'Hard report' on adoption fraud leaked: 'Government must stop international adoptions'
The adoption of children from abroad must be stopped completely for the time being. A committee led by former top civil servant Tjibbe Joustra draws this conclusion in a report to be published, sources around the cabinet report to the AD .
The report on the Dutch adoption culture and the role of the government in it mentions 'serious abuses' in Bangladesh, Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia and Sri Lanka. The committee pointed to child theft, child trafficking, corruption, forgery and theft of documents, unethical acts of civil servants and the transfer of children to the Netherlands under false pretenses. Because today's adoption practice is still not good, bringing children to the Netherlands should stop for the time being, the advice is.
Council of Ministers on report
Friday, the Council of Ministers will talk about the report that will be published on Monday. Not everyone in the government would feel in favor of a complete stop on adoption. The ongoing adoption procedures should go ahead, some believe. A stop should therefore relate to new applications.
Zembla paid attention to abuses in intercountry adoptions in four programs. In response to that broadcast, Minister Dekker said that the “primary responsibility” for a careful adoption procedure lay and lies with the sending countries. But on the basis of later information, Dekker said he saw reason to take a closer look at the actions of the Dutch government.
Investigate Zembla into adoption fraud
These broadcasts already showed that the Dutch government was aware of the abuses. For example, Zembla reported in May last year that the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Justice had already been informed in great detail by the Dutch embassy in Colombo in 1991 about serious abuses surrounding adoptions in Sri Lanka. This was evident from correspondence between the embassy and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which Zembla managed to get hold of.
Adoption Deception, Part 1:
In Zembla's second broadcast on adoption fraud, the Sri Lankan government admits for the first time that there were baby farms in the country. At the baby farms, women were impregnated to meet the demand for adopted children. "They gathered because the babies and sold them to foreigners for adoption," said the Sri Lankan Minister of Health, Dr. Rajitha Senaratne , against Zembla.
Adoption Deception, Part 2:
Hardly any rules on adoptions in the 1980s
In the following two episodes, adoption abuses in other countries are exposed and it also becomes apparent how few rules there were in the 1980s on adoptions. Former VVD MP Ed Nijpels was also critical of the adoptions at the time. In 1981 he said in the House of Representatives: "The import of peanuts is subject to more regulations than the adoption of a foreign child."
In the Zembla broadcasts, various adoptees indicate that they want to hold the Dutch State responsible for the abuses. Adopted lawyer Dewi Deijle, for example, filed a claim for damages with the government on behalf of the Mijn Roots foundation. "Crimes have been committed. It's actually bizarre that if you are adopted and have forged papers, you have to solve your own crime and pay for it."
'Seriously negligent'
The foundation believes that the Dutch government has been 'seriously negligent' when it comes to stopping illegal adoptions from Indonesia in the 1970s and 1980s. However, the ministry pushed the claim aside.
Dilani Butink also took the Dutch government to court because the papers surrounding her own adoption were forged. On NPO Radio 1 she said on Friday morning that after seeing Zembla, she was shocked that the abuses took place on such a large scale. "I thought after those two broadcasts, should we leave it at that? Should we accept it? That is not possible, is it?" It was extra motivation for Dilani to go to court. The judge rejected her claims against the State last year because the abuses surrounding her adoption are time-barred. According to the judge, it is impossible to find out exactly under what circumstances Butink was given up by her biological mother in 1992.
More about investigation
In 2018, the government decided to set up a committee to investigate the abuses. The committee started in 2019 and has completed the investigation. The research focused on illegal adoptions from the period 1967 to 1998, and especially on adoptions from the countries Brazil, Bangladesh, Colombia, Indonesia and Sri Lanka.
The final report will be published on Monday, but the AD has already received the main conclusions. As far as the committee is concerned, the Netherlands should apologize for the way in which the government facilitated adoption from the five countries for thirty years. The suffering of the children and parents from the countries concerned should also be acknowledged, according to the AD.
In the Zembla broadcasts, various adoptees indicate that they want to hold the Dutch State responsible for the abuses. Adopted lawyer Dewi Deijle, for example, filed a claim for damages with the government on behalf of the Mijn Roots foundation. "Crimes have been committed. It's actually bizarre that if you are adopted and have forged papers, you have to solve your own crime and pay for it."
'Seriously negligent'
The foundation believes that the Dutch government has been 'seriously negligent' when it comes to stopping illegal adoptions from Indonesia in the 1970s and 1980s. The ministry, however, set the claim aside.
Dilani Butink also took the Dutch government to court because the papers surrounding her own adoption turned out to be forged. The judge rejected her claims against the State last year because the abuses surrounding her adoption are time-barred. According to the judge, it is impossible to find out exactly under what circumstances Butink was given up by her biological mother in 1992.