. Had she missed her train? Had they got the right time?

And finally, there she was: a pretty, petite 16-year-old, peering furtively through her fringe. Suddenly the boy broke away with a whoop. ‘It’s her!’

Countries: United Kingdom

Peti?ia pentru adop?ii interna?ionale ajunge azi în Parlament

Cele 85.000 de semn?turi adunate în sprijinul peti?iei ini?iate de Asocia?ia „Catharsis“ prin care se solicit? reluarea adop?iilor interna?ionale, va ajunge ast?zi pe masa de lucru a parlamentarilor din Comisia pentru Ap?rarea Drepturilor Omului din Camera Deputa?ilor. Din delega?ia care va merge la Parlament va face parte ?i Maria Miraballa Arisi (foto medalion), o tîn?r? de 24 de ani, care a crescut în orfelinatele din România pîn? la vîrsta de 14 ani, cînd a fost adoptat? de o familie de medici din Italia. Mirabella a decis s? vin? în România s? sprijine eforturile Asocia?iei „Catharsis“ ?i s?-?i prezinte punctul de vedere în fa?a parlamentarilor din Comisia pentru Ap?rarea Drepturilor Omului. Pre?edintele Asocia?iei „Catharsis“, Azota Popescu, spune c? sper? s? reu?easc? s? conving? deputa?ii s? sprijine un proiect de lege care s? modifice legea adop?iilor, astfel încît s? fie reluate adop?iile interna?ionale ?i c? se bazeaz?, în acest sens, pe pre?edintele Comisiei pentru Ap?rarea Drepturilor Omului, deputatul Nicolae P?un. „Deputatul Nicolae P?un s-a ?inut de promisiune ?i ne-a invitat s? ne sus?inem proiectul în fa?a membrilor comisiei pe care o conduce. Vom prezenta peti?ia noastr?, înso?it? de toate argumentele de care dispunem, astfel încît s?-i convingem pe parlamentari s? adopte modificarea legii adop?iilor. Sper?m s? reu?im s?-i convingem pe deputa?i de utilitatea demersului nostru, care pune pe primul plan interesul major al copiilor de a avea o familie unde s? se poat? dezvolta normal ?i s? beneficieze de dragostea p?rinteasc?. La aceast? or? exist? în centrele de plasament din România peste 70.000 de copii abandona?i, pentru fiecare dintre ei statul cheltuind lunar 500 de euro“, a declarat ieri Azota Popescu.

Countries: Romania

Organizations: Catharsis

Persons: Azota Popescu, Mirabella Arisi

Carolina Adoptions: Kenya Update (no CA)

September 2010

We are unable to accept any new applications from US citizens who do not currently reside in Kenya, as the US and Kenya continue to disagree over the implementation of the Hague Treaty. As of yet, the Kenyan government does not have a Central Authority in place to process adoptions, as is required by the treaty. Until an authority is named, no adoptions can be approved under Hague regulations.

For US citizens and families living in Kenya with no immediate plans to return to the US, adoption may be possible as they could qualify as Kenyan residents. Those families would then be able to proceed with an independent adoption and subsequent alternate visa for their child, after living in Kenya for a minimum of 2 years after the adoption is completed in the Kenyan court system. Kenyan citizens who reside in the US may also be allowed to apply. If either of these exceptions apply and you are interested in pursuing an adoption from Kenya, please email Mary Beth King.

Organizations: Carolina Adoption Services

Countries: Kenya