ADOPTED DORIET (41): 'I WAS BOUGHT FOR FIVE THOUSAND GUILDERS'

The adoption file of Doriet Begemann (41) from Zwolle is full of mistakes. "I take into account that I have been stolen and resold."

Doriet, like thousands of other adoptees, desperately searches for her origins.

The question is whether the Dutch government played a role in illegal adoptions between 1967 and 1998. An investigation committee will hand over a report to Minister Sander Dekker (Legal Protection) on Monday. Civil servants may have been involved , he writes when he establishes the committee in 2018.

The committee examined adoptions from countries including Bangladesh, Brazil, Sri Lanka, Colombia and Indonesia.

DORIET

Doriet is adopted in 1979 as a baby (her name is Pujiastutie) from an Indonesian children's home, together with the one and a half year old Mirjam (then: Rukiah). The Dutch ministry that takes them into their home is convinced that they are biological sisters.

DNA TEST

Doriet has suspected her entire life that her adoption history is incorrect. She is a journalist and not only encounters error after error in her adoption, but also lies.

She makes the most shocking discovery in January, when a DNA test shows that she and Mirjam are not biological sisters. They turn out to be zero percent related.

Doriet: “When I was seven, my adoptive mother said to me that it is so nice that I have a biological sister. I said, "Miriam is not my biological sister." My adoptive mother asked how I knew. I said, 'I just know.' ”

“It is very hard that it is now black and white that we are not sisters. You have hope somewhere. It is a shock to my mother. She is 84, has health problems, we do not want to burden her too much. ”

CHILD TRAFFICKING

Children's home Kasih Bunda does offer Doriet and Mirjam as sisters in 1979. At that time, the Dutch may only adopt two children if they are blood relatives. Doriet's parents actually want one child, unless there is a brother or sister: "Then we'll keep them together."

“Child traffickers knew this policy and glued two children together, so they could catch money twice,” says Doriet. “The policy encouraged child trafficking. At that moment you actually already know when two children arrive that they are not related. ”

“Maybe I was stolen or stolen. There are also stories that parents sold their own children. ”

She believes that the government should have intervened at that time. " Parliamentary questions were already asked in 1979 and it was clear that there was a baby trade ."

PRIVATE MEDIATOR

Doriet's parents are so eager to adopt in 1979 that they opt for a private mediator in the Netherlands, a married couple. “You had to wait three or four years through a foundation, you could have a child in three months through a private person,” says Doriet.

Her adoptive parents transfer a large sum to the couple in August 1979. “It cost me five thousand guilders, and so did my sister”, says Doriet.

Transcript from 1979:

BURNED

“If the government had warned, my parents would not have chosen a private person. They acted in good faith and followed the rules, how could they have known? Our adoption went through a notary and a judge in Indonesia. ”

She later tracked down the mediating couple. “I wanted to ask if they have any information about our adoption. As it turns out, everything is burned. There is nothing more to be found. ”

CIVIL SERVANT

Doriet and Mirjam come from a children's home that was discredited for malpractice .

Not her biological parents sign her birth certificate, but a midwife. For this reason, an official in The Hague refused in 1983 to convert Doriet's statement into a birth certificate. “That official already knew then that something was wrong,” says Doriet. "He wrote to my father, but did not intervene further."

The letter from the Hague official:

COUNTERFEIT

Doriet discovers ten demonstrable errors, forgeries and peculiarities in her adoption procedure. For example, the papers have been fiddled with ages and translations and the signatures of Mirjam's biological parents on her birth certificate do not match those on the transfer certificate:

Father's signature on the birth certificate on the left, on the transfer on the right

The signature of Mirjams mother also differs per document:

Doriet: “Why did no one see this or did no one want to see this? I want to know the truth: what happened to me? I take into account that I have been stolen. Why else do they go to so much trouble to forge the papers? ”

TRIPLETS

The search for her biological parents continues, although she thinks they are deceased. But she discovered that she is one of multiple births . “ Kembar 3 means triplets in Indonesian, which is not translated properly in the papers and is simply left blank. My adoptive parents have not seen that. ”

MOTHER

The adoption has a major impact on Doriet's whole life and identity. She is married and a mother, but initially did not want children. "I was terribly afraid that I would also want to give up my child."

“Once you have such a child in your arms, you think: what a stupid thought. You suddenly see something of your own blood, you have never seen that. That was very special and very confronting. ”

REPORT

On Monday, the investigation committee will present the report on 'intercountry foreign adoption'. Doriet hopes that the Netherlands will take responsibility, but expect little from it.

“The attitude was always that the Netherlands had no supervisory task and the responsibility lay with the sending countries. The question is whether they will hold on to that. I think the Netherlands was also responsible, but I think they stick to their position that Indonesia was responsible. ”

RESPONSIBLE

If the Netherlands does not take responsibility, Doriet wants to hold the state liable for the error in her adoption procedure. “It's not about money, for me 'sorry' is enough. ”

Doriet and Mirjam will also join all those other adoptees who are looking for their past: lawyer Dewi Deijle is already preparing a collective action in court. "Our case will also be part of that."

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