ACT | Documents

Home

A story of modern slavery in Utah

Lee Davidson

Sunday, Aug. 15, 2010

Thais tricked, trapped and imported here to be slaves

SALT LAKE CITY — Chan, a short man but strong from a lifetime of labor in rice fields, tells how he blundered into a trap when he left Thailand to work abroad. In fact, the U.S. government officially calls him, in diplomatic parlance, a victim of "human trafficking."

Persons: Mordechai Orian

Countries: Thailand, United States of America

Scandals at home and abroad have shaken board

By Conall O Fátharta

Saturday, August 14, 2010

THE Adoption Board has been at the centre of a number of scandals concerning how domestic and foreign adoptions have been carried out since adoption was made legal in 1952.

According to its website, the Adoption Board is "responsible for registering and supervising the registered adoption societies and for maintaining the adoption societies register".

However, the level of supervision it actually carries out is questionable.

Numerous cases of illegal adoptions and questionable practices involving accredited adoption agencies have been highlighted by this newspaper and by numerous adoption groups.

Despite the Adoption Board having full knowledge of these cases, it has never de-registered any of the adoption agencies in question, nor inspected all of the files they hold.

One need only look to the case of Tressa Reeves and the case highlighted by this newspaper in April and Carol O’Keeffe’s story below to see blatant examples of such practices.

Since its foundation in 1952, the Adoption Board has been, and continues to be, a peculiarly secretive body.

Despite the fact it is a public body entirely funded by the taxpayer, and whose members are all appointed directly by the Government, it remains exempt from the Freedom of Information Act.

For this reason, it is free not to release any information or internal documentation into its workings. Its proceedings remain hidden from public view.

This is not the first time the board has found itself embroiled in controversy.

The case of Tristan Dowse, who was abandoned by his adoptive Irish father Joe Dowse in an Indonesian orphanage in 2003, two years after he and his wife had adopted the boy, caused understandable outrage when it became public in 2005.

His adoption was recognised in Ireland on the basis that the Adoption Board had approved Indonesian adoption procedures. It later transpired that Tristan was, in fact, a victim of human trafficking, as he was simply taken from his mother and sold.

That same year, the Adoption Board came under fire for advice posted on its website telling couples hoping to adopt children in Vietnam that they must bring $3,000 (€2,300) in cash to complete the adoption in the country. The post also told couples to pay another $3,700 (€2,900) in a bankers draft to My Linh Soland, who was then facilitating adoptions there.

At the time, registrar of the Adoption Board Kiernan Gildea defended the payment of such a large amount of money to a single person and not to Vietnamese authorities.

"She was mutually agreed by us and the Vietnamese. They were happy to deal with her," he said.

However, it emerged in 2006 that Ms Soland – who was interviewed by the Adoption Board in 2004 for the role of facilitator with adoptions of Vietnamese babies by Irish couples and who later operated in this role for the Helping Hands adoption agency – had served a three-year sentence in the late 1990s for fraud, obstruction of justice and intimidation of witnesses.

At the time the Adoption Board said it was unaware of Ms Soland’s criminal convictions. However, it later emerged that the board had, in fact, been warned about her activities by letter as early as May 2004, shortly after she was appointed.

Maxine Caswell, of British ethical adoption group OASIS, wrote to the Adoption Board warning that Ms Soland was well-known in adoption circles as having worked for a number of agencies and individuals.

Ms Caswell said it was her view, based on evidence from adoptive parents who had "the misfortune to be involved with her during their adoptions that Ms Soland’s motivation is financial rather than humanitarian".

This proved to be the case as Ms Soland was secretly recorded saying how the 150 adoptions she facilitated for Irish couples were accompanied by fraudulent paperwork which altered the children’s histories.

She also revealed how $4,500 of the adoption fee intended for humanitarian aid was instead given to corrupt officials at the upper end of the adoption process in Vietnam.

