The fact that unmarried women formerly had to give up their newborn children was “a profound and painful event”. 

The Interchurch Contact in Government Affairs (CIO), a partnership of approximately thirty church denominations, announced on Tuesday that the churches acknowledge the suffering. No apologies are being offered.

Family at the center

According to the churches, the value of the family is central to the Biblical tradition. “Based on that premise, keeping mother and child together has been an important guiding principle. Precisely for this reason, it is painful to see that practice at that time was not always in line with those intentions.”

A two-year-old boy's adoption has been overturned after his adoptive mother failed to disclose she was in a relationship with an inmate at the prison where she worked.

In the Court of Appeal ruling, Lord Justice Peter Jackson said the boy was formally adopted by a married couple in Northumberland in November 2025.

However, the child's former social workers were recently told his adoptive father had moved out in October and his mother had begun a new relationship.

Barristers acting for Gateshead Council said the adoption was "unfair to the child" as it had been based on "mistaken" information.

The judge said the prisoner was in custody for drug offences and had previous convictions for battery and possession of weapons.

The Bombay High Court on Monday (May 4, 2026) dismissed two petitions challenging a 2021 amendment to the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act that replaces courts with District Collectors for issuing adoption orders.

A Bench of Justice Bharati Dangre and Justice Manjusha Deshpande ruled that District Collectors are competent to conduct hearings in adoption proceedings and pass orders. The Court said the amendment, which substitutes the word “Court” with “District Collector” or “District Collector (Executive Officer)”, was made to reduce delays in the adoption process and is not unlawful.

The amendment was challenged by two couples. Under the Act and the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) regulations, a valid court order was required for adoption. The amendment now requires a valid order from the District Collector.

When Flanders banned international adoption last week, the message was clear: the best interests of the child come first. But for thousands of adoptees, aftercare remains inadequate. VUB student Ignace Ismayilov knows what he is writing about: as a child, he was illegally removed from his biological parents, after which the system legally whitewashed that abduction. What remains when the product has been delivered and the guarantee period expires?

A few months ago, Flemish Minister Caroline Gennez supported Groen's proposal to ban transnational adoption in Flanders. The best interests of the child must take precedence, she stated. Last week, that proposal was effectively implemented, but for thousands of adoptees, aftercare remains inadequate. 

Support in Belgium stops as soon as the adoption is finalised: everything before that is arranged down to the last detail, but afterwards, it remains remarkably quiet. As an internationally adopted person, I received no structural guidance whatsoever regarding identity development, loss, or trauma. No psychologist with knowledge of adoption trauma. No support when I found my family after years of searching. The system guides adults' choice to adopt but often leaves the adopted person alone with the consequences.

However, the Law of 24 April 2003 explicitly states that adoption can only take place 'in the best interests of the child' and that prospective adoptive parents must be informed about the importance of aftercare. But there is a gap between 'providing information about aftercare' and a right to aftercare. Support ends as soon as the procedure is complete, and all burdens fall on the child.

South Korea will remove the term “out-of-wedlock child” from government forms used in child welfare administration, as authorities move to update official language in line with changing views on family and childbirth.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare said Thursday it had issued an advance notice of revisions to the enforcement decree and rules of the Child Welfare Act. The proposed changes also include measures to strengthen responses to child abuse and suspected abuse-related deaths.

The term has already been removed from the Child Welfare Act itself, but remained in some lower-level administrative forms used by public officials in the field, including attached forms under the act’s enforcement rules.

Dozens of prospective adoptive parents were informed this week that their process will be halted, often just before the final stage. Flemish Minister of Welfare Caroline Gennez (Vooruit) wants to gradually phase out intercountry adoption, with a complete halt in 2027. A number of prospective parents are exploring the possibilities of challenging the decision before the Council of State.

Lisa Lefèvre

Published:Wed 29 Apr 20:00

In short:

Following a decision by Minister of Welfare Caroline Gennez, intercountry adoption will cease completely by 2027, and a phase-out scenario will be implemented in the meantime.

Anita Wiesendt has petitioned the Karnataka High Court, seeking the disclosure of her biological parents' identities from St. Martha’s Hospital, citing a "lifelong struggle with identity."

Written by: Mustafa Plumber

5 min readBengaluruUpdated: Apr 28, 2026 10:41 AM IST

In her petition, Anita has claimed the Bengaluru hospital failed to acknowledge or respond properly. Representative Image

Rebirthing therapy banned after girl died in 70 minute struggle

Deborah Josefson

• Copyright and License information

PMCID: PMC1174742

Rebirthing therapy, a controversial treatment for reactive detachment disorder, has been banned in the US state of Colorado one year after it resulted in the death of a 10 year old girl.

The decision follows a succession of problematic cases that have cast serious doubt on the integrity of international adoption procedures and on the ability of authorities to verify children’s backgrounds with certainty.

On April 27, Flemish Welfare Minister Caroline Gennez announced: “It is time to close this chapter.” The move reflects broad political consensus in Flanders after years in which disputed adoption cases repeatedly made headlines.

International adoption by Flemish families has already fallen sharply, from 244 cases in 2009 to just 29 in 2022.

In 2021, Flemish authorities began reassessing co-operation with countries of origin to determine whether all legal and ethical safeguards were being properly respected.

By the end of 2023, most international adoption procedures had been suspended, including those involving countries such as Gambia, Haiti, Morocco and Vietnam.

BHOPAL: A Guna-based businessman and his wife have been arre ..

 

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