https://apnews.com/article/pregnancy-child-welfare-lawsuit-vermont-2fb1e1b3f89883ecb86b090ac22bf54c?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR1Qaiidhy3y4Rtu52zqmvMaVGx01GIJWmY1DWW_tD4hxlkwZfyv3X1NHSs_aem_DCRRzYiO57LRlfbnE9WEZQ#qclzvlokxhn21uazkl9xekxqbydmcnj

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — Vermont’s child welfare agency relied on baseless allegations about a pregnant woman’s mental health to secretly investigate her and win custody of her daughter before the baby was born, according to a lawsuit that alleges the state routinely targets and tracks pregnant women deemed unsuitable for parenthood.

The ACLU of Vermont and Pregnancy Justice, a national advocacy group, on Wednesday sued the Vermont Department for Children and Families, a counseling center and the hospital where the woman gave birth in February 2022. The lawsuit seeks both an end to what it calls an illegal surveillance program and unspecified monetary damages for the woman, who is identified only by her initials, A.V.

According to the complaint, the director of a homeless shelter where A.V. briefly stayed in January 2022 told the child welfare agency that she appeared to have untreated paranoia, dissociative behaviors and PTSD. The state opened an investigation and later spoke to the woman’s counselor, midwife and a hospital social worker, despite having no jurisdiction over fetuses and all without her knowledge.

Merely Submitting Adoption Plea Wouldn't Confer Any Rights To Unilaterally Take Child's Custody Without Following Procedure: Madras HC

The Madras High Court has observed that merely submitting an application seeking adoption of a child would not confer any rights on the parties concerned to take custody of the child unilaterally without "scrupulously" following the due procedure.

A division bench of Justice SM Subramaniam and Justice M Jothiraman noted that the procedures contemplated under the relevant statutes have to be scrupulously followed and the committee constituted must assess the couple, including their mindset, capacity, family setup etc.

“Mere submission of an application seeking an adoption would not confer any right to take custody of a child unilaterally and declare the said child as an adopted daughter. Pertinently, the High Court cannot deliberate on these issues, since it involves the 'best interest of the child'. The assessment of the couple seeking adoption, their capacity, mind set, family setup, circumstances, all to be examined scrupulously by the committee constituted for the purpose of making such assessment. Therefore, the procedures as contemplated under the relevant statutes are to be scrupulously followed for the purpose of adoption of a child,” the court noted.

The bench was hearing a habeas corpus petition filed by a couple seeking the custody of a 1 ½-year-old child. The couple informed the court that they had been married for 20 years and since they had not been blessed with a child, they submitted an application seeking adoption in the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA), Ministry of Women and Child Development.

The Office of Children’s Issues (CI) and the U.S. Embassy in Addis Ababa confirmed the following with the Ethiopian Federal First Instance Court (FFIC):

1. U.S. citizens of Ethiopian origin may be able to complete intercountry adoptions from Ethiopia. U.S. citizens who cannot satisfy the FFIC that they are of Ethiopian origin are still subject to Ethiopia’s 2018 adoption ban (see CI’s 2018 Adoption Notice.)
2. If the FFIC determines that a U.S. citizen prospective adoptive parent (PAP) can adopt:
            a.The case is no longer subject to the Pre-Adoption Immigration Review (PAIR) process
            b.PAPs who adopt from a public or private orphanage must obtain a best interest determination (BID) letter, while PAPs who adopt a child that is not in an orphanage do not need to obtain a BID letter.

Updated Process For Ethiopian Adoptions

The FFIC will determine on a case-by-case basis whether it considers PAPs to be of Ethiopian origin (diaspora adoptions). The FFIC has not provided definitive criteria it will use to determine which prospective adoptive parents are considered to be of Ethiopian origin, but did indicate that PAPs must be able to demonstrate strong ties to Ethiopia, such as being born in Ethiopia or previously holding Ethiopian citizenship. PAPs will need to provide evidence to the FFIC when applying for an adoption order, such as an Ethiopian birth certificate, Ethiopian passport, or an Ethiopian Origin ID Card (also known as a Diaspora Card or Yellow Card).

Prior to 2018, adoptions from Ethiopia were subject to the Pre-Adoption Immigration Review (PAIR) process.  Under PAIR, USCIS reviewed the child’s eligibility to immigrate before PAPs adopted the child. The FFIC has indicated that this process is not necessary for diaspora adoptions, and accordingly, the PAIR process is no longer applicable to adoptions by PAPs who have been confirmed by the FFIC to be of Ethiopian origin. PAPs of Ethiopian origin may file Form I-600 petitions with USCIS or in-country with Embassy Addis Ababa (note: you must have a valid Form I-600A to file in-country; see our website for more information).

As I walked into my son’s elementary school holding bags of treats for his class, another mother passed by and while smiling asked, “Oh, wow, how many children do you have?”

It’s a simple question for most, but for someone like me—someone who wears the badge of “Birth Mother”—it was triggering. I was taken back as my 4-year-old daughter blurted out, “She has three, but my sister doesn’t live with us. She gave her away.”

Okay, those may not have been her exact words, but it’s how I felt at that moment. There I was, the PTA President, fumbling for a response while gently nudging my daughter along. I quickly replied that my husband and I have two children and moved on, never looking back to see the other mother’s reaction. I couldn’t help but wonder, “Does it ever get easier?” Maybe. Maybe not. It depends on the day.

As I walked into my son’s elementary school holding bags of treats for his class, another mother passed by and while smiling asked, “Oh, wow, how many children do you have?”