The Adoption Board informed the Gardaí at the time and said it would launch an internal investigation. There is no record this report was ever made public, although the Adoption Board confirmed it sent a copy to a reporter with the Irish Times.

Ms Soland was acting as a facilitator for the Helping Hands Adoption Agency in Vietnam when the story of her criminal past became public.

Helping Hands came under fire then and is in the news as a result of an investigation into the fees it charges people to adopt from Vietnam.

The investigation was launched after the agency was specifically singled out for criticism in Unicef’s International Social Services report (ISS) last year.

However, although the Adoption Board registered and regulates adoption agencies such as Helping Hands, issues of conflicts of interest arise in relation to the agency.

The 2004 bilateral agreement with Vietnam (currently suspended) stipulated that all adoptions from Vietnam go through a single mediation agency licensed by both jurisdictions.

This facilitated the creation of Helping Hands in 2005 and the appointment of Sharon O’Driscoll as chief executive of the agency.

Ms O’Driscoll was on the Adoption Board for eight years under the chairmanship of Judge Jim O’Sullivan. She resigned from the board after taking up her position with Helping Hands.

The agency is under investigation by the Adoption Board in relation to fees it charges people to adopt from Vietnam. It is also understood the agency has threatened the Adoption Board with legal action as a result.

Ms O’Driscoll also acted as chair-woman of a charity set up by former chairman Judge Jim O’Sullivan called the Judge O’Sullivan Fund to "alleviate the suffering of children".

Speaking at the time of the Adoption Board’s investigation into My Linh Soland, former Independent TD Paudge Connolly aptly summed up the attitude of many adopted people and natural parents when dealing with the Adoption Board: "It’s like hitting a football against a haystack, you get very little response."

This story appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Saturday, August 14, 2010

Countries: Vietnam, Ireland

Organizations: Helping Hands, Ireland

Persons: Sharon O'Driscoll

Couples get new hope for adoption

Couples get new hope for adoption
by Sacha Molloy, AUT journalism student | 13th August 2010

Rotorua couples desperate to adopt may face an easier road ahead as Russia opens its doors.

Russian officials have begun negotiating an agreement with Child Youth and Family and Intercountry Adoption New Zealand to allow New Zealanders to adopt from Russia.

Russian adoptions were suspended in 2006 but ICANZ were recently granted a permit allowing them to operate an adoption programme which is consistent with the laws of the Hague Convention.

C3 Rotorua Church pastor Phil Wiseman and his wife Jill adopted their 7-year-old daughter through Child Youth and Family when she was three weeks old.

The couple were unable to have their own children and the idea of adoption arose in the early 2000s while Mr Wiseman was on a trip to Romania.

"I was very keen to adopt through Romania. I saw one child I would have loved to bring back," he said.

Unfortunately the doors for international adoption closed around this time as Romanian officials struggled to maintain control over an adoption industry which had become "corrupt".

The Wisemans next looked into adopting a Russian child through ICANZ but they had barely begun the application process when they received a phone call from Child Youth and Family in Auckland.

Advertisement
They were told there was a family in Whangarei looking for someone to adopt a child.

Mr Wiseman said he thought the move to open up international adoption laws in Russia was a good move but international adoption was costly.

"I've been in those countries and the children don't get a very good life. Unfortunately it's [intercountry adoption] the domain of the fairly wealthy. We were told it would cost us $30,000."

He said adoption could be a lengthy process, ultimately depending on an applicant's portfolio being chosen by birth parents. "The demand exceeds the supply in New Zealand."

At the time of his daughter's adoption there were 70 couples on the waiting list but only eight placements that year.

Ministry of Social Development director of international adoptions Paula Attrill said now ICANZ had a permit in Russia the next step was for the New Zealand Government, through Child, Youth and Family, to start negotiating with Russian authorities to formalise a process acceptable to both countries.

There are more than 670 Russian adopted children in New Zealand but Child, Youth and Family could not say how many live in Rotorua.

There is interest in New Zealand in intercountry adoption just as there is interest in adopting New Zealand children.

