Minister does not start investigation into illegal adoptions from Chile by Dutch 'nun'
Outgoing Minister Franc Weerwind (Legal Protection) sees no reason to start an investigation into illegal adoptions from Chile by a Dutch fake nun. He regrets that there have been abuses in the past, but leaves it to the authorities in Chile. He does want to talk to Chilean adoptees. He answers this to parliamentary questions from the SP.
During General Pincohet's dictatorship in the 1970s and 1980s, an estimated 20,000 Chilean children were illegally adopted abroad. Babies supposedly declared dead to mothers were stolen from hospitals. Children have also been taken from homes without the consent of their mothers and offered for adoption.
About two hundred Chilean children ended up in the Netherlands. At least half of those adoptions went through the Las Palmas children's home in Santiago, which was run by Truus Kuijpers. Previous research from this site shows that Kuijpers wrongly presented herself as a 'nun', sent children to the Netherlands without the knowledge of the mothers, falsified adoption documents and adopted children. later linked to wrong biological families.
Criminal investigation
Police and justice in Chile have been conducting a criminal investigation into illegal adoptions for years. Kuijpers, who denied all accusations, was also interrogated in 2019 during a visit to Chile, but she died at the beginning of this year. Her sister, with whom she founded Las Palmas, is still alive. “An investigation will have to reveal what exactly happened,” Weerwind writes in response to questions from SP MP Michiel van Nispen. 'I can't get ahead of myself.'
Chilean adoptees in the Netherlands, who only found out about the fraud at the Las Palmas children's home in recent years, want the Netherlands to also conduct its own investigation into Kuijpers' work. Weerwind doesn't think that's necessary. “A criminal investigation is already underway in Chile into alleged illegal adoption practices,” he writes. “I have confidence that the Chilean constitutional state will investigate this thoroughly.”
Structural abuses
Acommittee led by Tjibbe Joustra concluded in 2021 after research that structural abuses occurred during adoptions in the Netherlands. The cabinet apologized for the attitude of the Dutch state at the time. Adoption from abroad was temporarily stopped, but is now possible again under stricter conditions.
Weerwind says he is touched by the stories about abuses. He points out that improvements are being made. For example, an expertise center (Inea) has been established where adoptees can go for care and support in their search for information.
“Many people now have questions about their origins, their identity and adoption,” said Weerwind. “Questions that cannot be answered easily and may never be answered. I want to learn from the abuses and I look at the past with regret."