New Project & Vacancy! Human Rights in Alternative Care

The goal of drastically reducing numbers of children living in institutions around the world has been a key focus of coherent efforts to realise children’s rights for over a decade, with important advances being made. 

Progress is visible through strengthened international standards and greater attention by the Committee on the Rights of the Children, alongside changes in domestic legislation, systems and practices, as well as greater attention to the voices of children and adults impacted by the harms of institutionalized alternative care.

Together, these are all helping to strengthen the fulfilment of children’s rights, not least through greater promotion of positive parenting approaches and wider kinship family support, keeping families together safely, and nurturing quality, community-based alternative care, close to home.

The Gaps

At the beginning of April '23 we launched a call . Organizations for adoption stakeholders could submit ideas for a joint project, in collaboration with at least 2 other organizations. The applicants were eligible for a one-time incentive, consisting of financial support and the opportunity for guidance.

Adoption Support Center launched this one-off call in the context of the policy action 'expansion of accessible care and guidance' and the policy recommendation 'professional development of peer contact for adoption stakeholders' from the 'care and guidance' working group.

We received 4 nice applications. An independent jury assessed these applications based on the submitted file and a presentation round of all projects.

From the applications received, the jury selected 'Round & about adoption' as the best project. We wish the initiators of the project congratulations!

We would also like to thank the other submitters for the wonderful projects and the commitment they have shown in presenting their projects.

Round & about adoption

The Round & about adoption team consists of Binnenlandsgeadopteerd.be , Association for Adopted Child and Family , Adoption Schakel Connecteert and a-Buddy .

What exactly does their project entail? We asked the initiators themselves.

A roundabout, a roundabout, round & about, round & about adoption...

Turning at a roundabout and missing the exit, you do the tour again and are still unsure which exit to take. Everyone feels insecure sometimes.

That feeling is common among adoptees. How do you learn to create more security ? What tools can you take to get out of this situation? We want to make these tools a little more tangible through inspiring stories .

Every story is different, everyone experiences her or his adoption or bond with adoptees in their own way. There are many different, contradictory feelings associated with it. By letting everyone tell their story, we try to reflect the complexity . In this way we try to raise society's awareness. We want to give the floor to those involved in adoption (first parents or birth parents, adoptees, adoptive parents, partners of adoptees, adult children of adoptees, other family members, friends, teachers, etc.)

through a podcast

. The need and idea of ​​this project comes from the dominant social discourse that adoption is only a fairy tale. By sharing stories we want to highlight the dark side, without destroying the feelings of good stories. We especially want to create a realistic picture of adoption.

We will place a call through various media. In this way we want to reach as many adoption stakeholders as possible . With this we want to demonstrate that the adoption triangle is no longer up to date. There are many more people involved than just the adoption triangle. Consider, for example, partners of, children of, etc. We will also work on a concrete work bundle for education

, among other things . This way, several people can work with our material to make society more adoption-sensitive. We will organize an event in November 2024. Here we will take the opportunity to share the podcast with the world. Everyone is welcome to come and listen to the stories and talk to fellow sufferers. Contact with fellow sufferers, making society more sensitive to adoption, offering concrete tools to education, networking, aftercare and recognition are central to this project. We get to work enthusiastically. See you soon!





 

Posted in: Current

At least three adopted kids and their adopted parents were invited to the symposium.

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Congress, on Monday, has raised an objection after Union minister Smriti Zubin Irani got pictures clicked with adopted kids and parents at symposium, alleging violation of law. The opposition party has also demanded action against the organisers.

A symposium on child protection, safety and welfare organized by the union ministry of women and child development in Bhopal on Sunday, has fallen in controversy, over the union minister's pictures with adopted kids.

The Congress state media vice president Bhupendra Gupta, alleged, “Despite being a minister, she (Smriti Irani) didn’t hesitate in making public the identity of adopted kids and parents who’ve adopted them. All the BJP leaders are the same when it comes to violating the law.”