As at July this year there were 278 New Zealand parents waiting to adopt a child from New Zealand.

New Zealand also has adoption programmes with seven other countries - Chile, China, Hong Kong, India, Lithuania, Thailand and the Philippines.

It is birth families who consider placing a child for adoption and who choose the adoptive family.

"This means some approved adoptive applicants in the waiting pool in New Zealand may never be selected by a birth family and others may have the opportunity to adopt more than once," Ms Attrill said.

Countries: New Zealand, Russia

CBI: Preet Mandir funds used to buy diamond necklace, pay hotel bills

CBI: Preet Mandir funds used to buy diamond necklace, pay hotel bills

The special court in Pune on Friday remanded Joginder Singh Bhasin, the managing trustee of Preet Mandir, in judicial custody. Additional sessions judge J D Kulkarni passed the order.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had arrested 71-year-old Bhasin on Monday in Belapur, Navi Mumbai, in connection with the adoption racket. Bhasin was booked under charges of forgery, cheating, kidnapping and misappropriation of funds amounting to Rs 25.7 lakh. The court had remanded him in police custody till Friday.
The CBI produced Bhasin at the special court on Friday. CBI’s lawyer Vivek Saxena told the court that investigations are on in the case and it was revealed that money from Preet Mandir's bank account was used to buy a diamond necklace worth Rs 1.25 lakh from a jewellery shop in Delhi on August 16, 2004. Saxena said some hotel bills were also paid from Preet Mandir’s account.
Ads by Google The 2.18Cr Pension Plan Invest today. You could get 2.18Cr @60. Best limited offer from 46 Coswww.policybazaar.comAir Tickets @ Rs. 99 Only Buy 1 Flight Ticket & Get 1 Free On All Bookings. Limited Time Offer!MakeMyTrip.com/CheapIND - SL -NZ Cricket Tour Play exciting Prediction & Fantasy Games and win Rs.10 lakhs. Play NowSportshero.com/Crick
Saxena told the court that CBI is also probing the transfer of 42 children from Navrang Balakashram in Pandharpur to Preet Mandir in 2009. Meanwhile, Bhasin’s counsel Shrikant Shivade sought his interim bail on medical grounds. Shivade told the court that Bhasin should get bail for medical treatment and that he would co-operate with the investigation. The court said that the hearing on Bhasin's bail application will take place on August 16.
The CBI had earlier submitted to the court that the parents had given temporary custody of their children to Preet Mandir due to their compelling domestic and financial condition. However, the parents were asked to sign a permanent relinquishment deed of their children fraudulently without their knowledge.
The CBI had submitted that Preet Mandir produced fake and bogus non-acceptance slips, adoption coordination clearance, no-objection certificate from Central Adoption Resources Agency (CARA). Bhasin had allegedly sent one Namrata for inter country adoption without ACA clearance with unidentified CARA officials abusing their official position to issue an NoC.
There have allegedly been 70 instances of illegal adoption between 2002 and 2005, in which he charged money in excess of Rs 50,000 from adoptive parents. He also alleged that Bhasin has misappropriated the orphanage fund for his own use to the tune of Rs 25,70,016 between 2002 and 2007.

Organizations: ACT CASE Preet Mandir

Persons: Sardar Joginder Singh Bhasin

Bypassing panel, 42 kids shifted to Preet Mandir: CBI

Asseem Shaikh, TNN, Aug 14, 2010, 12.22am IST

Tags:preet mandir|pandharpur|cbi|adoption racket

PUNE: Investigations conducted by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the inter country adoption racket has revealed that 42 children were directly transferred to Preet Mandir from an orphanage at Pandharpur bypassing child welfare committee.

CBI inspector S Bhattacharya made the statement in its remand report when Preet Mandir managing trusteeJoginder Singh Bhasin was produced before the special court, following expiry of his police custody remand on Friday.

