Participants of the 2023 International Korean Adoptee Associations Gathering pose for a group photo during the opening ceremony at COEX in southern Seoul, July 11. The event will continue until July 16 and the participants will discuss ways to build communities and empower Korean adoptees worldwide. Yonhap

Khammam: District Collector VP Gautham on Monday praised an issueless Italian couple for coming forward to adopt an orphaned child. A Babu from Khammam district childcare center was adopted by them, after all legal formalities, the Collector informed. Gautham stated that children who are below 18 years and are orphans, abandoned or have poor parents can be brought under the adoption process and the adoption process is done by the District Collector as per the rules. He informed that childless couples can approach officials through the website www.cara.nic.in. They can also contact anganwadi teachers, district child welfare department, Sisugruhas to learn about the adoption process. District Welfare Officer G Jyoti, DCPO Vishnu Vandana, Protection Officer Soni and others were present.

 

Victims and campaigners renew calls for state to admit responsibility for historic scandal in light of new evidence

An estimated 185,000 mostly unmarried young women in England and Wales were forced into giving up their babies between 1949 and 1976

Hundreds of women forced to give their babies up for adoption are renewing their calls for the UK government to follow Scotland and Wales in issuing a formal apology, in light of new evidence.

Dr Michael Lambert, a historian at Lancaster University, uncovered archival evidence that he believes shows responsibility does lie with the state.

Lambert told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that he believes a lengthy “trail of exchange” within the civil service, and the “final reply”, proves that the government knew “in no uncertain terms” that language like “forced” and “no choice” were being used by adoption agencies. It demonstrates “government involvement” in the process, he added.

The health protection committee of the Russian lower house has reviewed the bill banning “sex change” and supported introducing two amendments to it, parliamentary channel Duma TV reported on Tuesday.

The bill seeks to ban gender reassignment surgery and hormonal treatment except in cases of “congenital physiological deviations”. It will also prohibit changes to official documents on the basis of medical “sex change” certificates.

The proposed amendments will allow to annul marriages in cases when one or both spouses undergoes a “sex change”.

“Those marriages that were registered by a man and a woman, one of whom then ended up of a different sex, will be annulled,” deputy chair of the committee Sergey Leonov told TASS.

The amendment will be retroactive, rendering invalid those marriages where one or both spouses had transitioned before the law’s introduction.

SWIMMING. Parents of a beautiful, large family of 7 children, Trifluvians Joël Lapierre and Julie Joseph wish to adopt 5 Ukrainian children. To make their dream come true, the couple must raise a minimum amount of $80,000 and that is why the father decided to take on a major challenge: swim 40 kilometers in the St. Lawrence River.

Accompanied by swimmer Heidi Levasseur, Joël Lapierre left Thursday morning (July 10) from Saint-Quentin Island, in Trois-Rivières. He will swim to Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pérade during the day. He should arrive around 4:30 p.m.

The Lapierre family is made up of four biological daughters, a son adopted at birth in Quebec and siblings of two boys adopted in Ukraine in 2012. In September, the couple will fly to Ukraine to go pick up 4 to 5 children.

“We do it because we care about children, particularly children in Ukraine,” says the father. We are committed to providing parents to children who do not have a favorable environment. We don't know our future children. We will be paired with them on site, so we have to spend a few weeks in Ukraine. We're very excited and nervous at the same time, but we know what to expect since we've done it before."

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New Project & Vacancy! Human Rights in Alternative Care

The goal of drastically reducing numbers of children living in institutions around the world has been a key focus of coherent efforts to realise children’s rights for over a decade, with important advances being made. 

Progress is visible through strengthened international standards and greater attention by the Committee on the Rights of the Children, alongside changes in domestic legislation, systems and practices, as well as greater attention to the voices of children and adults impacted by the harms of institutionalized alternative care.

Together, these are all helping to strengthen the fulfilment of children’s rights, not least through greater promotion of positive parenting approaches and wider kinship family support, keeping families together safely, and nurturing quality, community-based alternative care, close to home.

The Gaps

At the beginning of April '23 we launched a call . Organizations for adoption stakeholders could submit ideas for a joint project, in collaboration with at least 2 other organizations. The applicants were eligible for a one-time incentive, consisting of financial support and the opportunity for guidance.