“Being a minister, she has some legal obligations to fulfill, but instead of abiding by the legal obligations, she has violated the law by making public the identities of the kids and their adopted parents. She often remembers Rahul Gandhi, but has herself violated the law. The Congress will explore legal options in the matter and move accordingly. The BJP needs to apologize to the country, the adopted kids and their parents, for the minister’s irresponsible act. We demand legal action against the organizers of the event,” Gupta demanded.

WASHINGTON: Uzra Zeya, a senior US diplomat in charge of democracy and human rights, will embark on a visit to India and Bangladesh beginning Saturday to engage with civil society organisations on freedom of expression and inclusion of women and girls and vulnerable groups including religious and ethnic minorities.
In India, the Indian-American diplomat will also meet government officials to discuss the deepening US-India partnership, the state department said in a release on Friday. Under secretary for civilian security, democracy and human rights and US special coordinator for Tibetan issues Zeya will travel to India and Bangladesh from July 8 to 14.
 

Taking to Twitter, Zeya said, "Traveling to India and Bangladesh next week to advance shared solutions to global challenges; contribute to a more free, open, secure & prosperous Indo-Pacific; and bolster humanitarian support for refugees & host communities throughout the region".

Promising practices in child protection is out now

The child protection network of Denmark is a professional network for NGO’s working in the care sector. On our page you will find our seminar series ‘Alternative care talks’ that aims at improving intra-sector knowlegde dispersion and help us build new innovative knowlegde. We wish to Increase knowledge on how to work with a rights-based approach to protect children from, and put an end to, domestic violence through expert presentations and working in groups with concrete examples.

In December 2019, the annual Resolution of the Rights of the Child addressed for the first time ever children without parental care in recognition of the vulnerability of this group of children. The purpose of these seminars is to explore how to use the Resolution and the UN Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children, in order to safeguard and promote the rights of children who have lost or are at risk of losing parental care

The Gujarat High Court has ruled in favour of using a duly registered adoption deed as valid proof to change the father’s name in a child’s birth certificate. The court emphasized the binding nature of a registered adoption deed on the Registrar of Births and Deaths, which cannot be ignored or disregarded.
The bench of Justices N V Anjaria and J C Joshi, stated, “The outweighing aspect in the facts of this case is that the change of the name of the father was prayed for on the basis of the Registered Adoption Deed. The petitioner became the adoptive father of the child in view of the execution of the Registered Adoption Deed. The Registered Adoption Deed is binding to the authority under the Registration of Births and Deaths Act.”
The court added, “Once it is a registered deed of adoption, its validity and effect cannot be called in question by the respondent authority. The Registrar is bound in law to incorporate change in the register of Births and Deaths on the basis of the Registered Adoption Deed. The same cannot be ignored or disregarded for its effect.”
The ruling was given during a series of appeals heard by the bench. These appeals were launched by the Registrar of Births and Deaths department against orders issued by a single judge of the HC permitting changes in birth certificates based on adoption deeds.
One such case concerned a man who married a widow and legally adopted her child. He drew up an adoption deed and requested to replace the child’s biological father’s name with his own. Despite this, the Birth and Death Department denied the application.
After taking the case to the Gujarat HC, the man received a favourable verdict. However, the Registrar of Births and Deaths then challenged this verdict before the two-judge bench, arguing that an adoption deed does not mandate the department to alter a name.
The registrar maintained that corrections could only be made if the entry was flawed, fraudulent, or improperly made. He contended that no grounds existed under Section 15 of the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969 to permit the name change.
The court, after careful consideration of prior judgments and legal principles, dismissed the appeal and rejected this argument. The court’s judgement sets a legal precedent regarding the weight and significance of adoption deeds.

If someone had said to me a few years ago that one of the most controversial subjects I’d ever write on would be women’s freedom to assert their rights to single-sex spaces, services and sports, I’d have thought they were crazy. I wouldn’t have believed that in a mature democracy people would lose livelihoods, be kicked off degrees or be issued with unlawful police warnings after expressing the belief that sex remains materially relevant in society, a moderate and widely shared view that remains the current legal position in the UK. But the bullying tactics of campaigners who believe that the gender with which someone identifies should, without exception, override their sex, plus the lack of leadership across many big institutions, means this is where we have ended up.