It’s a simple question for most, but for someone like me—someone who wears the badge of “Birth Mother”—it was triggering. I was taken back as my 4-year-old daughter blurted out, “She has three, but my sister doesn’t live with us. She gave her away.”

Didier Reynders © Marzia Cosenza / European Commission

Day before yesterday · 2 MIN

ING Bank under scrutiny in money laundering case of former EU Commissioner Didier Reynders

Simon Van Dorpe

Contributions

On Wednesday 22 January, Minister for Children and Families Kjersti Toppe (Sp) received an interim report from the committee that investigates adoptions abroad.

The investigative committee was appointed by the Støre government on 20 June 2023, and will find out whether Norwegian authorities have had good enough control over foreign adoptions, and whether there have been illegal or unethical conditions in connection with foreign adoptions to Norway. The committee must now deliver an interim report which, among other things, contains preliminary findings on adoptions from Colombia and Ecuador. The committee will deliver its final report in December 2025.

See the committee's mandate.Committee leader Camilla Bernt, professor of jurisprudence at the University of Bergen, will present the interim report.After the presentation, there is an opportunity for an interview with the Minister for Children and Families and the head of the selection committee.Time: Wednesday 22 January at 10:00–11:00. Registration from 09.30. Bring your press card and valid ID.City: The auditorium in R5, Akersgata 59.Registration: Press wishing to cover the meeting can register before 12.00 Tuesday 21 January to media@bfd.dep.no.The event will be filmed by the Danish Security and Service Organization (DSS) and can be followed directly on this page.For questions from the press, contact communications advisor Amalie Knudsen by email: Amalie-fosse.knudsen@bfd.dep.no or phone number: +47 926 66 262.

The 'PD Notebook' sheds light on the overall problem of managing the adoption records of children adopted abroad.

MBC's current affairs program "PD Notebook," which will air at 10:20 p.m. on the 14th, will air the "Disappeared Adoption Record: The Country That Erased Me."

South Korea, which has been labeled a "child exporter" by sending 200,000 children abroad for adoption over the past 70 years. Finding roots is at stake as a comprehensive problem has been revealed in the management of adoption records for those who were recently adopted abroad. It has been revealed that not only adoption institutions but also public institutions that were willing to receive private records and manage them have concealed the problem. The 'PD Notebook' examines the true nature of the adoption record computerization project, which has been carried out for 10 years since 2013.

adoptees who believed in false records

The "PD Notebook" met adoptees who had difficulty finding their biological families due to their adoption records. Park Sang-jo, a Danish adoptee, visited Korea more than 10 times in 35 years to find her biological parents. He gave up looking for his family, believing that the record of adoption of "orphan" by Holt Children's Welfare Association was true. However, this year, I suddenly find out that I have information from my biological father and I am shocked. Although his biological father was already dead, it was impossible to meet him, Holt did not comply with Park's request to provide adoption records to meet many brothers. Park, who overcame various obstacles and met his siblings dramatically, learned that his family had asked the agency to get him back, but was already rejected for leaving far away and had been looking for his whole life.

14 cantons want to work together better in the future to help adopted people find their biological parents. Because not everything always went smoothly. A look back.

Why were there so many international adoptions in the past?

As economic and social conditions improved in Switzerland – especially for single mothers – there were fewer children available for adoption. Some Swiss couples therefore looked for children abroad. From the 1960s onwards there was a wave of adoptions from Asian countries, later from South America and Africa and from 1989 from Eastern Europe.

Unwanted childlessness was not always the reason. Some Swiss couples also saw adoption as a "humanitarian act". For social or religious reasons, they wanted to free children from poverty and offer them a better life with educational opportunities.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A South Korean court on Wednesday cleared the government and an adoption agency of all liability in a lawsuit filed by a 49-year-old Korean man whose traumatic adoption journey led to an abusive childhood in the United States and ultimately his deportation to South Korea in 2016 after legal troubles.

In exonerating the South Korean government over the case of Adam Crapser, whose U.S. adoptive parents never secured his citizenship, the Seoul High Court overturned a 2023 lower court ruling that ordered his adoption agency, Holt Children’s Services, to pay him 100 million won ($68,600) in damages. The Seoul Central District Court ruled that Holt should have informed his adoptive parents that they needed to take additional steps to secure his citizenship after his adoption was finalized in their state court, but didn’t find the government at fault for Crapser’s plight.

The full text of the Seoul High Court’s ruling wasn’t immediately available. Crapser didn’t attend the ruling.

Crapser, a married father of two, says he was abused and abandoned by two different adoptive families who never filed his citizenship papers. He got into trouble with the law — once for breaking into his adoptive parents’ home to retrieve the Bible that came with him from the orphanage — and was deported because he was not a U.S. citizen.

In their defense against the accusations of malfeasance raised by Crapser, the government and Holt both cited a 1970s adoption law established under a military dictatorship that was designed to speed up adoptions.

CID also recovered a two-month-old daughter from the couple They adopted that child

Kolkata: CID has arrested a couple on the basis of child trafficking ring The couple was arrested from Lake Town area of ​​Jessore Road on Tuesday The arrested have been identified as Vijay Santhalia and his wife Neha

It is reported that the couple adopted a girl child for about 7 lakh rupees However, the couple fell into the clutches of the child trafficking ring without following the legal rules for adoption

CID also recovered a two-month-old daughter from the couple They adopted that child Howrah court on Tuesday the two arrested or not?

According to sources, the baby girl was probably brought from Bihar and given to the couple After investigating the child trafficker, the police arrested a broker named Manik It was Manik and his wife Mukul who probably handed over the baby to the Lake Town couple Investigators are also looking into whether anyone else has adopted children from this cycle illegally.