Adoption Support Center launched this one-off call in the context of the policy action 'expansion of accessible care and guidance' and the policy recommendation 'professional development of peer contact for adoption stakeholders' from the 'care and guidance' working group.

We received 4 nice applications. An independent jury assessed these applications based on the submitted file and a presentation round of all projects.

From the applications received, the jury selected 'Round & about adoption' as the best project. We wish the initiators of the project congratulations!

We would also like to thank the other submitters for the wonderful projects and the commitment they have shown in presenting their projects.

Round & about adoption

The Round & about adoption team consists of Binnenlandsgeadopteerd.be , Association for Adopted Child and Family , Adoption Schakel Connecteert and a-Buddy .

What exactly does their project entail? We asked the initiators themselves.

A roundabout, a roundabout, round & about, round & about adoption...

Turning at a roundabout and missing the exit, you do the tour again and are still unsure which exit to take. Everyone feels insecure sometimes.

That feeling is common among adoptees. How do you learn to create more security ? What tools can you take to get out of this situation? We want to make these tools a little more tangible through inspiring stories .

Every story is different, everyone experiences her or his adoption or bond with adoptees in their own way. There are many different, contradictory feelings associated with it. By letting everyone tell their story, we try to reflect the complexity . In this way we try to raise society's awareness. We want to give the floor to those involved in adoption (first parents or birth parents, adoptees, adoptive parents, partners of adoptees, adult children of adoptees, other family members, friends, teachers, etc.)

through a podcast

. The need and idea of ​​this project comes from the dominant social discourse that adoption is only a fairy tale. By sharing stories we want to highlight the dark side, without destroying the feelings of good stories. We especially want to create a realistic picture of adoption.

We will place a call through various media. In this way we want to reach as many adoption stakeholders as possible . With this we want to demonstrate that the adoption triangle is no longer up to date. There are many more people involved than just the adoption triangle. Consider, for example, partners of, children of, etc. We will also work on a concrete work bundle for education

, among other things . This way, several people can work with our material to make society more adoption-sensitive. We will organize an event in November 2024. Here we will take the opportunity to share the podcast with the world. Everyone is welcome to come and listen to the stories and talk to fellow sufferers. Contact with fellow sufferers, making society more sensitive to adoption, offering concrete tools to education, networking, aftercare and recognition are central to this project. We get to work enthusiastically. See you soon!





 

Posted in: Current

At least three adopted kids and their adopted parents were invited to the symposium.

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Congress, on Monday, has raised an objection after Union minister Smriti Zubin Irani got pictures clicked with adopted kids and parents at symposium, alleging violation of law. The opposition party has also demanded action against the organisers.

A symposium on child protection, safety and welfare organized by the union ministry of women and child development in Bhopal on Sunday, has fallen in controversy, over the union minister's pictures with adopted kids.

The Congress state media vice president Bhupendra Gupta, alleged, “Despite being a minister, she (Smriti Irani) didn’t hesitate in making public the identity of adopted kids and parents who’ve adopted them. All the BJP leaders are the same when it comes to violating the law.”

“Being a minister, she has some legal obligations to fulfill, but instead of abiding by the legal obligations, she has violated the law by making public the identities of the kids and their adopted parents. She often remembers Rahul Gandhi, but has herself violated the law. The Congress will explore legal options in the matter and move accordingly. The BJP needs to apologize to the country, the adopted kids and their parents, for the minister’s irresponsible act. We demand legal action against the organizers of the event,” Gupta demanded.

WASHINGTON: Uzra Zeya, a senior US diplomat in charge of democracy and human rights, will embark on a visit to India and Bangladesh beginning Saturday to engage with civil society organisations on freedom of expression and inclusion of women and girls and vulnerable groups including religious and ethnic minorities.
In India, the Indian-American diplomat will also meet government officials to discuss the deepening US-India partnership, the state department said in a release on Friday. Under secretary for civilian security, democracy and human rights and US special coordinator for Tibetan issues Zeya will travel to India and Bangladesh from July 8 to 14.
 

Taking to Twitter, Zeya said, "Traveling to India and Bangladesh next week to advance shared solutions to global challenges; contribute to a more free, open, secure & prosperous Indo-Pacific; and bolster humanitarian support for refugees & host communities throughout the region".