'US couple didn't tend to adopted kid' Mayura Janwalkar / DNA, DNASaturday, February 6, 2010 0:24 IST Mumbai: Five years after the Bombay high court granted the guardianship of two abandoned minors to a US couple, it revoked its order in case of the older child observing that the couple had failed to fulfill their responsibility towards the child. Mita (name changed), now 14, was found abandoned at the Grant Road station along with her younger sister. As the children had no claimants, they were both declared free for adoption by the Child Welfare Committee. Subsequently, they were adopted by Wilbur and Jennifer Baker from Massachusetts, USA, with the high court’s sanction in April 2006. However, the court was informed that the couple had to send the child to a psychiatric care institution in the US, as she faced adjustment disorder, attention deficit, depressive condition and hyperactivity. The court was told when the couple refused to take her back home from the hospital, the American adoption agency Wide Horizons for Children (WHC) tried to place the child with another family but she was subsequently repatriated to India. Justice DY Chandrachud observed, “The Bakers have failed to perform their duties as a result of which Mita was repatriated.” The court then revoked the order of guardianship granted in their favour citing the abuse of the trust reposed in them. Mita had been lodged at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences in Bangalore since August 2008 after her repatriation. The court has now handed over her guardianship, protem to the director of the Family Service Centre and permitted them to shift her to Aarushi, a care centre in Gurgaon. The court also directed Jagannath Pati of the Central Adoption Regulatory Authority to take into account the suggestions put forth by the federation of adoption agencies and finalise the guidelines for foreign adoptions by March 26. The draft guidelines had suggested the generation of a safety fund for repatriated children from failed foreign adoptions. The court has sought progress reports of Mita’s sister also adopted by the bakers and bi-annual progress reports of Mita from her guardians.

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Bleak Portrait of Haiti Orphanages Raises Fears

By GINGER THOMPSON

Published: February 6, 2010

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — The floors were concrete and the windows were broken.

A woman tended a baby recently at the Foyer of Zion orphanage, whose staff cares for more than 60 children who range in age from 2 months to 10 years old. More Photos >

More Haitian orphans coming to Utah

By Brooke Adams

The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated: 02/06/2010 07:26:41 PM MST

Another 10 children from a Haitian orphanage are on their way to the U.S. with the help of a Utah adoption agency.

  The Sunday Times 7:00PM

Joy for adopted twins after Immigration red-tape U-turn
From: February 06, 2010 Increase Text Size Decrease Text Size Print Email Share



TRUE SISTERS: Identical twins Rosabelle Glasby and Dorothy Loader have now been recognised as sisters by Immigration authorities. Picture: Supplied Source: PerthNowA YEAR ago, these identical twins were left heartbroken after authorities told them they were not officially related because they had been adopted as babies by different families.
This week they are celebrating after migration officials did a backflip, paving the way for the siblings to be reunited in WA. Carnarvon woman Rosabelle Glasby was devastated when told she could not bring her sister to Australia to live from Malaysia because the Department of Immigration and Citizenship did not consider them to be related.
Mrs Glasby and her sister, Dorothy Loader, who were adopted by different families soon after birth in Malaysia, were apart for nearly 50 years before finally meeting last year.
According to migration laws, the legal relationship between siblings - even identical twins - is severed when they are adopted out.
The Sunday Times revealed the case in January last year. But sorrow turned to joy this week when Federal Immigration and Citizenship Minister Chris Evans said he had intervened on compassionate grounds.


The move means Ms Loader, who has been living in WA on a bridging visa, can obtain a permanent visa to remain with her twin.
Mrs Glasby choked back tears this week, describing the visa approval as "wonderful news".
"We're identical twin sisters - we're the same egg," Mrs Glasby said. "It's hard to get anyone more related to me.
"Now, hopefully, we can be together for the rest of our lives. It's such a happy ending to a long, hard year dealing with the Immigration Department."
Mrs Glasby was adopted by a Dutch family and lived in Singapore until 1977, when she followed another adoptive sister to Perth as an 18-year-old. Following an arduous search for her twin that stretched two decades, Mrs Glasby located her and the pair finally met in Perth for an emotional reunion.
Having spent time in Australia and then Malaysia getting to know each another, Ms Loader said they were desperate to be together.
"We have a bond that perhaps only other identical twins can understand," she said. "We don't just want to be together, we need to be together; it is as strong as that."
Mrs Glasby, a former WA Health Department worker who now acts as a carer for her disabled husband, echoed the sentiments.
"She calls me the yin and I call her the yang - as a whole, we work together as one," she said. "We've totally bonded and we want to be together."
Mrs Glasby's husband, Marc, said he found it difficult to understand the department's policy in denying the original visa application.
"It doesn't make sense - I think the typical phrase is 'bureaucracy gone mad'," he said. "It's been a long time coming, but now we have this hope of a new life together. We always believed this was the country of the fair go."