The latest entry in the so-mad-you’d-barely-believe-it column is the unsuccessful attempt by the trans charity Mermaids to get LGB Alliance stripped of its charitable status, in a legal fight that has gone on for years and cost both sides hundreds of thousands of pounds. They have opposing views on sex and gender, and what constitutes appropriate healthcare for children questioning their gender.

Mermaids is an established charity – it was awarded a grant of £500,000 from the national lottery fund in 2019 – which has lobbied the NHS to make puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones available to younger children with gender dysphoria.

LGB Alliance is a fledgling “gender critical” gay rights charity that says gender identity cannot replace sex in society. It argues that being gay is a matter of same-sex (not same-gender-identity) attraction and lesbians have the right, without being called bigoted, to assert sexual boundaries that exclude males who identify as lesbians. It is also concerned that gender non-conforming young people struggling with same-sex attraction are being encouraged on to an irreversible pathway to medical transition.

Proper sex education, change in perceptions of single motherhood needed, experts say

A series of alleged infanticide cases that have emerged in an ongoing nationwide investigation into “ghost children” has laid bare the dark stories of South Korea’s mothers of unwanted pregnancies and how the country lacks protective measures and adequate sex education, according to observers here.

Mothers not wanting to confess their pregnancies to their parents or endure economic hardships, in particular, have contributed to the infanticides, according to a study published by professor Kim Youn-shin at Chosun University’s medical school. The study, which analyzed recent court rulings on infanticide cases, showed that many women -- mostly single mothers -- hid the pregnancy from family as they feared becoming a single mom. The stigma of being an unwed mother has persisted in Korean society and, in most cases, leaves an indelible mark on the mothers’ lives, according to the study. Many women also resort to foul play as they are not equipped with economic resources, it added.

In light of increasing infant homicide cases, the research team stressed the need for comprehensive sex education programs that offer age-appropriate information about sexual health, such as birth control and safe sexual intercourse, which could prevent unwanted pregnancies. The research team suggested that conventional measures that reflect women’s rights should be introduced.

Sex education in Korean schools mostly consists of a single-session lecture with an hourlong video covering broad concepts of sex, lacking specific information about sexual intercourse, puberty, reproduction, clinical services, abortion and contraceptive use for safe sex in the real world -- all of which could help prevent unwanted pregnancies.

Possible trafficking victim asks help to find biological family

Kuo Downing-Reese (郭慧如), a US flight paramedic who might have been the victim of a Taiwanese child-trafficking ring in the early 1980s, on Thursday appealed for the public’s help in finding her birth parents.

Accompanied by her adoptive mother Mary Reese, Downing-Reese has returned to Taiwan in an attempt to locate her birth family.

Private firms that provide genetic testing to help locate relatives are not common in Taiwan, Downing-Reese said, adding that her search on Web sites such as Ancestry.com and 23&me had proven unfruitful, reducing her hopes of finding her parents.

However, after a number of adoptees reported success in reuniting with their families in Taiwan, she became hopeful and decided to embark on her own campaign, Downing-Reese said.

A team of engineers who surveyed the Bon Secours plot in Tuam has reported similar anomalies at the Co Tipperary site which could be mass burial plots.

There have been calls for a fresh investigation at Sean Ross Abbey Mother and Baby Home after the discovery of what’s believed to be mass baby graves.

A team of engineers who surveyed the Bon Secours plot in Tuam has reported similar anomalies at the Co Tipperary site which could be mass burial plots.

An expert survey by TST Engineering Company pinpointed several locations in the grounds of the abbey with likely human activity beneath the surface.

Almost 1,100 babies died at the home in Roscrea between 1931 and 1969 – but only 42 infant remains were found by the Commission of Inquiry.