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Mogilino is gesloten

17 december 2009, 08:59

Mogilino is closed

September 2007. More than seventy children. Suddenly it was world news. The children with an intellectual disability - or something similar to it - were grossly neglected. I wrote about it in early November 2007 after my visit to Bulgaria. In February 2008, State Secretary Frans Timmermans went to Bulgaria to offer help. We are now two years later.

Mogilino is closed and the children are divided into five homes in four cities. In the city of Russe, Child & Space is active in a small-scale shelter for eight of the children who once lived in Mogilino. Thanks to Unicef ??and the money from various sources, including a large text messaging campaign in Bulgaria itself, the children were able to go from Mogilino to the new small-scale shelters.

Vessela Banova from Child & Space visited me today. The attention has disappeared and Unicef ??too. At the beginning of 2008 Mogilino was mentioned once on the Frans Timmermans weblog. Then no more. Child & Space must arrange everything for 3,500 Euro per year per child. Accommodation is arranged, but staff and care are worth ten euros a day. A day out? No money. Pampers? No money.

Mogilino was not a humanitarian crisis. A humanitarian disaster. And as Robert van Voren from GIP (Global Initiative on Psychiatry) wrote on my weblog early 2008:

Adoption norms may become easier for womenMahendra Kumar Singh & Himanshi Dhawan, TNN 16 December 2009, 02:13am ISTText Size:| Topics:WomenadoptionNEW DELHI: In a move that will empower women to take guardianship and adopt irrespective of their marital status, the Union Cabinet on Wednesday TwitterFacebookShare EmailPrintSaveComment will consider amendments to the Guardians and Wards Act, 1890 (GAWA) and Hindu Adoption Maintenance Act, 1956 (HAMA). At present, if a couple adopts a child, it is the man who is the guardian. The proposed amendments will make the status of the guardian gender-neutral. They will also make it easier for men or women living separately from their spouse, though not formally divorced, to adopt. However, consent of the spouse will be mandatory to adopt. According to the Central Adoption Resource Agency (CARA), officially, 6,000 children are up for adoption at present but activists say the numbers are much higher. Added to that are the unaccounted number of children living on the streets, abandoned or deserted children and children of migrant workers and commercial sex workers. While the government recognizes these children to be in need of care, little is done in that direction. Law Commission member Kirti Singh said both proposed amendments were welcome but expressed concern that these legislations required an overhaul. NGOs have welcomed the government's move to amend adoption laws but advised caution. Pratidhi's Raj Mangal Prasad said, ``It is a positive step. Laws must be made flexible for children in need of care and protection. But a monitoring mechanism should be in place so that this is not misused.'' Jerry Pinto from NGO Butterflies said the proposed amendments would open more doors for abandoned or destitute children who were currently confined to non-caring institutions. ``But we must be careful. How do you balance two vital roles that both parents play? There are many cases of single parents but it is an abnormal situation and not healthy for the child. Parents must make adequate arrangements for making up for the absence of the other spouse,'' Pinto said.

German couple’s surrogate kids may end up stateless

Dhananjay Mahapatra, TNN 16 December 2009, 03:36am IST

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NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court's worst apprehension appears to have come true. The surrogate twin babies of a German couple have virtually become

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Miércoles, 16 de Diciembre de 2009

TRIBUNALES: Se le acusa de trata de personas y documentos falsificados

Capturan a abogada sindicada de ser cabecilla de red de adopciones anómalas

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Haïti

Webmaster, 16 december 2009

Haïti , Petionville GLA 32°

Hebbes!!!

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2009

information about healthy referrels in Bulgaria...

This is written by an adoptive parent that was in Bulgaria this past week to visit her down syndrome son;

As for what my agency told me, they said that the MOJ told agencies last week that they do not, at this time, have any new referrals for young children. They have requested that directors (at the baby houses) send them any new children avaliable for adoption in January. It will then take them 2-3 months to do everything required to start giving this information to the agencies. As far as "young healthy" children, here is what I was told:

The MOJ wants to "fill the requests" of families that have sent in dossiers, but the children are NOT there. There is a waiting list in Bulgaria of Bulgarian families that want to adopt healthy young children up to the age of 2. As soon as this was said, I immediately said, "Yes, but what about the Roma children. In the US, we are told that Bulgarian families do not adopt the Roma children." This is the reply that I got, "Shelley, what do you know about the Roma culture. Do you know why we call them Gypies?" (Ummm, no I don't) It was then explained to me about how their culture (Roma) thinks in regards to children. Basically, if a healthy baby is born to a Gypsy woman (family) and the child can not be taken care of by the birth mother, then the " gypsy family unit"(not my words) takes the child in and raises it. If the child has special needs, then the child is abandoned (place in an orphanage).

Parliament’s committee chairman: “Adoption by foreigners sharply reduced in Azerbaijan”

[ 15 Dec 2009 12:25 ]

Baku. Kamala Guliyeva – APA. Azerbaijan’s Family Code is expected to be amended for prevention of adoption problems, said the Chairman of the Parliament’s Social Policy Committee Hadi Rajabli, APA reports.

According to the amendments, persons above 60 and not having normal living conditions can not adopt the children.

One of the amendments is about the protection of the adoptee property right until 18. Rajabli said so far the property of such children was protected by the officials or their relatives. “The problems will be solved after this issue is described in the Family Code”.

Opiniemakers

Kind zoekt ouders

dinsdag 15 december 2009Auteur:

DE STANDAARD ANALYSE — 'Adoptie bevindt zich wereldwijd in crisis' kopte De Standaard gisteren. In Brussel ging die dag een staten-generaal van start die de knelpunten voor Vlaanderen onder de loep moet nemen. Eén van de grootste problemen? Te weinig kinderen voor te veel ouders. Er staan in Vlaanderen meer dan 400 kandidaat-ouders op een wachtlijst. Ter vergelijking: vorig jaar werden 210 buitenlandse kindjes door Vlamingen geadopteerd. Dat terwijl Bulgaarse weeskinderen nog altijd in erbarmelijke omstandigheden opgroeien of de straten van Calcutta overspoeld worden door bedelende weeskinderen.

Dat tekort aan buitenlandse kinderen er niet altijd geweest. Brigitte Slot, beleidsmedewerker bij het ministerie van Financiën in Nederland, schrijft in Justitiële Verkenningen over de beginjaren van adoptie: 'Het aanbod was vele malen groter dan de vraag. Oorlog, armoede, sociale ontwrichting, waren oorzaak van een niet onaanzienlijk aanbod van kinderen.'