Panel orders Phayeng orphans' stay at Senapati

Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, February 05 2010: At the aspiration of the three surviving children of Angom Chanbi, who was found abandoned after being brutally murdered along with her daughter Meneka at Phayeng, Child Welfare Committee, Imphal West has issued an interim order for their stay at Damdai Children Home in Senapati district.

After a team of 39 Assam Rifles reportedly took away the three orphaned children for adoption, there has been a hue and cry among some sections of the society on the adoption without any necessary legal procedure.

To discuss and finalise where the three children would put up, a joint meeting attended by Director of Social Welfare Department, Commandant and Captain of 39 Assam Rifles, representatives of MBC, family members of the children, representatives of Damdai Children Home, Child Line, Imphal and Child Welfare Committee, Imphal West was held at the conference hall of Social Welfare Department today.

Nepal 'should suspend' adoptions

Case study: Adopted in France

The adoption of children from Nepal should be suspended, the international body that governs adoption between countries has recommended.

An investigation found children from remote areas were falsely declared to be orphans and put up for adoption without their parents' knowledge.

A draft report by The Hague Conference on Private International Law urges Nepal to take steps to prevent abuses.

Minnesotan also encounters Haitian orphan issue

He helped 9-year-old flee quake zone but says actions appropriate

By Richard Chin

rchin@pioneerpress.com

Updated: 02/05/2010 11:14:38 PM CST

Haiti's orphans best helped with localized solutions, Buckner International president says

11:09 PM CST on Friday, February 5, 2010

The stories coming out of Haiti about orphaned children are gut-wrenching, and Americans have opened up their hearts and homes to take them in.

But some child-care experts are cautioning that it may not be wise to begin adoption proceedings so soon after a catastrophe such as an earthquake, especially if the deaths of both of the child's parents cannot be confirmed.

It may be better to wait a month or two – that's when organizations like Buckner International can step in to launch local programs that will help communities come up with their own solutions, said Albert Reyes, the newly elected president of the 131-year-old social services organization based in Dallas.

Huge Announcement!!!! LuckyHill Orphanage Charity Event

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2010

I am thrilled beyond words to announce this charity event. This has been a little project of mine that I have had a hard time keeping a secret. I did not want to announce it before I knew for sure that it would actually happen. My absolutely wonderful friend Amy (she is also an awesome photographer) is adopting a little girl from Ghana this spring. I was talking to her about it a month ago and was asking what the orphanage may be in need of. She explained how the orphanage, named LuckyHill, is a children’s home & school located in Ghana. Right now, there is a desperate need for lunches for the 300 children attending the school. It costs .30 a day to feed one child a lunch of rice and red sauce. For many of these children, this is the only meal they will get for the day. The goal is to provide lunch for all 300 students. I came up with an idea for a photography charity event. So many of my clients have been asking me all year if I would do my “school photo special” that I had run in previous years. My schedule has been so demanding this year I had not been able to offer it yet. So why not turn my normal special into a charity event. I contacted my business friend Lindy, at Four Chairs Furniture in Lindon, I asked if we could use her very cute furniture as the backdrop for these photos, plus her store has amazing natural light so all the photos could be indoors. She said “absolutely.” Then it was onto convincing my husband to agree that this was a worthy project to take on (I take on way to many projects and often burn myself outanyway he said “how could you not do this, those little kids need help” My heart smiled and my eyes welled up with tears. I couldn’t wait to call Amy and let her know that it was all a “go!” So what does this mean for my wonderful clients, well you just need to email me so I can give you an appointment time and then go to Four Chairs on Saturday Feb 20 and I will take adorable, cute, you will love them for life photos of your child for only $30 a child. Then you will receive, a week or so later, a cd with the best 3 to 5 photos on them. 100% of the $30 goes straight to the Lucky Hill Foundation to feed the kids.

If you are reading this from out of state and would like to contribute please email me and I can send you the info on how to send money directly to the foundation. Below is a flyer Amy designed, we will be posting it at different locations in Utah county. If you would like to help get the word out, feel free to link to this post or I could give you a poster or flyers to pass out at your business or school. If you are a photographer outside of Utah and would like to run a similar event to help LuckyHill, please contact me.

Posted in My Photography, My life, utah children photography, utah county photographer, utah photographer

Infant Born To Mentally-ill Mother Finds No Takers

by Kapil Datta

February 04, 2010

HINDUSTAN TIMES

(Source: http://www.hindustantimes.com/rssfeed/northindia/Infant-born-to-mentally-ill-mother-finds-no-takers/Article1-504989.aspx )