Organizations: ACT CASE Preet Mandir

Collegeville family fights halt on Nepal adoptions

August 14, 2010

Collegeville family fights halt on Nepal adoptions

By Amy Bowen

abowen@stcloudtimes.com

COLLEGEVILLE — Tears well up in Cherie Beumer’s eyes for the daughter she doesn’t know, but loves.

Countries: United States of America, Nepal

Couple risk fine in revealing their adoption nightmare story

CALLIE WATSON

From: The Advertiser

NIGHTMARE: Liz and Darryn Peter are defying state laws by identifying themselves and adopted son Samuel, 7, from Thailand. Picture: BIANCA De MARCHI Source: AdelaideNow

AN Adelaide couple who went through a "nightmare" five years trying to adopt a child say they are defying the State Government and risking a hefty fine by identifying themselves and their adopted son and sharing their ordeal.

Countries: Australia, Thailand

Alleged Child Traffickers on Board of Tamil TB Boat

by Tom McGregor Fri, Aug 13, 2010, 10:32 PM

World Vision Canada is demanding that the Canadian government crack down on any child traffickers who may be on board the Sri Lankan Tamil ship that is supposedly plagued by tuberculosis-infected passengers, which landed on Friday in British Columbia.

The Toronto Sun reports that, “the aid agency says Canada is known as a haven for child trafficking, both as a transit hub and a destination country. World Vision is concerned that a failure to clamp down on any child traffickers now would reinforce Canada’s unfortunate reputation.”

Canadian Public Minister Vic Toews said at a news conference in Esquimalt, B.C. that he realizes the actions of Canadian officials are being closely observed.

Countries: United States of America, Sri Lanka, Canada

Arun's search for truth

There is a subject that seems to fascinate Indians. That of these children adopted elsewhere who come back to find their biological family in India 20, 30 years after the adoption. And there is one that regularly makes ink flow because it seems to them surely more crunchy than the others. It is that of this 37 year old man born in Pune (India) and adopted quickly (at 2 months!!!) by a German couple.

Arun believes that his biological father is the brother of an Indian minister, that he is the product of an adulterous affair and that he was taken away from his biological mother at birth. He therefore wants to find his biological mother, and files a lawsuit to this effect in India.

Arun, I met him on the English-speaking forums on Indian AI. He had anti-AI positions, had been involved in anti-Indian AI activities and regularly uttered hurtful and insulting words about AI ("International adoption IS child trafficking".). In short, he was regularly kicked off the forums and came back with fake pseudonyms to cause trouble. We could feel a tortured mind, sad to death, despite loving parents, a wife, children...

Despite his extreme positions on AI, his story touches me. Interestingly, he managed to get a DNA test from the biological son of his alleged biological father (I wonder if it was with his consent!!!) which would prove 90% that he is right about his father. In addition, the minister's brother would have played an important role in his adoption (which one??). But despite everything, the Indian justice system seems to be ruling against him.

Persons: Arun Dohle

Countries: India, Germany

Orphan support group to host reunion for families of adopted Romanian children

BY STAFF REPORTER, THE PROVINCE AUGUST 12, 2010 1:02 PM BE THE FIRST TO POST A COMMENT

The International Orphans Support Group of Canada is hosting a reunion Aug. 28 for families who adopted Romanian children during the 1990s.

An estimated 350 families from Canada and the U.S. adopted 500 children from Romanian orphanages between 1990 and 1992. Aug. 12 marks 20 years since the first wave arrived in Canada.

The reunion will be held at the Langley Events Centre as part of the Romanian Pavilion at this year’s Langley International Festival.

As part of the celebration, Sonya Paterson, president of the International Orphans Support Group of Canada, will hand out two $5,000 cheques to groups currently helping orphans.

One of the cheques will go toward helping children in Pakistan; the other will go to help children in Haiti.

Also included will be the presentation of a short film made by an adopted Romanian living in California. The name of the film is “Born to be our children, Romanian Adoption Stories.”

Countries: Canada, Romania

Persons: Sonya Paterson