CHENNAI: Esther (33), a French teacher in Liege, had reconciled herself to the fact that she was an orphan from India, adopted by her Belgian parents Maurice and Madeline. And then, on a sojourn to her native land 28 years after she was adopted, Esther was told she had a mother and sister in Chennai. Twists of destiny and turns of luck finally reunited her with them, albeit temporarily.
She landed in Chennai with her friend Delphine on December 16 to find out about the children's home from where she — then named Gomathi — was adopted as a five-year-old. She knew that a person called Pastor Mani, who used to write to her Belgian parents, had put her up for adoption. All she had was a greying photograph of herself with a foreigner taken at a Chennai beach when she was four years old, and an address from an old letter Mani had sent her Belgian parents.
"Her parents were apprehensive when she informed them that she was going to Chennai to find out about Pastor Mani and his children's home," said Delphine, who became friends with Esther at a music class.
While wandering about on Wallajah Road, Esther and Delphine met Bhawanesh Deora, who runs the NGO Shreyans Foundation. Deora helped them trace Mani, who said that her mother and elder sister were living in Thirumullaivoyal. And then on December 22, Esther, who loves Bollywood music and Chinese food, met her mother and sister for the first time.
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I'd like to clarify a few things:
1. I was at the orphanage when Jill Smith used Papa to pacify her adopted daughter. She gave Papa toys, new clothes, fed him and took him around so that her daughter would not be scared. Papa believed he too was being adopted by the way Jill was treating him, however this was not the case. And when she bonded with her daughter, Jill cast Papa aside and left town.
2. Jill Smith and her husband had a change of heart and decided they wanted to adopt Papa later on. The orphanage director did not want to give the child to the Smiths (for a variety of reasons)so Jill and Zeke decided to kidnap Papa from Hohoe Orphanage and hid him in an attempt to illegally adopt him in another part of the country. They bribed people along the way to make this happen. The false accusations made in this article were written out of spite.
3. The director of the Hohoe Orphanage has been facilitating ethical and legal adoptions to find loving homes for children.
4. There is a HUGE difference between "selling children" and legal adoptions. I really wish people would understand this point, and stop using the words "selling children" or "trafficking" when talking about adoption. People seem to be surprised that adoptions should cost anything at all, but in the world of adoptions, $7000 is a very reasonable fee to adopt a child. The money does not go to the orphanage director alone. There are many costs associated with a legal adoption such as lawyer fees, medical exam/tests, court fees, care of the child while at the orphanage, transportation, etc. An adoption agency or independent facilitator must collect a fee from the family in order to facilitate an ethical and legal adoption according to Ghanaian laws. This is NOT "selling children." A proper relinquishment of rights is obtained, a social welfare report, and many other documents. The case is heard before a judge and the judge decides whether or not a adoption order is granted.
5. Taking a child, not receiving a relinquishment of rights, and moving the child to another part of the country to get an adoption order is illegal. This is what the Smiths did.
6. There is a lot of child trafficking going on in Ghana....by Ghanaians and other African nationals. I really wish that the Ghanaian government and the newspapers would focus on this. Very few children are actually trafficked to America and Europe. The adoption process is a long, grueling, and expensive process and most people would not put that kind of energy and money into trafficking children through the adoption and visa process. Most of the children are trafficked by Ghanaians or surrounding African countries where children are forced to work on farms, on the lake, or as servants and sex slaves. Those are the people that the Ghanaian government should be focusing on.
7. Embassy officials are trained to look at documents, interview adoptive parents, and interview the birth family to ensure that any child leaving the country has not been trafficked. It's the officials inside the country that need to be investigated more carefully, like Helena Obeng-Asamoah, who aided the Smiths.
8. When people like Jill Smith spread false rumors, it has a domino effect. As you can see by all the previous posts, many people blindly believe everything they read in newspapers or hear on the radio. What most people don't understand is that a lie like this can have an adverse effect on many, many families who are currently in the process of legally adopting their children and trying to bring them home. Jill is selfish, plain and simple. She is angry and wants revenge. She thinks her revenge will be on the orphanage director, but her previous attempts to discredit his adoptions only made the visa process at the embassy more costly, complicated, and longer for every other family adopting in Ghana. I really don't think Jill would care if her actions shut down adoptions in Ghana altogether. She only thinks of herself.
9. Helena Obeng-Asamoah has her own agenda –– that is to shut down private orphanages and completely control all adoptions through her office. Why? Because she will make money. So, of course she wants to discredit others who are facilitating adoptions in Ghana. She too does not care how this false article may affect many good families waiting for their children.
And who is actually thinking about the children?
Greed and selfishness are the reasons why this article came about.